Maunganui Project Role:

was the well-considered design approach our design team chose to engage within this expansive kitchen nestled in a completely rebuilt heritage home on Auckland’s North Shore.

It is simply a beautiful cooking space which doesn’t comply with the modern open-plan living formula, yet is subtly open to view from multiple areas of this grand home. There is not one prominent hero piece to this kitchen, but a multitude of exquisite details and materiality that gradually reveal themselves. Heavy double-framed cabinetry detailing takes its influence from American kitchen design, and the delicate glass framing was designed as a continuation of the original architectural bay window. The Gaggenau fridge & freezer, along with the knobs to the Gaggenau gas cooktop, are integrated into the cabinetry, continuing the elegance of the double-frame design.

Calacatta Lincoln Marble from CDK Stone is across every surface in this expansive kitchen, including the scullery. Smaller-than-expected height upstands reflect the thickness of the benchtop, creating clean lines and a soft design result, with walls painted in Aalto Gallery White to match the cabinetry. The marble sink face also leans into an international design language, providing beautiful symmetry under two Plumbline Shaw butler sinks and a Perrin & Rowe mixer and spray.

A Samsung Frame TV, masquerading as changeable artwork when not in use, sits sneakily above double Neff ovens in black glass. To further add a modern edge to this traditionally oriented kitchen and create a sense of shadowing, the island cabinetry is painted a dark Aalto colour—Covert.

Continuing this Aalto hue into the scullery’s under-bench cabinetry gives the whole kitchen a little more punch and ensures an element of balance to the design. The scullery, almost a kitchen in itself, also features Perrin & Rowe tapware in aged brass, a fluted Shaw butler sink, and a cheeky Gaggenau wine fridge—all teamed with an on-bench ECM coffee machine—making this scullery a true beverage haven.