Cooking up a storm

He’s practical, she’s creative – together they made a kitchen that suits them both!

Duanne made the kickplates using stainless steel offcuts he got from a friend.

BBoth Esté and Duanne grew up with mothers who were exceptional cooks. “We were so lucky in that regard but it meant that neither of us ever had to cook for ourselves!” admits Esté. “It was only when we got married that we started to find our way around the kitchen – now we love to cook together!” It’s no wonder that when it came to

renovating the home they purchased together in 2016, fashion designer Esté and electrical engineer Duanne decided to redo their kitchen first.

The dated, impractical space had a wall with a large glass door separating it from the living areas and a back door that opened up onto the yard, making the area a thoroughfare for anyone wanting to go out back. “The first thing we did was demolish the kitchen wall to create an open-plan layout; this immediately made our little kitchen look twice the size!” says Esté.

The couple also closed up the back door, replacing it with a large sliding window that lets in lots of natural light and offers a garden view.

On a practical note

The Chambers were eager to renovate their kitchen because it had an impractical layout with too much wasted space.

“The old 15m² kitchen only had 3m2 allocated to countertops,” says Esté.

After the renovations, the new kitchen – which is still just 15m2 – boasts 6.5m2 countertop space, thanks to a new U-shaped design and extra cupboards where the back door used to be.

“Now we can prepare food, cook and wash the dishes without having to run around the kitchen or tripping over each other’s feet!” Esté says. “With a bit of planning and brainstorming, we achieved our dream kitchen. We decided where we wanted to keep all our items from the get-go and planned this right down to the smallest detail – we even have a pull-out chopping board!”

While we’re still not the best cooks, we thoroughly enjoy creating dishes together. – Este

WHO LIVES HERE? Esté and Duanne Chambers WHERE Beverley Grove, Port Elizabeth SIZE 15m2

Esté and Duanne hung copper pendants above the island for task lighting and installed downlights throughout the rest of the kitchen. To add warmth to their contemporary space, the couple installed wooden floating shelves and fitted wooden cladding (made from old trusses that had to be removed from their living room ceiling) to the sides of some of the cupboards and the island. New Novolam decorative melamine cupboard doors in the colour Folkstone Grey were installed and fitted with stainless steel handles. Duanne also constructed the island using two Novolam carcasses in Vermont Slate. All the worktops are Silestone in the colour White Storm.

The Moroccan-style wall tiles from Tile Africa (above) were one of the first items Esté and Duanne bought before renovating; these became the inspiration for the rest of the kitchen.