Country Kitchens - Home and hearth
Photography by Ryan Hernandez
Styling by Kirstin Randl-Katalinic
A family’s ‘tree’ change included the renovation of a 1920s sandstone-speckled house, the heart of which is a kitchen that was expertly designed and decorated around a charming ‘now and then’ theme.
Story by Zoe Liddy
The whirlwind of Lee and Michael’s move to Arcadia in Sydney didn’t end when they dropped their bags at the door of their new home; at the time it was divided into two flats and they had to rejig the layout to make it a cohesive and comfortable place for themselves and their two teenage daughters, Bec and Sam. Part of the process involved creating a bigger kitchen and they did this by opening up the old kitchen to the bathroom and adjacent bedroom to make it one big area.
Their vision was for a room that matched the style of the rest of their home but with some modern appliances for convenience, and it was also important that it was somewhere family and friends were drawn to. To help them achieve it, they took a friend’s recommendation and hired designer Elizabeth Clarke of Kellyville Kitchens, and the fruits of their fantastic working relationship is evident across the four corners of this warm, inviting and beautifully balanced room.
As the renovation gathered apace they all slipped easily into different roles – Elizabeth was the primary designer and overseer, Lee acted as co-designer and decorator and Michael provided quality labouring services. In place already was the striking Furphy ‘Kangaroo’ reproduction cast-iron stove, which matches the home’s rural setting perfectly, and this was the main feature they wanted to work around. It works perfectly too – fuelled by either fire or electricity – but as the family entertains regularly they needed another stove for convenience.
“We wanted to emphasise the country/farmhouse feel with elements like the butler’s sink and plate racks, but with a juxtaposition of modern things too like the stove with a canopy, which we softened with custom-made display units on either side,” Elizabeth relates. Although the kitchen is big, the sizeable appliances in it take up a lot of room, which made creating storage space tricky. To get around it, Elizabeth incorporated full-extension drawers in the cabinetry, small drawers inside bigger ones and back-to-back doors underneath the overhang of the island bench.
As an artist Lee loves working with colours and there are bold hues in the different rooms of the house, however she wanted to pull back in the kitchen and go for something more neutral to play off the rest. “The colours have been trial and error really,” she laughs, “but I’ve got close to feeling like we can live with these. I wanted it to look relaxing and stylish.” That wish has certainly been achieved as the kitchen has become the primary entertaining point for the family. Dinners, birthdays, even street parties begin here with guests chatting around the benchtop then spilling out to the covered verandahs.
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