Designing Kitchen Renovations - Part 1

All about kitchen renovations - Interview, Part 1

Kitchens: responding to the times + Gisborne House

To finalise the design we started by drawing out the flow of the kithcen in plan – prepare, cook, eat, clean.

Materials

Here Studio has discovered other materials since the aftermath of COVID-19 – responding to both shortages, broken supply chains in the building industry and endeavouring to keep costs down with ‘shifting goal posts’. Builders, joiners and manufacturers have often doubled their hourly rate and timelines for completing projects are often drawn out. These issues also affect practices such as Here Studio which needs to navigate the new world in which it now finds itself.

However, despite these changed conditions, Here Studio has managed to come up with solutions, in terms of materials and sourcing these more often locally rather than relying on overseas suppliers. One example clients have been drawn to is changing from the use of marble from international suppliers to engineered stone – however, this has come with serious health risks for builders and so there is talk of banning its use all altogether. Composite materials are more promising. Where marble is used, it’s often local and slightly duller in tone than the European marbles – but it is distinctively beautiful. A lot of the terrazzo used by Here Studio is sourced from regional Victoria. Plastics – solid surface acrylics – are also being used as in kitchen areas such for benchtops and splashbacks. One of the materials that is becoming more popular is concrete, with suppliers and builders increasing their ability to push the boundaries with its use – sometimes giving it a sense of plasticity in the manner in which it can be formed.

Gisborne House

Here Studio’s use of concrete features extensively in the renovation of a 1980s house – soon to start construction. The rear of the house will include a new open-plan kitchen together with two living areas; a more formal living area on one side and a more casual one on the other. At the core of this area will be a substantial concrete island bench that extends to form a circular concrete bench that will accommodate up to six people. With the island bench itself being 1.3 metres wide and 2 metres in length, it was conceived for the owner who takes his cooking seriously. The kitchen sink and stove are ‘carved’ into the concrete with a substantial flue above. One of the most unusual features of this design is the two separate seating booths, more akin to the type one would see in a restaurant or café. The rationale behind this move can be derived from the clients’ brief, a couple who love entertaining and want to offer their dinner guests different experiences – one of which includes a spectacular view of Mount Macedon. So, rather than having one experience, guests as well as the owners can enjoy different aspects of the property as well as various light conditions. To ensure the kitchen remains free of clutter, there’s an extensive butler’s pantry with generous storage areas.

For Here Studio, the design for the kitchen in the Gisborne house was initiated by understanding how the clients operate in this domain – from preparing meals to as ‘finely grained’ as where they prefer to place their crockery and kitchen appliances.

Materials for this kitchen will include a combination of existing and new. The floors, for example, will feature the original slate while some of the brick walls will simply be painted with a washed finish. Cabinets in the butler’s kitchen will be made from timber veneer and the benchtops in hand-trawled concrete with a pitted finish. Some of the plaster walls will have an acrylic finish that will provide depth and, importantly, texture.

Get in touch to kick off your dream kitchen with Here Studio Architects now.

Text by Stephen Crafti.