The original kitchen was 12 years old, but hadn’t last well and had poor tall-storage planning. With their new kitchen, our clients wanted to make a splash. They wanted to keep it traditional, but with leaning towards more contemporary lines. They were happy with the location of their appliances, but wanted more bench space and some seating at the island, plus a spot to hideaway appliances, cookbooks and an infrequently used microwave, and also storage for a stepladder and vacuum. They also wanted oils and spices on hand for food prep, and had already chosen their new fridge.

Because all the appliances were to be in the same place, we kept the cabinetry and the kitchen island in roughly the same layout. The existing tall storage cabinets along the wall at the far end of the kitchen were removed and replaced by a more ergonomic, full-height pantry and storage cabinetry. I then took advantage of the deep benchtops by creating an on-bench pantry/prep centre behind a set of bi-fold doors. For contrast, we had these doors coated in an aged brass metallic finish by Metalier, which relates back to colour of the existing door and window latches.

On the island, we moved the seating area to the near end, away from the cooking and prep area, as this is a far more practical place for guests and family to gather when entertaining. By using ‘furniture-style’ legs, this had the effect of breaking up the mass of the island, and also connecting it to the rest of the open-plan living/dining area.

On the back wall, above the cooktop, we designed a custom cabinet for the overhead extractor that matched the rest of the cabinetry in the kitchen. This unit is backlit with LEDs to highlight its presence and to add drama. For the splashback, beautiful handcrafted tiles were laid vertically to make feature of the height of the space.

A lay-on bead detail was chose for the cabinetry fronts, rather than a framed door. This detail adds a the traditional look requested, but overall feel stays very clean and contemporary through the use of negative detail pulls and a white paint finish. The choice of white ovens and an integrated dishwasher also help keep the look clean and crisp.

A drinks area was added to the original scope of the project, around the corner from the kitchen. Here, on-bench storage with bi-folds was added above an integrated drinks fridge and bottle store drawer.