Kitchens + Bathrooms 09 preview

Kitchens + Bathrooms 09.

Nowadays, home owners have access to a much broader range of research tools to plan renovations of their kitchens and bathrooms. In particular, digital magazines, applications and image-based social media platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest are changing the way we engage with design.

This sharing of information has greatly influenced home decoration style in terms of material and colour palettes and what objects are chosen for display. Open shelves in the kitchen, such as those in Owen and Vokes and Peters’ project, reveal something about the owner, but can also be curated to create a desired effect. Restaurant design is now influencing residential kitchens and with more cooking appliances being used, more storage cupboards are needed. Full-height kitchen joinery is being used as a partition device, for example in both Kennedy Nolan’s and Multiplicity’s projects.

As the latest addition to the suite of “living spaces” in the home, the bathroom also requires a personal touch. Australian bathrooms are often influenced by Japanese design – clean, white surfaces with timber details such as in Benn and Penna Architects’ project. There is also a desire for bathrooms to be open and uninhibited spaces without chunky joinery. This can save space – for example, a wall-hung basin in the ensuite by Harrison and White allows the room to be only one metre wide. Taking joinery back to the bare neccessities fits with the current industrial trend – exposed brass and copper piping, used in Matthew Eagle’s Gold Coast bathroom, references times past.

The projects in this issue of Kitchens and Bathrooms will inspire you to create your own spaces and perhaps share them on your favourite social media platforms – and in turn inspire others.

Katelin Butler, editor

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