Sue Stubbs
Symmetry is key to many a standout design, and this airy kitchen is a case in point. But it wasn’t always such a picture of proportion – when owner Liz and her family first bought the home, the kitchen was dominated by heavy timber cabinetry and suffered from a poorly planned layout.
Kitchen designer Mathew Chave of Collaroy Kitchen Centre came on-board to give the space a fresh look. He dismantled the obtrusive screen and shortened the island bench by about 45cm to open up the kitchen and provide easier access to the outdoors. “We wanted to create a bright, light and more balanced space,” explains Mathew, who broke up the overwhelming block of cabinetry by repositioning the fridge and double oven at opposite ends of the kitchen, with a cooking zone in-between. The new symmetrical look is also far more functional – Blum touch-to-open cabinetry lifts up rather than out above the cooktop, and the fridge is framed by a removable surround in case Liz decides to buy a bigger model at a later date.
Kitchen designer Mathew Chave cleverly divided the island benchtop into entertaining and prep zones, using two different materials and bench heights (above). A 20mm pencil-edge Caesarstone surface in Walnut acts as the workspace, while a slab of Lamicolor laminate in Copper, with a thicker 60mm square edge, extends from the bench to create a casual seating area.
