Niche cabinet solutions abound in this kitchen renovation

What does luxurious imply when referencing a kitchen? Beautiful, tactile surfaces? Abundant natural light? Great work triangles and plenty of custom storage? This kitchen achieves all of this while deftly marrying to its period home.

The reworked kitchen forms part of designer Sarah Robertson’s own home – a 1920s Craftsman that has been in her husband’s family since 1940. The original kitchen had already been replaced in the late 1980s, but the layout had been choppy, dark and closed off from other rooms.

To provide sufficient space for an enlarged kitchen-family living zone that also opens to the dining area, Robertson first removed a former maid’s room and an existing bathroom.

“We wanted the new kitchen to feel original to this quaint home, which boasts original brass electrical switches, hardwood floors, plaster arches and French windows throughout,” she says. 

The designer/homeowner also wanted the kitchen to be flooded with light all through the day, which required windows on all three walls.

“To achieve these things, we introduced new windows into the kitchen – specified with black stained frames, unlacquered brass latches and window stays to match the original windows in the home,” the designer says. “To maximise window height, we added steel plates over window headers to meet structural codes.”

Modern ventilation technology allowed for the cooktop to be placed in front of a window, providing the cook with views while cooking.

Another key part of the material palette, a character walnut island benchtop brings warmth and patina to the workspace. And the interiors of all the cabinetry and bar cabinets are crafted from the same dark walnut, as are the floating wall display shelves, bringing harmony and consistency in the design.

“Semi-industrial metal touches – both warm and cold – abound,” says Robertson. “Vintage industrial stools have a patina on their legs that matches the custom graphite laminate featured on both the front of the fridge and the oven door.

“Plus, hand-patinated brass wire cabinet door mesh matches the brass hardware, and window accents and lends a rustic feel. Custom light fixtures throughout the kitchen merge the patinated steel, warm brass and walnut.”

“The countertop-to-ceiling splashback was a challenge,” says Robertson. “In the end, we chose a custom-mixed dark grout to pull the Asian statuary tiles together with the perimeter granite benchtops, at the same time adding a layer of texture to the entire kitchen.

“Since there was very little wall area in the kitchen, window casings were eliminated, allowing for more surface area for the tile to carry visual impact.”

The kitchen is as rich in storage solutions as it is in material presence. To ensure that not a centimetre of space was wasted, the cabinetry was fitted with organisational elements – for example, benchtop-to-ceiling cabinetry flanks the sink utilising valuable corner space often wasted in kitchen layouts.

Individual custom storage solutions include a special drawer for tea storage; a deep, internally divided drawer for pots and saucepans; and a toekick drawer for the cat’s food bowl that slides away out of sight when not in use.

Technological helpers in the kitchen include a toe-kick water valve for hands-free tap use, an in-drawer charger outlet and an automated opener for the waste and compost drawer.

Story by: Charles Moxham

Photography by: Adam Kane Macchia, Macchia Photo; and Tim Lenz