Explore 10 noteworthy kitchens where design, detail and function are all standouts.
The brief to interior designers Paradowski Studio was to design a kitchen that didn’t look like a kitchen. With clients who don’t cook a lot, the design premise was to create a space that could stand on its own next the rest of the living space. Taking the aesthetic into surprising territory, the designers Zuza and Piotr Paradowski have introduced a blend of three colours of Italian marble mixed together in a graphic pattern. Rather than shying away from the bold, this has been paired with Ettore Sottsass veneer cabinetry. Zuzu Paradowski explains that their approach encompassed, “Minimalist form built up with maximalist patterns.” The kitchen’s clashing shapes and refined details are seen on the super-thin shadow line of the quartzite benchtop. The result? An elevated experience of the everyday.
"Postmodern in practice and in theory – all the materials [we] put together build the vibe of the kitchen."
– Zuza Paradowski
S Park Apartment has a kitchen that recedes into the space without shying away from articulated details and materials such as zebra-like ALPI Ettore Sottsass grey veneer on the cabinet fronts. The kitchen also features the Gessi Inciso pivotable sink mixer in a black metal finish.
With only the V-ZUG and Sub-Zero appliances from Winnings on show, the kitchen at Proclamation House conceals storage and mess. Cassina Cab stools in burgundy red leather add to the earthen-toned palette.
Monumental in every sense of the word, Proclamation House by Perth-based architecture studio State of Kin effuses a monastic and reverent quality – envisioned as a place of connection, but equally one of solace. Positioned within a cavernous open plan space, with sitting areas adjacent and a mezzanine overhead, the island bench’s scale offers a grounding presence. The uncluttered and unfussy appearance eludes there is more than meets the eye. “The thoughtful layout and innovative cabinetry solutions, such as pull-out benches and concealed storage, keep everything practical yet hidden,” State of Kin director Alessandra French says. Earthen and rock-like in its appearance, the kitchen island and surrounding walls are rendered in a hemp-based plaster finish that is heatproof and resistant to stains.
"The island bench [is] a centrepiece of the home that stands as a testament to material knowledge and artisan craft."
–Alessandra French
Architect and designer Hugo Toro took a journey back to the memory of 1980s Mexico when designing this kitchen in Paris, France. High gloss and reflectivity are contrasted against a melange of timber species – solid American oak and Ziricote, a graphical Mexican wood. Chrome baseboards and door handles add a touch of shiny relief against cream and red travertine floors. Graphic elements set the base, while instilling contrast and interest. This is a home where the kitchen blends within the backdrop of life and art.As the designer’s own home, Toro worked with within his vision to, “create a graphic kitchen that blends in with the apartment’s style while being as functional as it is visual.”
"I appreciate when each object or piece tells a story and takes a stance. All these elements come together to form a whole that creates a particular scenario."
–Hugo Toro
Infused with memory and meaning, this Paris apartment is the home of designer Hugo Toro and is a litmus test for contrasts of gloss and matte materials. Lacquered elements include the Ziricote timber joinery, a custom red table and a yellow lamp by the designer. The space also features the THG Paris 1900 kitchen single-lever sink mixer, red and white travertine floors and Breccia Siena marble splashback and benchtop.
The island bench fuses sculptural bullnose edges that scallop and curve to articulate the natural veining of the opposing stones – Artedomus Zena travertine and Signorino Tugela marble. In the foreground, a Mater Upcycled Aluminium high stool and a custom pendant light by Volker Haug in aged brass. Appliances include the Wolf 122cm Dual Fuel range cooker and Sub-Zero Classic Series refrigerator/freezer.
A sculptured stone island bench refocuses the attention of this entire home. Fiona Lynch Office founder and designer Fiona Lynch has produced what she describes as “the nucleus of the home”. This singular, monolithic gesture brings weighty depth, anchoring the kitchen to an open plan living space and out to the garden.Through extensive renovation work – removing walls and building a Mies van der Rohe-inspired pavilion of glass and brass – the kitchen is refocused as the essential centrepiece of this Georgian Revival heritage home in Melbourne.In terms of materiality, Fiona Lynch Office maintained the stainless-steel cabinets and joinery that housed a Sub-Zero fridge and Wolf oven and cooktop, simply adding a stainless steel splashback to conceal the rangehood. The stainless provides the ‘perfect foil’ behind the voluptuous stone island.
"The generous applications of stone express the monumental largesse of the home’s transformation, dramatically defining the kitchen."
–Fiona Lynch
Despite the petite size of this one-bedroom flat in London’s Covent Garden, designer Hollie Bowden has created a kitchen for socialising. Materiality and provocative furniture selections coalesce to create a space that is simple yet quirky.The focal point of the kitchen is a bespoke stainless steel benchtop and splashback with an integrated Pitt cooktop, complemented by a tubular steel rangehood. “Setting the stainless steel against the buttery yellow cabinets and doughy white walls, the material gained an unexpected elegance and softness of its own, while still being practical and hard-wearing at the same time,” Bowden says.Sitting comfortably adjacent to the kitchen wall is a dining ensemble with 1970s Kuramata Sing Sing chairs.
"I think the material story of this kitchen is about playing with levels of shininess and reflectivity. The glossier materials are offset by more natural, textured materials such as the timber floorboards."
