Country Kitchens - Easy elegance

Photography by Tony Potter
Styling by Greg Sukendro

Sometimes things just fall into place, and when it happens amid the flurry of building a home, life takes on a rosy glow.

Story by Zoe Liddy

June and Peter's home in Sydney's Kurrajong Heights has a traditional look and feel that's complemented by a warm, classic kitchen. After deciding on the location for the door and windows, the couple waded through magazines for design inspiration and picked what they wanted relatively quickly. Helping to narrow things down was the fact that, despite being only seven years old, their home is in a traditional style – complete with original cedar weatherboards. "We didn't think the slick, modern look would suit," June says. "We saw a few kitchens with a similar colour scheme and style and couldn't think of anything that would look nicer so we went with this one."

The elegant kitchen, which was designed and installed by Custom Design Builders in Windsor, features a simple L-shape design around which cream panelled cabinetry was fitted. The timber-framed door and windows and the lustrous blackbutt flooring, work with the style while little things give it a refined, stylish edge, such as the gold knobs on all the cabinetry and the stained-glass light fittings. But it's the corbels atop reeded pilaster posts and the rangehood canopy that give it that distinctive classic look. "I decided I wanted the corbels at the last minute," June recalls. "I only had an hour to choose them then get them to the kitchen man because he was painting it early the next morning."

Although the kitchen is an ideal fit style-wise, it was important to June that it also had all the substance of a convenient, functional space. High on her list of priorities was an island bench and lots of drawers. Shunning the designer's suggestion for a U-shape kitchen, with the bench sitting perpendicular to the one that incorporates the sink, she opted for a middle position instead so she had space on all four sides to get in and out of the room easily. It also holds a bank of drawers that are filled with everyday plates and servingware which means she can use the 'island' as a base for cooking.

June and Peter's grown-up sons have flown the nest, but now the couple regularly play host to their grandsons Jerry and Timmy who are no strangers to the kitchen; in fact, they love to get involved with cooking. Sleepovers mean pancakes for breakfast, usually with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice they get from a tree in the backyard. Out here too, there's a thriving flower garden and bustling birdlife. "We have daily visits from king parrots, crimson rosellas, wonga pigeons and brown cuckoo doves, to name a few," June says. "It's nice to be able to watch them from the kitchen windows."

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