What should your new kitchen have? When planning a renovation, keep these tips in mind.
From the latest appliances to useful design trends, we’ve rounded up some of the must-haves for renovating your kitchen.
The right kind of oven
Your kitchen is where the magic happens so it’s important to select an oven that suits your cooking needs as well as the style and space of your home.
With so many oven options available, you need to select the right one for you. Do you want a statement kitchen piece with a freestanding cooker? Or a built-in oven that can be placed within the cabinetry or wall?
Wall mounted ovens can be more stylish and convenient. Picture: Bosch
When it comes to placement, seasoned renovator and professional interior stylist Sarah Yarrow advises that wall mounting your oven can be the most convenient option.
“I really love a wall oven, as opposed to an oven under the bench,” Sarah says. “I think it’s much more practical to get things in and out of.”
Sarah adds that if you need extra cooking capacity, you can even wall mount two ovens, like the stylish and minimal Bosch Series 8 range.
A pop of colour
Over the past decade, kitchens have stuck to fairly neutral colour palettes. Now, people are getting excited to reintroduce colour into their homes.
Non-white kitchens, like this one, are all the rage. Picture: Porter Davis
“I just did a kitchen where the cabinetry was olive green — I put it on Instagram and it’s the most popular image I’ve ever posted,” Sarah reveals.
“People can get a bit scared of doing coloured cabinetry and so on if they don’t have the help of a designer or architect. But there’s an increasing amount of evidence out there to show people you can have a really amazing kitchen that isn’t just white.”
Different materials or material ‘looks’ are also on trend right now. Timber veneers are particularly popular, providing a practical and aesthetic solution to those wanting that texture, depth and interest in their cabinetry or benches.
An all-purpose cooktop
The cooktop you choose can change the style of your home.
Cooking with fire has always been seen as the traditional method of cooking and it feels like home for many which is why you may choose to go with a gas cooktop to bring a warm feeling to your home.
Are you after a more traditional or modern cooktop? Picture: Bosch
If you’re looking for something entirely different, Bosch has a 2-in-1 cooktop with integrated ventilation, which saves you not buying a rangehood, as the ventilation occurs within the module of the cooktop. It can be installed directly into the benchtop, providing you with ultimate planning freedom.
Functional and atmospheric lighting
Kitchens aren’t purely functional spaces any more. We eat, drink, chat and even do our office work in them. Therefore, your lighting should suit more than one purpose.
Try a mixture of lighting solutions, like this modern kitchen in Paddington. Picture: realestate.com.au/buy
“You need a mixture of task and mood lighting in your kitchen,” Sarah says.
“You need strong overhead lighting for cooking and preparation. You could also have an LED strip underneath the upper cabinetry, so when you’re chopping things you get direct lighting.
“Then, I always like to have a softer light to turn on at the end of the night when you’ve cleaned up and you can just sit down and relax. That could be a little wall light or a pendant light, something with a soft globe that gives a nice warm glow to the space.”
Ample storage space
Storage can be a real struggle — especially if you have a smaller kitchen. Sarah offers this advice if you’re short on space:
“Make sure you use every inch of space from floor to ceiling. For instance, have cabinetry above and below the bench, don’t have any open, unused space and use drawers as much as possible.”
Cabinets up top and big drawers down below can be the best kitchen storage solution. Picture: realestate.com.au/buy
In fact, Sarah recommends drawers for kitchens large and small as a better use of storage space. Large, deep drawers can be used for everything from pantry items to dishes, pots, pans and Tupperware.
“Cupboards are a little bit cheaper, but everything gets lost at the back of a cupboard,” Sarah explains. “If you put drawers in, it’s so much more functional; you can pull it out and see everything you have in there.”
A butler’s pantry
For those with space to spare, Sarah says you can’t go past a butler’s pantry for extra storage and convenience.
From being able to easily access your pantry goods, to providing extra space for small, benchtop appliances, a butler’s pantry can be a godsend in a modern kitchen.
“If you’ve got enough space to have a butler’s pantry, it’s such a luxury to get the microwave and other small appliances out of the main kitchen,” Sarah finds.
“A coffee and tea station is so popular now. They’ve been in the last few kitchens I’ve built and they all have their little hub on the outskirts of the kitchen.”
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