Creating A Kitchen Set For The CDA Group
Designing and building a contemporary set for a kitchen appliances photo shoot.
Who Are CDA?
As the UK’s fastest-growing appliance manufacturer, CDA prides itself on offering customers excellent quality kitchen products at affordable prices.
Established in 1991, the company now manufactures a wide range of kitchen appliances for the UK market. CDA do it all, from cookers, ovens and hobs to dishwashers, wine coolers and washing machines.
Their products are designed with modern living in mind, boasting excellent functionality, stylish aesthetics, and the latest technology to make their customer’s lives easier.
Brief
Prodoto was approached with an exciting lifestyle photo shoot brief by The CDA Group working alongside Childs Brand Partners. The project involved creating a modern kitchen set that would lend itself to aspirational images for their product brochures, online presence, and printed advertisements.
Childs Brand Partners worked on the creative direction of the lifestyle shoot, drawing up initial concepts for the set. A mood board was created, gathering inspiration from modern kitchen trends.
This would create the setting for a range of appliances. Five different hobs were shot, all of varying sizes, plus four extractors, a fridge-freezer, a sink and tap, plus two cookers on a separate set. All the wall cabinets needed to be removable to accommodate for the changes in appliances. The shoot was planned for four days, with some of the CDA team attending with Matt Childs from Childs Brand Partners.
Set Build
Our in-house set build team got to work in our second studio, building a bespoke kitchen set from scratch. The set followed direction from the mood board - a contemporary design with grey marble worktops and breakfast bar island. The flooring had a natural wood appearance, plus French doors were included to provide a bright and fresh feel to the set.
The appliances were to be plugged-in and functional to display their abilities. Plus, the kitchen island needed to have running water to demonstrate the taps and have an interchangeable layout to shoot either the hob or a sink.
With two ovens stacked vertically, integrated appliances, and a kitchen island featuring an induction hob, the set achieved an aspirational look.
Styling
Kirsty Saxon, an experienced stylist was brought in to create a modern living feel to the images. Specific props were chosen to provide a realistic lifestyle look and tell a story of a stylish home that would appeal to CDA’s customers.
Props focussed on a natural theme with plants, terracotta pots, and wooden utensils. The white marble provided contrast to the green and earthy colours. Accents of pink also appeared in the finer details such as a piece of artwork and a tea towel – enough to add interest whilst maintaining the minimalist contemporary aesthetic.
Additionally, the shoot was to include food to demonstrate the appliances. We had a fully stocked fridge, steak on the grill, and a stir fry sizzling in a wok – all styled to look natural and beautiful.
The Shoot
Our Photography Manager, Paul, was behind the camera for the shoot, working with Matt and CDA to achieve the perfect images. It was important to highlight the features of each appliance. Many had small details, illuminated icons, and shiny surfaces which meant the lighting had to be spot on.
We brought in a smoke machine to demonstrate the effectiveness of one of CDA’s built-in extractor units. Although tricky at first, we managed to get the smoke in the right place, showing the extractor unit in use.
Throughout the shoot, we wanted to give the impression that natural lighting was coming into the kitchen, all whilst controlling the shadows. We used hard lighting, giving the effect of daylight coming in through the window, but balancing this to show the products to their full extent. We also dimmed the lighting for an evening feel on several shots, propping this with wine glasses to complete the look.
A big thank you to the exceptional team at Prodoto for their outstanding work on our recent lifestyle photo shoot. Their meticulous attention to detail and creative expertise have truly elevated our appliances, showcasing them in a way that highlights their design and functionality.
End Uses
The shots were edited by our post-production team, polishing the images and completing the garden view through the french doors, reinforcing the light and airy feel.
The final images have been used across retailer websites, in-store point of sale, in training guides as well as across social media channels.
We are delighted with the results and very appreciative of the effort and professionalism shown throughout the entire process. If you're seeking high-quality photography that captures the essence of your brand, we highly recommend Prodoto.
Additional Videos
When the shoot was finished, our team utilised the set to film several lifestyle videos. We wanted to demonstrate how different techniques could be used to achieve a range of styles using the same set.
We produced two sequences - a fun creative advert style video, and a stylistic commercial sequence.
Our teams let their creativity flow during these videos, trying out ideas and having fun in the edit too!
Below is the commercial style video that focusses on the appliances in a lifestyle narrative.
Our Team Explain How They Made It
Watch all the videos we created using the set.
Plus our team take you behind the scenes to talk about how they created the different styles.
