Design

For years, you’ve been dreaming of your perfect kitchen: one that melds great design with seamless function, and acts as a hub for your family and friends to socialise the night away. Great choice! A kitchen renovation can really elevate the look and feel of your home and give you space to enjoy the things you love. Don’t get dive in head first, though – even though your heart is set and you’re raring to start, there are still some things to keep in mind. Read and apply our list of renovation mistakes to avoid, and you’ll enjoy a smoother, more efficient process – and are more likely to end up with a kitchen you love.   Going it alone By far the biggest mistake homeowners make is choosing to tackle the entire renovation on their own. Not only does this lead to faulty installations and confused

Colour can be an evasive subject, and because there are seemingly few hard-and-fast rules, it can be difficult to know if your palette is right. Get your kitchen’s colour palette right from the start and your room will be harmonious and cohesive. Get it wrong and you risk some elements looking out of place. In today’s blog, we run through several key principles when it comes to selecting colours.  Use this as a guide to choose a design theme for your kitchen, from designing a palette to applying your colour scheme to your interior design. Think about your general style Certain styles lend themselves more readily to particular colour palettes. Do you gravitate more towards modern, sleek and cutting-edge design, or do you prefer something traditional or mid-century? When it comes to materials, do you prefer natural materials like wood and stone, or do you lean towards a more manufactured vibe with brushed steel

Your pantry is an essential piece of your kitchen puzzle, and for a few good reasons. Not only does it provide storage for your food, serving ware and cooking utensils, but an effective pantry can be a stunning design centrepiece too. Although most of the time a pantry’s contents are hidden behind closed doors – meaning clutter won’t spoil the design of your room – the actual design of your pantry could be make or break in terms of how organised and efficient you are when cooking and entertaining. Size and Capacity  Think about how much you want to store in the pantry, and how much you can afford to spread in different cupboards, drawers and buffets around the kitchen and dining area. A cramped pantry could make it difficult to stay organised and find ingredients. One that’s too large might mean you lose ingredients to its

Splashbacks in the kitchen provide more than just an eye-catching design feature (although they look great too). The right splashback is a functional kitchen tool, protecting your walls from any splutters or spills on the stove. There is a wide range of materials to choose from and the colour and texture possibilities are nearly endless. You can choose any combination of materials to design a splashback that doesn’t just look great, but functions superbly in your space. Pairing your splashback with your benches Choose your splashback after you’ve selected the right benchtop and fittings for your space. In general, you’ll have fewer options for your benches and islands, so matching your splashback to your bench – instead of the other way around – is a smart idea. What’s more, your splashback will be one of the last things you’ve installed, so it’s easy to make changes once the benches

Our eyes may be the windows to our souls, and our windows can certainly add to the character of our kitchens. With the right windows, you’ll add aesthetic and functional appeal to your kitchen design, and will add an extra source of lighting to change the whole ambience of the space. Whether you’re renovating or building new, it’s worth getting the windows right from the start – and incorporating them into your initial plans – so you can have years worth of great design. The windows you choose depend on the size of your room, your colour palette and style of your home or business. What size is right? Choosing the size of your window is key; too small and you risk creating a dark and claustrophobic space. The larger the better, in our opinion; but you still need to choose a window size that melds with your kitchen.

It’s simple to design your kitchen’s theme – when you know how. Get it right and you’ll feel at ease every time you walk into your kitchen. Learn some tips and tricks to help you plan your kitchen design, and discover how to pinpoint your colour scheme and plan your theme in today’s blog. Define your colour scheme Browse through Houzz and scroll through your Instagram feed. Don’t limit yourself to interior design publications; have a look around and take note of which colours catch your attention. The ones that make you happiest are the best ones to choose – after all, you want to live in a space you love. To narrow down your palette, select your favourite colour – this will be your base – and choose two or three complementary colours. To help, you could pick up a colour wheel from a hardware store, and use it to

If you’re dreaming of extra space in your kitchen, and you want a piece that’s both beautiful and functional, a kitchen island might be for you. Here, we’ll take you through the most important design principles and functional considerations when it comes to designing an island for your style and lifestyle. Size and shape of your kitchen The size of your island can be anywhere from a narrow counter that floats in the centre of the room, to a large square or rectangle that dominates the space. The option you choose depends on how big your kitchen is, what shape the kitchen is and whether you want to integrate appliances. Your island should complement the existing space; design an island that’s a similar shape to your kitchen to keep things in proportion. Don’t go too large as a huge island could overwhelm the room visually, or make it difficult to

When designing your kitchen, it can be fun to focus on the big ticket items: a new oven, gleaming bench tops and a fancy fridge. But flooring is an essential element to include in your renovation plans and it serves both a functional and design purpose. Not only is it good to have a well-functioning floor that can withstand dropped knives, spilled liquids and scalding equipment – while remaining ergonomically sound – but a well designed floor can draw the eye and tie the whole design of your kitchen together. Strong and sturdy Durability is the top concern for your floors. Choosing materials like concrete, stone or tiling will ensure your floor can withstand some of the harshest knocks without showing the wear and tear. [caption id="attachment_8562" align="alignnone" width="356"] The concrete flooring works excellently with the wood elements of this kitchen[/caption] Concrete is a great contemporary design option, but can sometimes feel cold