Kitchen Design

'The kitchen is the heart of the home' is a common saying and in our family of six that is certainly the case. We went into our Kitchen Culture appointment with a clear idea of what we wanted. We had a mood board with research from sites like Houzz and had even developed some draft elevations ourselves including thoughts on colours and finishes. Robyn from Inspired Interiors also joined us to offer her expertise and advice as a qualified kitchen designer.

Sample mood board

Houzz is a great resource – not only for identifying want you like but just as importantly what you don't like. Our visual research led us towards a palette of white and grey combined with the warmth of timber.

Which Floor Species?

One of the key considerations was the selection of species for the flooring. Blackbutt and Spotted Gum are both popular flooring options. Right now Blackbutt is arguably more in favour but we decided to go with Spotted Gum as we liked the slightly darker colour as well as the greater variation in colour and also the grey veins that run through the boards.

Design

We have kept with Eden Brae's Sandringham kitchen layout – a galley plus an island – with the following changes:

• increased the island bench overhang and added waterfall edges
• added a window splash back
• added overheads above the freestanding oven with a concealed undermount range hood
• added one run of floor cabinets in the WIP
• addition of bulkhead above overhead cabinets
• use of pot drawers

We have stayed with the standard range of inclusions for appliances excluding the fridge which is not included in Eden Brae's kitchen package.

The lighting plan for the kitchen will also be a key consideration. So far we have included LED lighting in the overheads and placement of batons to accommodate three pendants above the island bench.

Draft galley elevation

Draft elevation including island bench

Finishes and Palette

Kitchen base cabinets: Satin Polyurethane in Dulux Mt Eden

Kitchen overheads: Laminex Impressions Sublime Teak Riven Finish

Kichen benchtop: essastone Pure Cloud

Splashback: window and essastone Pure Cloud

Palette for kitchen

WIP base cabinets: Formica Ashphalt (selected to match Dulux Mt Eden)

WIP benchtop: Laminex Fresh Snow (selected to match essastone Pure Cloud)

Palette for walk in pantry