– Hollie Bowden
Working with a small space, Hollie Bowden has used colour and material combinations to demarcate zones, bringing in loose furniture scaled to perfection, such as the Sing Sing chair by Shiro Kuramata for XO. A PITT cooktop is integrated into the stainless steel benchtop, with a Faber Cylindra Cylinder hood above. The artwork is ‘Kangaroo on Skis’ by an unknown artist.
The super fine edges of travertine on the waterfall bench are the result of strong collaboration with the craftspeople.
As the first thing you see when entering the home, the execution of the kitchen at Quai de la Tournelle apartment was paramount. The material palette, while composed of traditionally cold materials – poured concrete with marble shards on the floor, silver travertine and stainless steel, has an elemental sense of warmth. The small details, such as a plasterwork chandelier and bespoke timber stools, add notes of characteristic charm. “The plaster chandelier and the wood counter stool are both beautifully handmade,” designer Maxime Bousquet says, adding that, “The lines are very simple and minimalistic in a way, but the precision of the execution speak volumes.”
"This kitchen is completely custom made and gives the clients the luxury to start their day having coffee in a space they dreamed of."
– Maxime Bousquet
There was nowhere to hide with the kitchen at interior design practice Pattern Studio’s Daddy Cool project. Working with a narrow terrace house, the studio found unexpected ways to inject playfulness and joy, visible from every angle. “The terrace layout pushed us to create a kitchen which looks ‘front-of-house’ without compromising on performance,” Pattern Studio principal and co-founder Lily Goodwin says.The focal point is the scalloped island bench in a honed Verde Guatemala stone. “Our stonemason rose to the challenge when we wanted to push the material boundaries of natural stone in the kitchen island,” Pattern Studio co-founder and principal Josh Cain explains. “The result of our close collaboration is the creation of a sweeping curve at the island’s base.”Perhaps the most delightful surprise is the fridge cabinet. Conceived as a piece of furniture, the pair designed a bespoke cherry timber cabinet elevated on feet to conceal the French-door refrigerator, replete with organic brass handles.
"This kitchen suits our clients so well; suitably unexpected, utterly unique and simply joyful."
– Josh Cain
Using the kitchen as a centre point for all other facets of life, Pattern Studio has ensured that this space offers intrigue from every angle. The French door fridge concealed in a custom Cherry Burl Veneer cabinet is a standout example of this, together with the Ceppo Di Gre splashback and Verde Guatemala marble island bench topped with a Faye Toogood Dough Centrepiece.
Handcrafted details feature throughout with mahogany cabinets, a brass worktop and unique sculptural downlight covers designed by DAB Studio in collaboration with glass studio Van Tetterode.
Collector’s Home by design practice DAB Studio draws on the culture and heritage of Amsterdam, unabashedly blending modernist and post-modernist references.For the kitchen, the approach was one of meticulous detail – where a handcrafted brass worktop is the perfect complement to a statement brass tap. “For the brass kitchen worktop, we did not work with a metal worker but with a company that only works with brass,” DAB Studio co-founder and designer Lotte Bruns says.A tall wall of cabinets offers function and aesthetics, hiding the modern appliances that make a kitchen work, while bringing a highly-designed solution. DAB Studio co-founder and designer Dennis Antonio Bruns shares that this kitchen is one of careful curation: “You are trying to tell a story, create a work of art, compose a piece of music where every detail, every stroke, every note contributes.”
"For the overall concept, modernism and post-modernism were the inspiration from which the design was inspired."
– Lotte Bruns
Different materials with the same tonal variation combine in this kitchen under the expert eye of Belgian minimalist Nicolas Schuybroek. “A restrained material palette of raw, rough materials with a deep tactility was used,” the designer says. A central element of the project is the layering of borrowed landscape, bringing the lusciousness of the outside green into view like a painting. It’s a highly successful outcome set against the textured but pared-back materials palette. Unfilled German travertine appears like a layer of sedimentary rock, accompanied by plasterwork, concrete floors and lightly sandblasted oak cabinetry. Superfluous details are minimised, allowing the quality and craftsmanship of the material palette to sing.
"The connections with the garden and surrounding landscape were the most influential element on the kitchen."
– Nicolas Schuybroek
Functionality first, followed by a sophisticated material palette are fused together at VS Penthouse by Nicolas Schuybroek. This approach is underscored by the Lacanche Beaune Classic range cooker, Vola 590H kitchen mixer and 500TI kitchen mixer, and the Barbar aluminium lamp IV by Studio Anne Holtrop.
The furniture and material selection reflects this fine balance of luxury, and beachside charm, making an idyllic sanctuary for the owners. The space is replete with Miele and Fisher & Paykel appliances from Winnings, Vola tapware, a Pendolo pendant IV by Workstead, and the Pinch Pium wall light also from Winnings.
“The Carlisle’s kitchen enhances sensory engagement to deliver a profoundly immersive and meditative experience,” Sydney-based design studio Penman Brown principal Megan Brown says. Set against an ocean vista, Brown shares that this kitchen in Tamarama explores proportion and materiality as a “contradictory futuristic finishes of sculpted, folded and forged metals, and otherwise rigid materials, expressed in soft organic forms”.Elegance and movement are defining features, where unique details, such as tubular handles and a faceted steel rangehood add layers of tactility. Natural light flows through the saw-tooth windows, falling onto a palette of natural stone and Corian in muted neutral colours. “Day to night, informal to formal was the brief – flexible, laidback, playful yet sophisticated. We strove to convey this mood with both effervescence and a deeply resonating serenity,” Brown adds.
