Description
of the House, its local & occupants
Our team was introduced to this
early 1900’s Victorian terrace in Sydney's prestigious suburb of Woollahra late. Strip-out had already commenced and neglect
in maintaining this three level home was evident. This ugly duckling had the capabilities of
becoming an incredibly beautiful home to a young professional couple and their
teenage daughter.
The
Brief
With their love of everything
French, the kitchen space needed to recreate that stylish “Parisian” feel the
client had grown to adore. Not huge fans
of cooking the clients main wish was that the kitchen meld into its
surroundings but at the same time be something of beauty and yet functional. It
had to be light and bright with great use of space.
CLIENT REQUIREMENTS:
·
A kitchen that almost disappears
·
Had to be striking
·
Parisian Style
·
Rarely cooked at home
·
Good transition and work flow thru the terrace
·
Did not want to see appliances
·
Good use of light both natural and artificial
·
Central hub of the home
CONSTRAINTS:
-
·
Existing
location of kitchen did not compliment todays living style. Kitchen was located
at the furthest point of the
interior – it had to relocate.
·
Small
space with two hallways – spacial planning was paramount.
·
Husband
works overseas and is only in the Australia four days per month
·
White
palette
Design Statement - How the requirements of the client
brief were achieved & problems solved
It was
evident early in the design process that the kitchen had to relocate from the rear
of the terrace and move to a more central part of the home. The designer chose to centralise the kitchen
parallel with the base of the stairs, and adjacent to the formal lounge and
front entry. This was achieved by closing
off an opening created sometime in the 80’s (a square and unsightly addition)
and adding a new entry point, a beautiful archway mirroring and complimenting
the existing period features. The
kitchen was now on show, a visual delight revealing itself (or not) to visitors
as they entered the living area of the home.
Parisian
styled wall panelling painted brilliant white and a modern take on the
traditional herringbone timber floor were the main French influences. To create
a modern twist, longer sections of timber were used and a dark chocolate stain
with matt polyurethane coating finished the boards. A great foundation for the
kitchen when insitu.
The
wall elevation of this kitchen is home to the cooking. Open, the marble cooking compartment is
breathtakingly beautiful, a real feature. Closed the panelling conceal joinery
from view. The clever concealment of
this kitchen is achieved by way of panelled pocket doors matching the wall
panelling. This new system glides and opens effortlessly to reveal
a large work zone. Here not only cooking can take place, but small appliances
can reside. Integrated LED lighting is activated when the bi-fold door opens so
there is no looking for the switch when in need.
Also
concealed to the left of tall run of joinery is the wall oven and microwave. To
the right the two integrated fridges reside. Electronic door openers were
applied to the fridge and freezer to eliminate the need for large pull handles
on the doors. The big advantage of these electronic openers is they will automatically
close the door if it is left ajar…amazing technology.
Drawers
below the concealed cooktop section are all Blum Servo Drive push to open
electronic controlled for easy access. It meant the designer could eliminate
the use of handles to give the illusion that the kitchen was only an island
unit.
With
all this concealment of appliances, special consideration to the design of
adequate ventilation had be paramount. Rear voids, bottom voids and shortened
depth of cabinets allow for airflow through.
Snap vents for air intake are also positioned for refrigerators where
required.
Finishes
are light and bright. Beautiful hand
picked honed and mitred Calcutta marble to the tops and vertical panels of both
the island and cooktop are complimented with white matt polyurethane doors and
a hand made French Oak timber servery top. To add some contrast all internal
carcases are in a dark grey melamine to create theatre and contrast.
The
result is a space oozes Parisian pizazz!
This kitchen design and renovation project was a great challenge for Minosa, we do not generally produce provincial design so we really wanted to add a modern touch to a classic style. We hope you have enjoyed these images are much as we did creating them.
