“I’m Italian, what can I say?” Marina O’Neill laughs. With a mother who was neither cook nor entertainer, the youngster filled the family gap. That early culinary career created awoman who knows what she wants in a kitchen. In fact, she and Gary are the owners of Marina Isles, a successful company that sellsan impressive range of unique and handmade architectural hardwaresuch as knobs and handles. The centrepiece of her kitchen, and Marina’sfavourite feature, is the hoop pine island bench and she thinks thewarmth of the timber is perfect for their modern-French-farmhousestyle. The benchtop was supposed to be made from Emperador marblebut, sadly, a stonecutter inadvertently shattered the piece. SNB Stonecame to the rescue, supplying a Black and Gold marble benchtop ina deep chocolate with white and terracotta veining. It has a pencilroundedge for an Art Deco look, and is supported by simple woodencorbels that Marina designed herself. More of her plans are evident inthe deep stainless-steel farmhouse kitchen sink that was made to herspecifications by fabricators when she couldn’t find a suitable porcelainversion; it’s roomy enough to conceal a wok plus a stockpot and more.
The surrounding cabinets are three-metres high and built into bulkheads. While also made from timber, they’re painted white – much to the horror of the cabinetmakers. Small drawers which house ‘thousands of spices’ feature knobs made overseas to Marina’s design while the larger drawers have rope-twist pulls. Her theory is that hardware such as handles and knobs are the ‘jewellery of any kitchen’ and either too much or too little can ruin the result.
A Paul Bocuse cooker sits adjacent to a high cupboard which is almost an independent buffet. It has ceiling-height doors with stainless steel mesh inserts that provide detail with a difference. “We’re not purists,” Marina emphasises. “We didn’t want too much of a farmhouse style – we’re more eclectic.” Th at eclectic style includes Art Deco lights suspended over the island bench and old-fashioned timber-woven,painted Roman blinds on the window.
The kitchen doesn’t just look good, it also functions perfectly for family meals and entertaining alike. “All parts of a kitchen must be useable,” Marina asserts, “there’s no wasted space here. Even the side panels open up and all the cupboards have pull-out shelves for ease of use.” She says using a designer can make a big difference to the workability of the space and the couple chose Brian Patterson for the job. Like all good designers, he understands proper work surfaces and picks up on things that an owner misses. Marina believes that, while you should always be prepared to tweak their suggestions, the money spent on a designer is more than amply rewarded.
It was working on the design of her own kitchen 16 years ago that sent Marina on a quest for stylish architectural hardware and she finally found some pottery designs she thought others would like too. A stint of doorknocking with those first few samples led to her current business, Marina Isles, and a range of products, some imported and some manufactured in Australia. Her kitchen is, in effect, a showroom. And, her company motto is obvious on viewing her kitchen – ‘Specialists in French-country styles with the serious cook in mind’.
Story by Jebby Phillips
Photography by Tony Potter
Styling by Greg Sukendro