kitchen bench top
10. Harness the powerHands up who has ever found themselves crouched on the floor, fumbling to plug a cord into a power point positioned mere millimetres above the carpet. In some rooms it’s smart to locate power points close to the floor, but the home office can be an exception. Why? Because when we work, we plug and unplug our phone, computer and tablet chargers with a similar frequency to when we cook using kitchen appliances (and we all know that power points in the kitchen are more accessible at bench height). So save your spine and position your power points within arm’s reach.
Starting pointThe owners’ colourful collection of glassware helped steer our design thinking for the kitchen and living room. We decided to knock down the wall dividing the two spaces and place the shelving at this junction. Glass was chosen for the shelving material as it allows light to flow through.
Kitchen Although this wasn’t a budget renovation, not throwing away what was already working well was important to Ggem and the homeowners. “The kitchen was in good shape and had a good footprint and layout,” she says. She saved the peninsula, the lower cabinets and the benchtops. She changed the finish on the benches from polished to honed to fit in better with the more casual and natural touches in the house, such as the ceiling beams and vintage door. She also replaced the upper cabinets with open shelves to open up the space.Ggem concentrated a lot of the storage on the refrigerator wall, with a bench-depth refrigerator and new cabinets with inset doors and exposed hinges. “Initially we wanted flush-inset doors on all the cabinets, but you barely see the lower cabinets and they worked perfectly well,” she says. This decision was about balancing renovation desires with reducing waste. She added new hardware to tie everything together.
Taps
Colours - tiles
Different bench top surfaces
Bench top colour
Handles
Handles bench top
Handles
Kitchen display cupboards
Stove and handles
Bench top and splash back
Bench top
Edging
Bench top
Tiles, stove
Tiles
Pressed tin splash back, run it by Lou
Black bench top. Slate one piece
Handles on flat drawers
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