The kitchen has been called the heart of the home for as long as anyone can remember. The utilitarian room is where newly arrived family members gather before being reluctantly ordered out by the self-proclaimed family chef, where children spend the pre-dinner homework hour and where girlfriends gossip into the wee hours of the morning over a tub of ice cream (or is that only in movies?).
Whatever it is to a home, the importance of a well-designed kitchen is obvious. On the flip side, it’s also notoriously difficult to make your own. Less-than-attractive appliances, food preparation utensils and laundry items, although essential, rarely communicate a stylish space.
We turned to the professionals for a dose of designer kitchen ideas and, in the process, discovered the true potential of this home workhorse. Warning: expect kitchens to become your new design obsession.
KITCHEN DESIGN IDEA 1: MIRROR LOVE
Greg Natale’s revival of a quintessential Parisian wall treatment in a Melbourne family home (above) brings style heritage to a Natale-signature dark and moody kitchen. Its wall of antique mirror tiles proves a fitting background for a wall-mounted, distressed metal drinks unit which blends in seamlessly for an old-world City of Lights touch.
The simplicity of the chocolate-hued cabinetry offers a contemporaneity as does an industrial pendant light of hanging canisters and a minimal brass fruit bowl.
KITCHEN DESIGN IDEA 2: MODERN-DAY MASTERPIECE
As delectable as the treats it showcases, the kitchen of LA designer Kelly Wearstler capitalises on the designer’s confident design attitude and her ability to upgrade any material beyond its usual status.
Making even the least likely of materials feel inviting and what would feel clinical when executed by the hands of any other designer, this full metal, industrial-inspired masterpiece exudes a traditional charm (in keeping with its environment) whilst maintaining a serious next-big-thing appeal.
The contrasting gold and silver-hued metals of the cabinetry are mirrored by two Kelly Wearstler Marmont barstools and a wood-like wall treatment juxtaposes two salmon pink and aubergine runners.
KITCHEN DESIGN IDEA 3: GOLDEN AGE
Jean-Louis Deniot’s own Paris kitchen is simply beautiful and beautifully simple. By reimagining unembellished cabinetry in a subtle, hammered metal gold, the Parisian designer achieves effortless glamour.
Combined with floor to ceiling mirrored pantry doors, a triple pendant light and beautifully veined marble (which is used in a deliberate mismatched arrangement on the floor), the room really needs nothing else.
A lodestar for designing small spaces to say the least.
