The Elwood’s nearly completed, architecturally designed, Mellons Bay abode is spacious and open with large original artworks and stylishly comfortable furniture, with which the kitchen needed to blend seamlessly.
It’s easy to detect Penny’s deft hand with colour and design. Attending Nanette Cameron’s interior design course several years ago helped fuel a passion for creating successful interior spaces. Being married to Russell, a builder-developer with a reputation for detail, has encouraged her to further hone her skills.
Setting the décor scene, a customised Resene colour called Black-White (white with a touch of black) together with blonded Tasmanian Oak flooring feature throughout the living spaces, including the kitchen, where Penny wanted to keep colour to a minimum. “Colour attracts the eye and I wanted to keep its use for other areas.”
While the house largely determined the kitchen’s style, Penny still needed the skills of an experienced designer. Annette Jenkins from Superior Kitchens assisted with the finer details and the pair decided on the overall look – white lacquered cabinetry with negative aluminium detailing, stonex benchtops, stainless steel appliances and Hafele componentry, plus a couple of other stunning features.
Drawers comprise all the cabinetry except for two large glass-covered pantry doors. Penny believes drawers are far superior to cupboards and says they hold a surprisingly large amount – important for a non-minimalist! The island bar – at 1m x 2.10m – marks the kitchen’s perimeter with the living area and gives Penny a clear view of the family action. Furthermore, she finds one large deep sink – nearly 500mm square – works better than the double sink in her previous kitchen.
A 900mm De Longhi stove with gas hobs and electric oven takes centre stage on the bench behind the island and is superbly served by a recessed extractor fan. Penny didn’t want a fan as a feature because it would dominate the space, and hidden from view, the rangehood meets the seamless brief. The glass splashback has been tinted with a dash more black than appears on the walls – the resulting grey creating a subtle contrast.
The east wall contains several of Penny’s favourite features – a convection oven and microwave combined, with space underneath for another drawer. And rather than have one pull-out pantry (another culinary innovation which hasn’t worked for Penny) she opted for two large glass fronted cupboards – 2.4m high x 750mm wide – on either side of the double fridge. One cupboard holds all the food items with the other taking crockery and glassware.
A common complaint cooks have of minimalist kitchens is the task of keeping them tidy, which isn’t an issue here. Penny’s no fan of gimmickry and owns few small appliances, which tend to clutter benchtops.
“The food blender is about all I need. The more you have, the more you have to store.”
Now all that remains to complete the job is the installation of a workstation, also designed by Annette. The antique table, which currently holds the computer, fax and other bits and pieces, will soon make room for a stonex desktop and vertical, double-opening Hafele cupboards combining display shelves and storage.
Clever lighting creates a pleasing ambience in this well-designed space. Three halogens illuminate the island from underneath the recess and this theme is repeated with another three lights illuminating the rear space. Each evening when Penny has finished in the kitchen she switches off the main lights, leaving the halogens glowing in the background.
And for that quintessential finishing touch, yucca tips feature in three white planters (a perfect match with the benchtop and bought for a song at King’s Plant Barn) placed above the cabinets on the back wall. The effect is one of simple sophistication.
Overall, Penny’s very happy with her new kitchen, but when pressed admits to one small niggle. “The window on the east wall is 1.5m wide by 500mm high and takes up about two thirds of the space above the cupboards. I often think it would have looked better taking up the entire area but the architect thought a smaller window would give more privacy.
“Privacy may or may not have been an issue and I wish I’d looked into it more thoroughly. Trying to figure out how a finished house will look from the plans is difficult for most people, but I’ve learnt it’s important to visualise the end result as closely as possible because it’s too late once the house is built!”
But Penny says this is just a small point: “The kitchen looks fantastic, works really well and we’re delighted with it.”
