TeKāuta (cooking house)

This contemporary, whānau-friendly kitchen features adroit colour choices that help its stone benchtops connect with the wider interior

With floor-to-ceiling glass sliders drawn back the kitchen

The new kitchen is large and proportionate to

Wood-look floors ground the clean-lined workspace.

Berrini Honed Quartzite benchtops are a feature of

The kitchen offers plenty of room for two

Wall ovens keep the space sleek and stream-lined.

The benchtop is balanced, with ample seating for

As the name TeKāuta suggests, the person who

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.

Credit list

Kitchen designer

Morgan Cronin, Cronin Kitchens

Cabinetry hardware

Kesssebohmer Chrome Vegetable drawer and Ninka Anthracite Bin frame with 2 x 26ltr bins, from Hafele; Blum Uno Single Servo Drive electronic opener for bins; Blum Black Hinges and Blum Legrabox Terra Black drawers with Walnut Cutlery trays, utensil dividers; Knife and Bottle store tray set; pantry doors bi-folding on Hettich Wing Line track system

Kitchen sinks

Blanco 480/320-U in White, from Hafele

Combination steam oven, oven, warming drawer, microwave, gas cooktop, ventilation, fridges

Miele

Lighting

Warm white LED lighting, from Brightlight

Awards

Trends International Design Awards (TIDA) Kitchens – Highly Commended

Cabinetry

Doors and panels constructed using 18mm thick MROE board from Laminex; Ullrich Aluminium recessed handle rails and solid pine toe kick faces all coated with a satin finish Polyurethane to match Resene ¼ Blanc by Wallace Furniture Finishers; extractor box clad with toughened low iron glass with painted backing to the Miele oven colour; carcass interiors – all black melamine on moisture resistant MREO, from Mulford Plastics