A desire for a warm, Provincial-style kitchen turned an old house extension into the perfect area to entertain and spend time with family. From the moment Bronwyn Fry walked through the terrace house for sale in the Sydney suburb of Marrickville, it was her dream to buy it and give it the kitchen it deserved. After living in places where she’d inherited previous owners’ kitchen mistakes, she knew it was time to have a kitchen that suited her own family’s needs perfectly. The terrace’s last owner had built the kitchen as an extension onto the existing house, and it featured outdated cupboards and an unpredictable oven. “In our everyday life, the family spends a lot of time in this space,” says Bronwyn, “so I wanted the ambience of the room to reflect my passion for cooking and entertaining, and to be welcoming to our guests.” Richard and Bronwyn enlisted the help of Kitchener’s Kitchens, a company that both designs and custom-builds kitchens. Owner Michael Kitchener sat down with the couple to discuss exactly how their new area would look, and as Bronwyn had already researched the style she wanted, it wasn’t long before they – along with designer Erika Forster –had decided on a new concept for the space.
Broadening horizons
Like many classic Sydney-style terrace houses, the kitchen in Bronwyn and Richard’s home is quite long and narrow. Michael took this into consideration, putting measures in place to ensure the new layout would maximise the space. “It was important not to over-indulge in all that provincial style has to offer as this can detract from achieving a sense of ease in a narrow room,” he explains. “I decided to do a relaxed version of it so the kitchen wouldn’t dominate the whole space.” Anything that made the room look wider, especially at eye-height, was a positive. “We didn’t use wall cabinets in the half of the kitchen towards the back of the house, where the room closes in further,” says Michael. “It was vital that we opened up the width of the room from the bench up.” Below the bench, drawers were installed instead of cupboards to make up for the lack of storage above it. The monochrome colours of the new design were chosen to complement the grey of the already-existing grey slate floor and exposed brickwork, and the black granite benchtop suited the look perfectly.
A touch of home
A few personal touches made the new kitchen truly feel like home. Bronwyn repainted one of her old dressers and modified it to match the new cupboards, and her son bought here an old ladder to hang pots and pans from. After years of making do with unsuitable kitchens, Bronwyn and Richard finally have the ideal space in which to cook meals, entertain their friends and spend time with family – and the dream that Bronwyn had when she first saw the kitchen has at last finally come true.
Story by Katy Scott