Timber Kitchen

Here is a recently completed family kitchen that I enjoyed working on earlier this year. At our initial meeting, my client stated that she was not after a white kitchen with minimal lines for her villa home - she said this was not her or character of the house. She later explained what she was after was 'Rock'n'Roll Nana' - a great description, right? She is an artist who wanted a kitchen that looked great, wasn't too precious for her creative family and to have her collection of teacups and objects on display.
This is the result - a dark stained timber kitchen with touches of white and vintage style cabinet handles. In contrast we used unstained timber for the two display shelves to highlight the collections. The bench top is stainless steel around the working area and the island is completed with a white high pressure laminate. It was great to visit the kitchen today and see the 'life' that it possesses.

Vintage style pull handles

Industrial bar stools for the island

Square white gloss tiles for the splash back

Contrast between the dark stained and unstained timber.

Photographs by Charlotte Minty.

Modern Melbourne Home

Robson Rak Architects is fast becoming another Australian architecture firm that I am regularly admiring (see this previous post of another stunning Melbourne house they worked on).
This time, they collaborated on this residential renovation and extension with interior designer, Susie Cohen of Made by Cohen. This modern home is in the line up for Houses Award 2014 and was in the  Residential Design short list for Australian Interior Design Awards 2014. It is not hard to see why. Read and see more here.

Photographs by Shannon McGrath via yellowtrace.

Wall Mounted Paper Roller by George and Willy

A client had the above image of the wall mounted paper roller on their Pinterest board and they were keen to find something similar for their new kitchen. I thought we would have to get it made - then boom, I found one. This paper roller is by George and Willy and it's made right here in New Zealand. Perfect.

 

 

Photographs via George and Willy

Kitchen Under Stairs

Here's a kitchen that I designed and had installed earlier this year.
Part of this kitchen is located under the stairs and the previous layout had the fridge and storage here - it was awkward and not well utilised. To solve this, we took the existing stair wall (around the corner) to full height and placed the fridge here, then located the cupboards above right along the back wall. This created more bench top space as well as making it feel  more spacious and streamlined.
A granite bench top was chosen (one half of the client is a geologist so very appropriate) - this one is called Kashmir White and it has dappled garnets throughout. It works beautifully with the white cabinetry.

Photographs by Charlotte Minty.

Scandi Style Kitchen

 

Here is a great Scandinavian style kitchen that has been designed for a Swedish-American family in Brooklyn, New York. I like how the dividers create the spaces without having to build walls - it keeps the overall interior spacious and creates a flow throughout. Read more about it here.

Stainless steel bench top with exposed plywood edge.

This freestanding unit houses the fridge and kitchen storage. It also acts as a dividing wall between spaces.

The divider becomes a bookshelf on the other side towards the living room.

Another built in divider, which houses the coat cupboard, defines the entrance and the living spaces.

 Photographs by Matthew Williams via Remodelista.

Completed Work - New Kitchen

If there is one thing that I been doing a bad job of this year, that would be not taking photos of my work after it has been completed. It is so easy to finish a job and move on to the next one without reflecting on the whole process and enjoying the results. Also, interiors can be difficult to photograph! Excuses aside, I have been calling up a few clients and I'll be slowly going around and recording some of the work done this year.
This hardwearing family kitchen is located in a traditional house in Wellington - the client wanted clean lines, lots of storage and to use traditional materials like timber and stone to give texture.

Upstand detail on kitchen island



Vertical subway tiles

New Emeco bar stools with red leather seats at the breakfast bar 

Photographs by Charlotte Minty.

Butler Sinks

A butler sink in a cabin kitchen from Smitten Studio

I was working on a kitchen design with a client when he mentioned he liked the idea of a butler sink. I haven't used many of these before so I did some visual exploring and now I think the sink is going to look great in the smart contemporary kitchen with traditional details that we have designed.

A large butler sink via Martha Stewart Living.

Blue Kitchen

 

 

 I am working on a lot of kitchens at the moment - so while researching I've noticed that I definitely pause and admire the kitchens with colour. While you can't go wrong with a classic white kitchens, there is something rather lovely about the depth and richness of using a colour, like this calm blue grey one in Copenhagen, designed by Kobenhavns Mobelsnedkeri. It contrast beautifully with the timber floor and the dark hardware.
Photographs via Remodelista.

Green Kitchen

The office is having a frantic week - however, among the chaos I did come across this interesting green european style kitchen. This is the second time this week that I have seen tiles installed on an angle in the kitchen. The other example was a white subway tiles installed in a herringbone pattern, which was rather effective. Food for thought...
Photograph by Sharyn Cairns via Home Life.

Tiled Alcove

Here's a great way to break up the classic Scandi black and white kitchen - a little alcove with contrasting tiles. I visited a client today who has an existing alcove in her kitchen, just like this one, and we both initally thought we would cover it up, but now thinking otherwise...
Photographs via April and May.