TeKāuta (cooking house)

Designed by Morgan Cronin, Cronin Kitchens

From the designer:

As the name TeKāuta suggests, the person who does most of the cooking in this home is very proud of her heritage, and the room that contains the kitchen is where family gathers. 

My owners did not want to change anything outside of the room that contained the kitchen, so the brief was to design a modern, minimalist kitchen that was aesthetically sympathetic to the existing home. 

The brief also included seating for six at the island, natural stone benchtops, and a long list of specific appliances – some of which were in the original kitchen.

Designer's challenge

The owners and I spent weeks looking for a natural stone that would suit the new modern aesthetic while also working with the existing beige wall colour – unfortunately, everything we looked at was too grey or too yellow.

Design response

I looked at the space and came up with defined lines at the three exit points of the room where we could subtly change the wall and ceiling colour to a more conducive tone without changing the colour of the whole house. 

Although subtle, this allowed more scope for choosing the stone, and Berrini Quartzite was soon agreed upon.

The new kitchen is large and proportionate to the room and the house while the benchtop is balanced with ample seating for whānau. 

The minimal, timeless colour palette does not compete with the existing aesthetic and sits beautifully on the white oak flooring. 

The glass extractor canopy pays homage to the existing kitchen’s glass cavity slide doors and the glass that is a feature of the home’s architecture. 

Designed by: Morgan Cronin, Cronin Kitchens

Story by: Trendsideas

Photography by: Kallan Macleod