A super kitchen is the most coveted room in the house. Indeed they have become the heart of the home, so it’s hard to believe, only last century they were usually relegated to a small corner at the back of the house.
With the rise and popularity of the TV chef the most important aspects of our new kitchens fall into loosely six categories;
- State of the art appliances; meaning, top quality ovens, preferable in stainless steel; inbuilt microwaves, warming and steam ovens, integrated dishwashers, gas hot plates and built in coffee makers, are de-rigueur.
- Super storage with clever multi-tiered drawers from manufacture like Blum are changing the way drawers and doors function. You can have drawers in the kickboards to house flat trays and platters; pull out pantries, lift up doors on overhead cabinets; appliance cupboards to hide toasters and kettles, to keep benchtops clear and neat.
- Spacious counter tops are now marble, stone, quarts, stainless steel and timber with sometimes two or three different tops in the same kitchen.
- The humble rubbish bin has come into its own with up to four bins to separate the kitchen scraps, paper, bottles and tins along with hands free mechanisms so you can open and close with a bump of the hip.
- Larger kitchens are now coveted and many a revamp will include removing a wall for extra space, with tops to include spacious breakfast bars as more families gather and connect in the kitchen.
- Aesthetics and colour; for a good decade or more the all-white kitchen has dominated the scene however grey, in all its shades is starting to take hold as clients are looking for variety, individuality, and soul, Indeed designers are looking at a more nuanced aesthetic, introducing texture, light and shade and personality into their designs.
The kitchen featured above has a mix of cabinet profiles, such as shaker, tongue & groove & flat panels, all used together with shots of colour such as green with a punch of timber. Adding to the eclectic mix the counter tops are also layered, using stainless steel around the sink, stone on the prep areas and timber on the peninsular with a black drum cabinet and custom made lighting from Coco Reynolds in Melbourne as the hero piece. Even so, this kitchen still ‘reads’ as a white kitchen albeit with a few surprises.
The black and white kitchen in the feature shot above with the the sharp green on the splashback is the hero of the room. The beauty of this approach is, in the future, the green splashback can be changed without much cost and the whole kitchen would be transformed and made new again.
Our homes will always be evolving but I am sure the ‘heart’ will stay in the kitchen.
Thank you to Glen Ward from Glenpenny Design in Perth for this article. You can contact Glen on glenpennydesign@optusnet.com.au
