From the desert to the sea

Designed by Concepts by Gavin Hepper

From the designer:

Taking its cues and inspiration from the Palm Springs style, emphasising simplicity, clean lines and a bright, airy feel, this kitchen showcases design and functionality as the ultimate family entertainer in this stunning space.   

The design brief for this new build on the NSW South Coast was focused around the owners' love of entertaining.  

For this family, with three young boys, the connection across the interior kitchen, living, dining to the outdoor kitchen, dining, lounge spaces was essential to their coastal lifestyle.   

To maximise the floorplan and facilitate entertaining opportunities, our spatial design was at the forefront of functionality – ie: the linear symmetry of the working kitchen, with all services on the one wall – cooking, preparation and cleaning.

Without overhead cabinetry, the space is keep light, not imposing; functional storage has been included in a joinery ‘hub’ – a peninsula that includes a bar zone, the fridge and around to the walk-in pantry.  

The design ensures privacy at the end of the kitchen with the fridge accessible but not visible.   

The pantry end of the kitchen is also accessible internally from the garage; to maximise convenience we have allowed a ‘drop zone’ for groceries at the entrance to the pantry.

Parallel to this is an elegant piece of 'furniture' – the outer curves of the island adding a softness to the space, hovering from the floor on its pedestal.  

The owners' request for no seating or services at the island has ensured it is maximised with storage.  

The island's curves are echoed in the rangehood casement.

Rather than embracing the bright colour palettes of Palm Springs, we have infused our coastal location and the desert sands inspiration into a layered neutral palette – highlighting the textures in our materiality to provide a calming backdrop for entertaining.

Starting with the splashback tile, featuring a matt glaze with slight texture and irregular markings embracing a natural colour movement.  

This tile has been used across several spaces throughout this new build, from multiple bathrooms, laundry and into the kitchen, ensuring a cohesiveness across other spaces within the home.   

We have then layered the neutral colour palette, drawing out those organic tones into a warm beached timber finish on the joinery, from Farmers Doors, enhancing the property's connection to its coastal location.  

Designed for a busy young family we have also used robust materials, fit for purpose, in these high traffic entertaining zones.   

Fenix, has been utilised across the island, walk in pantry and bar zone.

With its low light reflectivity, opaque surface and anti-fingerprint technology, this tactile soft touch material is a calming base for the layered textures surrounding it.   

The benchtop material is Neolith* sintered stone, in Iron Frost with a satin finish – this has a slight visual surface texture and also features in the customised bar area.

From a number of perspectives, the visual connection to the outdoor entertaining area embraces the indoor/outdoor lifestyle with its iconic breeze blocks, and a repeat of the Neolith benchtop and tile in the outdoor kitchen/bbq area echoing the indoor materiality choices.  

There is now a visual flow from interior to exterior and the outdoor kitchen.

The dedicated lighting plan features surface mounted LED strip lighting, highlighting the rangehood – so it appears to hover off the wall.

This adds a glamorous effect with the smoked glass in the bar zone, and is flush mounted in the ceiling on the back wall of kitchen, creating a seamless wash of light.

As a forever home for this family we wanted to ensure that the materials were robust and functional but also sustainable.  

This has been achieved through the use of carbon neutral – Fenix on our joinery, Neolith benchtop surfaces – zero waste production and carbon neutral.

Plus, the Farmers Doors timber veneer on our joinery along with waterbourne paint systems and sustainably sourced timbers.                                                      

The kitchen's layered neutral colour palette, highlighted by warm timber, and inside/out connectivity create an entertainers' dream and an understated, seamlessly blended of Palm Springs vibe meets coastal luxe living.

Designed by: Concepts by Gavin Hepper

Story by: Trendsideas

Photography by: Ryan Unwin for MMCreative