Laidback Luxe Elegance reigns in this beachside Sydney kitchen.

Elegant yet easy-to-live-with materials define this beachside home.

THE BRIEF

For years, this 1930s Sydney beachside home had been divided into two apartments. When the new owners decided to restore it as a single family dwelling, it required a major internal overhaul. The new floor plan created an open-plan kitchen/dining/casual living area that is blessed with abundant natural light and ocean views. The owners – parents of three young children – enlisted interior designer Cressida Kelly from Space Control Design to create a playful, contemporary scheme that reflected their beach lifestyle. They were keen to use classic materials such as American walnut and marble, but in a fresh way to suit a coastal home and young family.

THE DESIGN APPROACH

“The aim was to devise a strong design direction but still create a liveable and inviting family home,” says Cressida. For the kitchen, this meant combining timber with a minimalist, white palette to create “a laidback, coastal atmosphere”. In collaboration with joiners at Bondi Kitchens, she designed a beautiful 3m-high wall of joinery featuring American walnut veneer which has been painstakingly grain-matched. The warm caramel tones of the timber are echoed in the leather kitchen stools. Meanwhile, the white cabinetry is crisp and fresh, featuring a custom V-groove detail which is narrower than is common. “The tight grooves give it a more contemporary look,” says Cressida. At 4.6x3.7m, the kitchen isn’t enormous and one challenge she faced was to make the island bench fit comfortably. Her solution was to soften the island’s corners with curves. She repeated the curve motif by cladding the rangehood in plaster with rounded corners and a brass trim detail. A key note in the palette is the strongly veined Statuario Corchia marble, which has been used for the benchtops and wrapped up the wall to form a splashback and display shelf. Three light sources – wall sconces, downlights and a slimline pendant – provide both soft and task lighting.

There’s a 400mm overhang on the stool-side of the island: “Room to tuck your knees under without knocking the cabinets,” says Cressida.

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“We allowed for a 1m clearance between the rear bench and the island – this is a perfect distance. It creates efficiency in movement without it feeling too wide or too cramped,” says Cressida.

“The veneer was grain-matched then colour-matched and dressed with solid timber trim,” says Chris from Bondi Kitchens. Behind these doors is an integrated Liebherr fridge.