With the advent of open-plan living, the kitchen is now front and centre in most homes. This means it not only has to function like a well-oiled machine but look beautiful while doing so, making kitchen design one of the most important parts of your home.
While it’s possible to create an attractive kitchen design with gleaming finishes and top-line appliances, what truly makes a kitchen great is a point of difference.
We have pulled together some of the best kitchens from the Australian House & Garden archives, each with an element of wow factor that sets it apart. Flick through the gallery for ideas and expert kitchen design tips to inspire your own unique space.
Heritage details are celebrated as this inner-city terrace is ushered into a sparkling new era. The enlarged kitchen is designed in a galley layout, with the dining zone opposite occupying what was once an unused internal courtyard.Featurejoineryin Ashgrove veneer pops against the island facing, benchtops and splashback inGrigio San Marco marble.
Period features were restored in this 1920s bungalow and the dated extension was given a contemporary refresh with a sparkling white kitchen and custom joinery.
The brief from the owners of this gracious Federation-era Sydney home was clear: create a light, luxe new kitchen in which timeless form truly meets function. Interior architect Jade Bury, director of Harper Lane Design, relished the task.
Clean lines and beautiful natural stone combine to create a deliciously light-filled and luxe kitchen conceived by Lara Ette Design. The cabinetry adds texture while the clean-lined benchtops ensure the room feels contemporary and fresh. Touches of brass create the effect of subtle jewellery in the room.
With white, marble and timber accents, the kitchen in this harbourside house brings heart to the home. A butler’s pantry is concealed behind an arched VJ-panel doorway and lined with Moroccan wall tiles in Snow from Surface Gallery.
A ‘European farmhouse aesthetic’ was what Lucy and Steve Cahill had in mind for their whole-home renovation on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. And their new kitchen – the centrepiece of the revamped home – encapsulates their vision, brought into being by interior designer Kate Walker, principal of KWD.
A combination of white and soft grey imbues this Sydney kitchen with a sense of calm, which is also derived from having an abundance of storage. “Everything has a place,” says interior designer Annie Bowen.
A luxurious ‘plinth’ of marble is the centrepiece of this timeless, simple and sophisticated kitchen. The owners “wanted a modern, fresh, inviting and timeless design,” says Chris Ruffe, director of Bondi Kitchens who revamped the space in collaboration with The Interior Collective.
Tying this kitchen’s scheme together is the Shaker-style joinery, painted jungle green. “We explored various tones of green before settling on this one, Dulux Amazon Depths, which works beautifully with the timber benchtops,” says designer Lydia Maskiel.
This beautiful kitchen was a finalist in 2022 at . “The concrete island transitions into an American oak timber extension, for a subtle separation between the zones,” says Susanna Bilardo of Adelaide interior design firm Enoki.
The kitchen within this revamped Modernist home retains a retro flavour with American walnut joinery and a vintage George Nelson Butterfly clock. Photograph: Maree Homer
An island bench in a beautiful Bengal Black honed granite is at the centre of this bold kitchen in a warehouse conversion in Brisbane.
The white kitchen within this Mornington Peninsula getaway could be very dull indeed, but the diverse materials – subways tiles, tongue-and-groove doors – pique visual interest.
The highlight of this delightfully modern kitchen conceived by architect Adam Brewer and Braeside Joinery is the sinuous island bench that features custom-routed cladding.
It was a two-year wait to have to have this kitchen installed in a Federation terrace. It was designed in the classic ‘Plain English’ style Andrea favoured from the owner’s time living in London.
Brass casts a warm glow over the rear cabinetry in the kitchen of this renovated heritage cottage.
Lining boards on the walls in this kitchen add to the Hamptons vibe, while the sliding-door pantry offers discreet functionality.
In creating this eco-friendly kitchen, Druce Davey of Greener opted for a combination of FSC-certified birch plywood, stainless steel, concrete and glass. “We used natural materials and finishes throughout, selecting robust and readily renovatable surfaces that would work well for the family over a really long time,” he says.
The kitchen is very much the heart of this home; to give it some gravitas, designer Morgan Ferry specified a muted blue-green for the joinery and Versilia marble for the benchtops and splashbacks. A butler’s pantry and laundry are cleverly concealed behind a pivot door.
This pared-back kitchen features a concealed pantry and study nook which are both illuminated by a skylight.
Cat Cruger, the owner of this postwar worker’s cottage, says “most of the love went into the kitchen”, which divides the dining and living areas. Spanning three metres, there was no issue with storage – it was more about the footprint. “I wanted it to be in the heart of the room and have an island to define the spaces, so I can interact with whoever is on either side,” she says.
A symphony of textures plays the lead role in this glorious white-on-white kitchen.
A deep tonal blue and a mix of natural, durable materials were the key ingredients in this country-style kitchen conceived by interior designer Georgie Shepherd.
A row of skylights flood Darren Palmer‘s classic white kitchen with natural light.
There is a lot to love about this kitchen which opens out to a private courtyard in this Federation semi.
Respect for tradition and a love of blue prove to be magic ingredients in this classic shaker-style kitchen. “The clients adore navy and white, so it was only natural that this would be the palette we worked with,” says interior designer Kate Walker
In this modern kitchen, shields and bowls the owners bought in Africa are earthy elements in the restrained palette.
Owners Crystal and Oliver picked up the renovation reins, calling on interior architect Sally Rhys-Jones to really make the house a fabulous family home. The original kitchen was rather awkward to use; reorganising the layout has vastly improved its convenience.
“This is such a warm and welcoming room,” says designer Adelaide Bragg. “With checked curtains, natural linens, hanging baskets and a dresser filled with china and trinkets, it epitomises a country kitchen.”
A black and white palette creates a fresh yet elegant feel in the kitchen of this renovated Edwardian home.
The owners of this beachside townhouse in Newcastle called local interior designer Stewart Horton to help them redesign their dated kitchen to create an open plan entertaining zone.
The impeccable finishes are what really make the kitchen in this classic Queenslander shine.
