Johnny Grey

Whilst studying architecture, Grey focused on craft aspects of historic buildings. He also dealt in and restored 18th-century furniture alongside his brother. After graduating he made furniture and kitchens in his family's barn in Sussex. His career took off with a 1980 Sunday Times article, "Why this awful fixation with fitted kitchens?".[1][2]

Grey's studio adapts interiors into sociable kitchens, "living rooms in which you cook", that are linked to the garden and outdoor spaces. Architecture, product and lighting design form the work, which is based on insights from neuroscience. Each project is an individual case, and the studio has worked for residential clients all over the world.

Grey ran a showroom and studio at the San Francisco Design Center from 1990 to 1997 and currently collaborates in the US with Kevin Hackett of SiolArchitects. Over thirty JG projects have been installed across the country, including showcase houses in San Francisco and New York. With a focus now on socially aware design projects for corporate and charitable organizations, Grey is currently working with the 4G Kitchen Consortium and the National Innovation Centre for Ageing (NICA) and Newcastle University.

In the late 1970s he adapted the end-grain butchers’ block for domestic use, incorporating it into a piece of furniture, often with a drawer or two. He launched the Unfitted Kitchen in 1984. Made from freestanding furniture, this was an unorthodox idea for its time.[3][4][5] The now-widespread use of willow baskets as drawers was first invented by Grey in the Unfitted Kitchen. Willow baskets in cabinetry were registered for copyright by Grey jointly with Smallbone in 1987, though Mark Wilkinson objected that basketry can be traced to historic African applications.[6]

Grey includes a central island wherever possible.[7]

Grey incorporated Alexander Technique theory in kitchen design with individually customized dimensions for counter tops and sink and dishwasher placement.[8] Dedicated work surfaces, or task-driven areas, further this approach.[9][10] Low-level counters for smaller appliances (and children's cooking) and raised-height dishwashers are now widespread in kitchens.[11][12]

'Soft Geometry' describes Grey's move towards curved furniture inspired by the relationship between peripheral vision and body movement.[13][14] In the mid 2000s his meeting with neuroscientist and sociologist John Zeisel brought new insights into making kitchens into 'happy spaces'.[15][16][17] 'The living room in which you cook' (2014) restricts the culinary zone to leave room for other sociable activities.[18] Eye contact as key to design was another neuroscience-inspired idea, alongside the identification of each kitchen's 'sweet spot' as the location for a key piece of furniture such as the central island.[19][20][11]

Worldwide, Johnny Grey Studios have sold kitchens worth £60 million. Precise figures are not available for Unfitted Kitchens sold by Smallbone but sales would likely be in excess of £25 million. If the value of products that inspired the kitchen industry sector such as willow baskets, curved furniture, end-grain blocks, plate racks, inlaid framed doors and other culinary design details were included, this figure would be substantially increased.

Johnny Grey’s vision has also shaped kitchen design at a detailed level. He devised V-groove door panels to make composite doors appear framed, suitcase-style door handles, ergonomics based on flexed elbow measurements, raised height dishwashers and freestanding kitchen furniture with specific functional features. He brought to this marketplace pattern, colour, soft shapes, multiple work surface levels on central islands and throughout the kitchen, the mixing of materials, reintroduction of homely features and normalisation of kitchens as sociable living rooms.