We Love Native Trees

Why we buy British timber
for our Bespoke Kitchens

At Straker Kitchens we love trees and it’s a privilege to be working daily with their gifts, making bespoke wooden kitchens and furniture.  

We take great care in specifying suitable types of wood, before selecting boards at the mill, and from them the individual components for each project. Every tree grows uniquely, and each board reveals part of that life, through patterns of grain and features such as ‘cat’s paw’ or ‘burrs’. Often, the spectrum of colours and the richness that emerges when we finish a piece of wood is mind blowing.

Each type also has specific properties that lend themselves to particular uses: oak is particularly durable and stiff, often with wonderful character; supple yet tough, ash is generally pale in colour, but sometimes features astonishing dark bands when is then known as ‘olive’ ash; beech is hard, smooth and stable, with a bright, clean appearance. Extraordinarily varied, adaptable and versatile, wood feels like a tailor-made gift for creating a kitchen.

We’re mindful at Straker Kitchens, that wood is a very precious gift and that a tree takes many scores of years to mature. Which is why we passionately believe that we should honour our trees by making timeless furniture that lasts for at least as many years as it takes a tree to mature.

It’s also a stark fact that only 6% of hardwoods used in the UK are sourced from Britain, the large majority being imported from Europe, which involves more carbon emissions in transport.  At the same time only 40% of our mixed broadleaf woodlands are currently managed and, according to many experts, it is this lack of woodland management that is creating the greatest threats to endangered wildlife species. 

Buying British grown timber sustains native woodlands by directly supporting the management and upkeep of woodland. And it helps to keep regenerative forestry employment and skills alive. 

We are delighted to buy much of our timber from Whitney Sawmills, based near us in the Wye Valley, who are managed by the Woodland Heritage charity. They are working to improve and promote this country’s whole timber supply chain from tree planting and management, through processing, to quality end products. Almost all of their log supplies now come from well-managed UK woodlands and estates, helping promote the sustainability and legacy of our native timber.

It’s clear to us that investing in a bespoke kitchen or piece of furniture that is built to last, and made from well managed, native wood, demonstrates a committed stand to leave future generations a rich legacy of British woodland and wildlife.