From legal chambers to New York feel loft

Designed by Nicola Manning, Nicola Manning Design

From the kitchen/interior designer:

Our homeowner has had his barrister chambers in a central CBD building for over twenty years. 

As he was approaching retirement, he and his wife decided to convert the “office space” into an inner-city apartment.

Their brief was to transform the staff lunchroom and storage space into the heart of the new apartment and create a modern kitchen with a slight industrial edge. 

The overall brief for the apartment was to create a “New York loft” feel.

There were several challenges with this space we had to work around. 

Firstly, the services to the floors above ran through the main “back wall” of the kitchen which limited the depth of cabinetry we could place here. 

Secondly, the kitchen space is triangular with tight corners.

In response, a wall was removed on the hallway side of the kitchen to create a wider hallway and the kitchen became bordered by the central hallway through the apartment.

The steel window joinery throughout the apartment was an inspiration for the use of a predominantly black colour palette in this kitchen. 

This contrasts beautifully with the light oak herringbone floors. 

I used a deep steel clashing around the triangular island bench to anchor the island in the open space and to define the boundary of the kitchen. 

The industrial Dekton Trillion benchtop on the island provides texture and warmth while the corners of the island have been rounded off for safety reasons and also to soften the look.

The main benchtop, under the window, houses the sink and cooktop. 

We wanted to leave that wall clear of any overhead cabinetry and chose to use a Miele cooktop with a built-in extraction unit, vented to outside. 

This benchtop is a bead blasted stainless steel with a shark nose edge, creating a floating effect for the benchtop and providing a strong contrast with the solid steel clashed island. 

The tiles on the wall above are textured and have a butterflied treatment for the tile trim around the edges.

To achieve the required tall storage to house the ovens, fridge and pantry, a compromise had to be made with the position of the fridge. 

The only position that worked for the fridge was at the right-hand end of the tall wall area as the left-hand end angles were too tight to enable the fridge doors to open. 

The central area of this back wall was very shallow due to the services housed behind. 

To utilise this shallow space I created large shallow cupboards and used a sliding door mechanism which enabled access to these cupboards without doors protruding into the access spaces. 

The triangular island is the central feature of the kitchen and reflects the triangular shape of the space.

I created vertical steel fins at each end to complete the triangular lines without making the ends too solid, and to provide texture.

The final result is a modern, industrial styled kitchen in the heart of this converted apartment.

Designed by: Nicola Manning Design

Story by: Trendsideas

Photography by: Mark Scowen