Description of the House, its local & occupants
Our team was introduced to this early 1900’s Victorian terrace in Sydney's prestigious suburb of Woollahra late. Strip-out had already commenced and neglect in maintaining this three level home was evident. This ugly duckling had the capabilities of becoming an incredibly beautiful home to a young professional couple and their teenage daughter.
The Brief
With their love of everything French, the kitchen space needed to recreate that stylish “Parisian” feel the client had grown to adore. Not huge fans of cooking the clients main wish was that the kitchen meld into its surroundings but at the same time be something of beauty and yet functional. It had to be light and bright with great use of space.
CLIENT REQUIREMENTS:
· A kitchen that almost disappears
· Had to be striking
· Parisian Style
· Rarely cooked at home
· Good transition and work flow thru the terrace
· Did not want to see appliances
· Good use of light both natural and artificial
· Central hub of the home
CONSTRAINTS: -
· Existing location of kitchen did not compliment todays living style. Kitchen was located at the furthest point of the interior – it had to relocate.
· Small space with two hallways – spacial planning was paramount.
· Husband works overseas and is only in the Australia four days per month
· White palette
Design Statement - How the requirements of the client brief were achieved & problems solved
It was evident early in the design process that the kitchen had to relocate from the rear of the terrace and move to a more central part of the home. The designer chose to centralise the kitchen parallel with the base of the stairs, and adjacent to the formal lounge and front entry. This was achieved by closing off an opening created sometime in the 80’s (a square and unsightly addition) and adding a new entry point, a beautiful archway mirroring and complimenting the existing period features. The kitchen was now on show, a visual delight revealing itself (or not) to visitors as they entered the living area of the home.
Parisian styled wall panelling painted brilliant white and a modern take on the traditional herringbone timber floor were the main French influences. To create a modern twist, longer sections of timber were used and a dark chocolate stain with matt polyurethane coating finished the boards. A great foundation for the kitchen when insitu.
The wall elevation of this kitchen is home to the cooking. Open, the marble cooking compartment is breathtakingly beautiful, a real feature. Closed the panelling conceal joinery from view. The clever concealment of this kitchen is achieved by way of panelled pocket doors matching the wall panelling. This new system glides and opens effortlessly to reveal a large work zone. Here not only cooking can take place, but small appliances can reside. Integrated LED lighting is activated when the bi-fold door opens so there is no looking for the switch when in need.
Also concealed to the left of tall run of joinery is the wall oven and microwave. To the right the two integrated fridges reside. Electronic door openers were applied to the fridge and freezer to eliminate the need for large pull handles on the doors. The big advantage of these electronic openers is they will automatically close the door if it is left ajar…amazing technology.
Drawers below the concealed cooktop section are all Blum Servo Drive push to open electronic controlled for easy access. It meant the designer could eliminate the use of handles to give the illusion that the kitchen was only an island unit.
With all this concealment of appliances, special consideration to the design of adequate ventilation had be paramount. Rear voids, bottom voids and shortened depth of cabinets allow for airflow through. Snap vents for air intake are also positioned for refrigerators where required.
Finishes are light and bright. Beautiful hand picked honed and mitred Calcutta marble to the tops and vertical panels of both the island and cooktop are complimented with white matt polyurethane doors and a hand made French Oak timber servery top. To add some contrast all internal carcases are in a dark grey melamine to create theatre and contrast.
The result is a space oozes Parisian pizazz!
This kitchen design and renovation project was a great challenge for Minosa, we do not generally produce provincial design so we really wanted to add a modern touch to a classic style. We hope you have enjoyed these images are much as we did creating them.
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