Serene in green

“As many cupboards as possible” was a key part of the brief from the owners of this Melbourne kitchen to architect and interior designer Anna Vaughan.

The kitchen was just one part of the whole-home renovation of a beautiful Victorian cottage that perfectly blends heritage with modern style. As part of an open-plan living and dining area, the kitchen needed to be highly functional and beautiful to look at, without seeming to intrude into the rest of the space, Anna says. The green and grey colour scheme was key to the success of that, as was the use of Resene Quarter White Pointer on the ceilings and side walls that run through into the dining and living space.

With cabinetry painted in the deep earthy green of Resene Scrub, against black benchtops, and grey tiles on the floor, the kitchen feels both bold and calming.

“We love the green colour palette,” says Anna. “Of all the paint ranges on the market, Resene offers the greatest variety in the green palette.

“We tried about six different Resene greens and decided that Resene Scrub was our favourite for its warm, natural look.

“The colour was carefully selected to not be a European evergreen and not too army camouflage. Resene Scrub has great earthy olive depth, and was used for all the kitchen cabinetry with porcelain black benchtops, a bold element set in the rear living space.”

The grey floor tiles in the kitchen flowed from the kitchen and living space into the hallway, which helped connect the spaces to the rest of the home.

“The use of colour is integrated through other rooms in the house in joinery and textured finishes,” Anna says. “The earthy Resene Scrub green of the kitchen is picked up in the main bathroom feature tiles as well as the main fireplace, which has textured handmade sea green tiles that are offset against an off-form concrete base and an oiled steel shroud.

“The green in the kitchen seemed to blend well with the green tiles that surround the fireplace without dominating.”

The biggest challenge of the finished kitchen design was working with limited space while meeting the client’s other functional wishlist items of a French door fridge, a wall oven plus combination microwave/oven, a plate warmer and an integrated bar fridge, Anna says.

“The joinery was carefully designed to maximise storage and be very functional. Then, to balance the dark tone of the joinery we introduced plenty of light with a window looking on to the vertical garden in the existing light well, and created two large skylights.”

IN THE OWNER’S WORDS

My favourite part of this kitchen is:
The little prep nook; an almost hidden area in the tiny kitchen, which looks out to the vertical garden.

My cooking style is:
I don’t like mess and find that chopping for Chinese-style meals and wok cooking suits my style of food.

The recipe from this issue of dish I’d like to cook is:
The Raspberry and Almond Cake with Lemon Glaze (page 126) as it sounds ideal for a bridge afternoon tea.

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