With four boys in the house, our clients needed a kitchen with function, flow, and space. Room for a workstation, plenty of bodies, a busy coffee machine and endless food supplies.

They were after a Modern Shaker style. Think clean lines, simplicity, and craftsmanship paired with contemporary elements and minimalist hardware (preferably brass).

The existing kitchen in their home had an island that was a gathering point for family and friends and something similar was a non-negotiable in the new design.

Aesthetically speaking, the brief was light, bright and fresh with accents of timber to create warmth. Plus, a spacious feel as well as more actual space.

On top of a new coffee machine, our clients wanted to incorporate two built-in ovens (2x600m wide), a built-in microwave and a 900m wide induction cooktop with a concealed undermount rangehood. As if you need any more proof that four boys eat a lot and often!

But just in case you do, the request for a decent-sized pantry should do the trick. A new double dish drawer was also on the list and the existing freestanding fridge would stay.

Designer Jessie was asked to increase the height of the joinery to accommodate their statures, factor in LED lighting and ensure there were plenty of drawers. When our clients pondered opening up the kitchen to connect it with the living space, Jessie was all in. This would mean room for a bigger island and clear views over the beautiful garden and pool. So many boxes ticked.

Opening up the kitchen meant minimising dead-end corners; and relocating the plumbing, removing a small nib wall, getting rid of bulk heads, closing a doorway, including a profile door as a nod to tradition, and creating some stairs down into the living space. But Rome wasn’t built in a day either. The efforts and result were well worth it. Light, bright and incredibly functional!

Jessie achieved the aesthetics with10mm shaker door joinery fronts colour matched to Dulux Natural white with a satin finish. They’re modern and clean with a hint of the past. With white chosen for the majority of finishes she incorporated timber and veneer to soften the feel. American Oak was used for feature timber leg frames as well as opening and floating shelves.

The new island can easily seat the family of six and provides plenty of space for a party spread. By choosing the Bellini Bianco in 20mm pencil round edge from Smartstone’s Sintered range for its top, Jessie created some soft movement and texture while guaranteeing durability and ease of maintenance. Lots of eating equals lots of wiping, right? She continued the use of curves on the rangehood block and two sets of open shelving, making them pop like features. Left uncluttered the shelves create that sought after sense of space too.

Did we mention that the entire household is over 6 feet tall?! Jessie paired elevated joinery with 950mm high benchtops to suit. She selected brass pull handles from Lo & Co to meet the brief and bring some elegance to the space. And she answered the demand for drawers by including them in the pantry, right throughout the kitchen and even in the work nook. In fact, by closing off the doorway she was able to create quite a bit of additional storage in the workspace, including a floating timber shelf above the desk with LED strip lighting on the underside.

One final glorious piece of space-creating design: Jessie fitted a pull-out bin into the island.

Our clients new kitchen became a room with a view, full of space and function too. They couldn’t be happier.