Designing Kitchen renovations - Part 2

All about kitchen renovations - Interview, Part 2

Kitchens: responding to the times + Ballarat House

Ballarat House - Loch Avenue

This Federation-style home conceals a new two-storey contemporary wing that’s not visible in its heritage streetscape. As with the period home which features generous ceiling heights, there’s a two-storey void above the new kitchen, a space that was conceived for welcoming and entertaining guests.

For the owners, one having worked in Asia, part of the brief to Here Studio was to include appliances that would allow cooking Asian food. He was also keen to have a commercial feel to this kitchen – hence there are commercial grade burners on the stainless-steel island bench and a semi-commercial oven. Large built-in operable steel racks on either side of the oven allow for heavy pots and pans to be easily retrieved. And on one side of the island bench is a blackbutt shelve for guests to comfortably rest their elbows while perhaps having a cocktail before dinner is served. While not apparent to the naked eye, the floor is a reconstituted terrazzo with fine brass insets set within a handful of these tiles to add an element of surprise. And picking up on the verdant garden is two pack MDF joinery in a deep forest green.

A kitchen is designed to be cooked in, and beautiful.

There are other options - colour + texture

Many feel that a kitchen isn’t a kitchen unless it’s made with stone or marble. Others feel that a kitchen has to be clinical and all in white. However, Here Studio often comes up with more innovative and also colourful solutions, as well as creating texture, whether this is through the use of brass handles or applied surfaces that add depth and interest to a space. In the example of a kitchenette designed for an older person with failing eyesight and who was moving in with her family, a palette of green hues was used for the kitchen joinery.

Here Studio understands the importance of colour and texture in kitchens, and using colours in a band of complimentary hues as well as on their own adds depth and a level of engagement that goes well beyond the surface or a singular material.

A stunning kitchen, with the cooktop bench as the centre piece in this architecture renovation in Ballarat.

Text by Stephen Crafti.

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