furniture and art kitchen

Following a recent trip to Eurocucina in Milan, I observed bright colour being used in interesting ways within kitchen joinery. Front finishes were still subdued and neutral often including texture but internal or ‘feature’ parts of the kitchen joinery were colour filled and vibrant. Colour was everywhere and it was exciting and ‘fun’ so I decided to be bold and incorporate this into the scheme/ design of my own apartment kitchen.

This apartment kitchen was designed to focus on furniture and art. As a designer designing your own kitchen, it is difficult to know where to start and where to stop, as sometimes you almost know too much and there can be a desire to include ‘everything’ when ‘less is more’.

I love colour and often feel inhibited when clients wish to stay with neutrals they consider ‘safe’ when colour can add that much needed special element to any design creating surprise, fun and making you smile!

The apartment while small feels larger due to the high ceiling and I wanted more a ‘New York’ loft style look. I also wanted the kitchen to not feature as ‘function’ but rather sit within the room as literally ‘Furniture and Art’. I had already decided on incorporating three ‘blocks’ – the sink block (including white sink and tap to blend away), the cooking/pantry block (on aluminium legs) and the table/breakfast bar block. Hydraulic lifting hardware concealed in the plinths below offers a choice of heights maximising the use of the top as either a formal dining table or raised for use as a benchtop or casual breakfast bar) with moveable cutlery/crockery storage under.

The ‘white’ palette of Resene SpaceCote Low Sheen and Flat tinted to Resene Sea Fog on the walls and ceiling is complemented by Resene Alabaster finishes to the table base/plinths, table top edge detail and also the 30mm frame surrounding the tall storage. Texture is added to the white door fronts by way of a laminate overlay mimicking the shadows cast by the large feature light overhead but the main highlight of the kitchen is the vibrant colour filled interior of the tall cabinetry finished in Resene Endorphin matching the moveable unit beneath the table.

Various colours were considered including Resene Ayers Rock, Resene X Factor, Resene Pukeko, Resene Spotlight and Resene Endorphin. There is a lot of wall art in the apartment so the colour chosen had to complement it rather than ‘be at war’ so it was necessary to test many colours/shades to get the right one. The burgundy/pinks looked great but gave a more ‘feminine’ feel to the scheme, which wasn’t what I wanted therefore the blue/ teal of Resene Endorphin proved ideal.

When the kitchen is in use the pocket doors are open and tucked away LED light fills the space; cooking is an experience enhanced by the wonderful colourful work area. A local graffiti artist was given the Resene Endorphin colour as a base for a unique and individual custom design finish for the fridge and tabletop which makes the necessary’ Art’ statement in this bold environment.

Designer: Sian Gillanders, SG Design
Graffiti artist: Deow
Photographer: Marina Mathews
Project: Resene Total Colour Awards 2013

› Download a PDF of this article