Kitchens have been changing for the better part of a century, most radically with modernism and the shift to open-plan living, when these busy spaces came out of the back room and into the heart of family life. More recently, we’ve seen another shift.
The scullery isn’t going anywhere
Scullery, butler’s pantry, utility room. Call it what you like, it’s not going anywhere in a hurry. The usefulness of a room dedicated to usefulness cannot be underestimated, especially in open-plan houses or those where space is at a premium. But this room has evolved. Where once it had a sink and maybe a wine fridge, it increasingly hosts an extraordinary range of functions: laundry, dishwashers, ovens, and even a WC if space allows. In a recent project, Sarosh Mulla, of Pac Studio, created what the clients call a “gross room” behind the kitchen – a combination of storage, utility and a second WC. “It’s becoming a common thing for us,” he says. “It takes the pressure off the main bathroom.”
Kitchens as part of the interior design
There’s a shift to warmth and tactility in kitchens, even at their most minimalist. Colours are muddied and warm, while timber and materials such as terracotta and stone play a central role. Tiles are warm, and hardware is often in soft tones: copper and brass, or brushed stainless, rather than shiny chrome. We’ve also noticed a tendency to lift cabinetry up on exposed legs rather than toe-kicks. In the home of interior designer Alex McLeod (at.space) which she designed with architect Natasha Markham (MAUD), her approach to the kitchen matched the soothing tones and tactile materials elsewhere in the house. “The house has a real softness to it, a richness of textures,” she says. “And that carried into the kitchen.”
Kitchens as furniture
At Waimataruru, our Best House Aotearoa 2022, designer Kristina Pickford integrated the kitchen into a spine of warm cabinetry that runs down the entire southern side of the open-plan living space, wrapping around the entry and eventually morphing into bookshelves and storage. “I really didn’t want to introduce a new material for the kitchen,” says Pickford. “It had to feel like it flowed into the rest of the house, and that it wasn’t a standard kitchen in a defined material and space.” Then, in front of that, Pickford designed a kitchen island from Lawsons cypress, inspired by Japanese farmhouse kitchens. It sits next to an antique Belgian chocolate-maker’s table, which defined the width of the island and brings a casual, loose feeling to the whole space.
Islands are evolving
Where space allows, islands are getting bigger, sometimes taking on all the functions of the kitchen. Done right, this opens things up, promoting circulation and creating multiple work areas – useful for kitchens where families all cook together. In the home of architect Davor Popadich and his wife Abbe, a box of timber cabinetry houses a fridge-freezer and a generous pantry. Everything else is contained in an enormous stainless-steel island. There is almost no cabinetry against the walls, allowing more windows and a better connection to outside. It’s also very practical for a crowd. “We really wanted to be able to have as many people here as possible,” says Abbe. “We want to encourage people to come and see us.”
Some of our favourite kitchens have done away with the island altogether. This gives a casual feeling to the layout and is great when more than one person is using the space. In two recent projects – his own house in Wadestown, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, and that of his friends and neighbours – architect Craig Burt dispensed with the formal island. In his own house, cabinetry runs along the back wall, and eventually wraps around into a window seat. Next door, in his rework of a tired 100-year-old bungalow, a vintage leaner’s battered details mirror those of a neighbouring bookshelf, and offer a loose place around which to gather. “It was never going to be about a flashy renovation,” he says, “that’s just not who they are or how they live. It needed to be more natural and about craft.”
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