The people making timber benchtops made to be lived with

Long after trends have changed, a timber benchtop continues doing what it was made for. Families gather around for regular weeknight dinners and celebrations, each year adding a richer patina that records the memories of those moments. When the surface eventually shows the marks of a life well lived, it can be restored rather than replaced, keeping traditions unchanged. 

For more than three decades, every piece that leaves The Woodsmiths’ Maungaturoto workshop, inland from Mangawhai, has been crafted with that same intention: to be lived with for decades.  

“I joined the business only a few years after my father started it,” shares Daryl Boakes, who now works alongside his brother, while the next generation has also joined the business, with his daughter overseeing logistics and finance and his son in the business development team. “I began on the workshop floor as an apprentice furniture maker and over the years I’ve done just about every role in the business.”

Furniture making is where The Woodsmiths began. But as imported furniture began to reshape the New Zealand market, the team recognised the opportunity to apply its expertise elsewhere. Rather than competing with mass production, they focused on what couldn’t be replicated at scale.  

“We saw the future in supplying quality timber products to kitchen makers and joiners. That’s where we could really add value.” 

Today, The Woodsmiths works with kitchen manufacturers, designers and cabinetmakers across New Zealand, producing custom timber benchtops alongside other architectural elements such as doors and stair treads.

For every project, The Woodsmiths become an extension of the design team. 

“We’ve become solid wood specialists,” says Daryl. We’re not just supplying a product, we’re supplying a solution.” 

Unlike mass-produced surfaces, timber changes and develops a relationship with the people who use it every day.

“It’s usually the first thing people notice. Customers tell us all the time that when friends or family visit, the benchtop is what everyone comments on.”

Timber isn’t intended to be hidden. It’s designed to be lived with, touched and appreciated for decades. For Daryl and his team, that emotional connection matters just as much as the technical precision behind every piece. 

In the workshop, each benchtop moves through multiple stages of machining, laminating, CNC cutting, hand-finishing and coating. 

“It’s the finish that really counts. That’s what gives the product its longevity.”

After three decades of crafting benchtops, the workshop is now seeing some of its earliest projects return. Not because they’ve reached the end of their life, but because they’ve been well used and loved, and their owners want to continue enjoying them for years to come.

“We’re now seeing benchtops that have been in homes for more than 20 years coming back to be resurfaced. They can be brought back to life rather than thrown away.”

It’s perhaps the clearest expression of The Woodsmiths’ philosophy. A solid timber benchtop isn’t designed for only one season. It can be refinished, repaired, repurposed and adapted long after other surfaces have reached the end of their lifespan. 

“Every benchtop is unique,” says Daryl. “The grain, the colour, the character. No two are ever the same.”

Explore The Woodsmiths’ work on ArchiPro, along with a collection of products, projects, and architects and designers to collaborate with.