OFF THE MENU
When it comes to curating your kitchen, there’s a lot to take into consideration, from paint shades and artworks to devising an area that works for you. Here, three tastemakers reveal the steps they took to craft their ideal culinary space
JONATHAN RICHARDS architect and interior designer When they bought their 1890s house in Sydney’s Darlinghurst neighbourhood seven years ago, Richards and his wife were instantly drawn to this kitchen’s plentiful natural light coming in from two sides of the room
Originally the kitchen was a separate room, so we opened up the space and installed a reeded glass screen as a room divider, to create a sense of arrival when coming in from the living space. There was also a door out to the courtyard but we blocked it off in order to provide room for the custom tan leather banquette seat for the family dining table. It’s from a furniture store in Sydney called The Wood Room.
One of the first elements I designed was the narrow, one bottle-deep oak shelf that wraps around the kitchen. It can be styled with decorative objects but it’s also very useful for storage as it doesn’t make the space feel cluttered.
My wife and I have a natural affinity for grey, green and blue tones. We painted the timber cupboards in Taubmans ‘Dwarf Spruce’. I wasn’t interested in them looking flat – I wanted the texture of the grain to come through. It then felt like the walls needed an intense shade to absorb the colour, so we used ‘Deep Ocean’ from Dulux.
The surfaces are Cortona quartz, which is tougher than marble in terms of staining and marking, though it still has veining. The soft grey is unshowy, it matches the floorboards and suits the joinery beautifully.
I think it’s really important to have art in the kitchen. A lot of people fill up the space with shelves and storage but I think leaving room for artwork, which contributes to the look, is vital.
The thing I love most about the kitchen is the banquette seating around the dining table. It’s a social hub; friends and family all seem to very naturally slide into the booth, and the leather will develop a lovely patina as it ages, too (richardsstanisich.com).
‘A lot of people fill up the space, but leaving room for artwork, which contributes to the look, is vital’