This ‘50s kitchen inspired by the Hollywood diners of old should have been a snap. After all, the owners knew exactly the style they wanted and they even had a cool, but old, kitchen to start with. It’s hard to imagine when you see the result but this could have easily turned into a boulevard of broken dreams before they discovered Space Craft Joinery.

Deborah and Bob own what they call a ‘modest’ Art Déco house in Hazelwood Park, one of Adelaide’s leafy eastern suburbs. Over many years, they’ve lovingly restored it with a great eye for period detail and a lot of panache. The final cherry on the top was to re-visit the kitchen they’d done a quick fix on 20 years ago. Little could they imagine how hard that might prove to be.

Extraordinarily, the first challenge they faced was to find a company interested in building what they wanted. No-one seemed to be on their valve-radio wavelength and the quotes were off the air. That’s when fate intervened. Deborah found a magazine article featuring Space Craft’s HIA Award-winning kitchen for 2014 in a similar style, which they loved, and made contact.

Immediately, she and Bob and Nathan hit it off. Ideas flowed and we won the job. But Nathan still had a major challenge to overcome: the space for the kitchen was long and very, very narrow, with hardly enough wall space to house everything they wanted.

It’s not hard to make a client happy if you listen very carefully to what they want. For Nathan, it’s then simply a matter of exceeding their expectations. Simple, really…

For Deborah and Bob, this meant delving into the ‘50s style and finding products to suit their architecture, personal taste and collecting habits. The long, narrow space took a lot of drafts, caffeine and head-scratching but, fortunately, the result looks effortless.

The light pastel feature colours and curvaceous cabinetry with lashings of lustrous chrome accentuate the length of the room, dominated by the large window over the sink and terminating in the delightful bay window with its cleverly crafted built-in dining nook. Just the place for a cheeseburger and fries.

The only compromise necessary was to locate the large 21st-century fridge and microwave just through the door in the laundry, which now serves double-time as a butler’s pantry. To save some shoe leather, Nathan placed a small, bench-height fridge next to the dishwasher. Both these appliances are integrated into the cabinetry, along with the beautifully efficient Blum drawer inserts, to maintain that retro facade.

With their home now officially finished, all that remains is for Deborah and Bob to drop a coin in the jukebox and share a malt in the deluxe diner of their dreams.