Sharon and Paul have two kids, Amelie and Oliver. However, as the senior winemaker for an iconic label in Langhorne Creek, Paul spends a lot of his time raising premium wines to maturity. So creating the dream kitchen for their new home was very much Sharon’s baby.

When they came to us, the new home was nearing completion. Brilliantly conceived in that simple Australian vernacular style, it features corrugated iron exterior walls, polished concrete floors and a bagged feature wall for passive heating through its thermal mass facing northern windows. The kitchen space is the literal hub of the home, designed to link its two end zones.

Sharon didn’t want the same old same-old. And whilst the builder had done a great job on the rest of the home, she thought we could add that little extra something to take her pride and joy to another level. What she wanted was a kitchen with warmth and character, yet which fitted seamlessly with the rest of the home. No pressure, then…

As soon as we took on the project, we hit a brick wall. Not literally, of course. But at the top of Sharon’s wish list for her cabinetry was reclaimed blackbutt, which is now very hard to source. Fortunately, Nathan had only recently discovered a new alternative, a timber called marri, which is a flowering gum native to WA with lovely gnarly character. As soon as he showed it to Sharon, she loved its grain and texture.

Nathan’s design is elegant simplicity itself. The stark white melamine doors and panels put all the focus on the star of the show: that beautiful timber with its horizontal grain and unmistakable presence feature on the overheads, the island back and the end pillar. Perfectly simple tab-handles add practicality without distraction. The concrete pendants from Beacon Lights and quality appliances from AEG underline the discreet class of the whole space.

Our part of the installation was performed without incident, but there were issues with the benchtops. Sharon had chosen Silestone as it was the only company that could install the jumbo-sized slabs required without any joins. Unfortunately, it all went awry when the stone they installed was pink, which was completely different from the samples Sharon had chosen. It just shows the best-laid plans – and benchtops – can always go wrong.

Apart from that hiccough, which Silestone quickly rectified, the family is delighted with the end result. Now, Sharon has a place where she and Amelie love to cook together, and where Paul can open the odd bottle of his handiwork to enjoy with friends and family.