Kitchen confidential: Nine things that make your cooking space extra lux

There is a real movement toward natural stone and wooden veneers in our kitchens, says kitchen designer Annika Rowson. Photo / Gina Fabish

During the course of a single day a kitchen serves many purposes: it is a quiet place of solace, comfort and reflection. It is a rowdy place of chaos, nourishment and togetherness. It's the place everyone congregates at a party - elbows on benches and noses in fridges. It's the place from where you feed your family and where you may have turned one end of the island into a makeshift home office.

More than ever before - and whether you were forced by lockdowns or were always happy cooking in yours - the kitchen has become the place we consider the heart of our homes.

The Herald spoke to award-winning kitchen designer Annika Rowson of Rowson Kitchens and design guru Mike Thorburn, owner of ECC, which brings exclusive lighting, furniture and designer brands to New Zealand, to find out what makes a kitchen extra luxurious and a well-functioning space.

From exquisite natural stone, to smarter layouts, to doing away with your kettle, Rowson and Thorburn discuss nine luxury elements that will make your kitchen worthy of all the time you spend in it.

Clear the bench

A built-in coffee machine is a sleek option that frees up bench space. Photo / Getty Images

It may be time to toss your beloved Breville or Sunbeam espresso machine and get one permanently fitted into your kitchen. And while you're there, you can ditch your kettle, filter on the fridge and SodaStream because if you're in the market for a lux kitchen, you're going to want a built in coffee machine and a hydro tap instead.

"With a built-in coffee machine, it's not an on-bench unit that's taking up space," Rowson points out. "Fisher and Paykel and Miele do them. Everything is quite streamlined and more of a set with your appliances."

"Hydro taps are my non-negotiable," says Rowson. "They are life-changing because you remove clutter from the kitchen. You remove the need for several appliances. You have hot, cold, filtered, chilled and sparkling. It's combining a lot of things into one really functional tap. Once you've had one it's hard to go back. Depending on the finish, they have a retail of between sort of $6000 to $7000. There are three different price brackets on them."

A lesson in layout

Do you have more meals at your kitchen bench than your dining table? Photo / Gina Fabish

If you're anything like Thorburn, the kitchen counter or island is where you dine most of the time.

"These days we dine there more often than the dining table. Therefore the bench stools are of significant importance. They need to be practical and comfortable."

Or, to up the ante on your island, you might consider doing away with bench stools altogether.

Rowson says her team has "done a few block form islands recently where there's no seating. In a round-about-way, you're sort of saying you don't need the space. It's quite a luxury look to forgo bar stools to have that really beautiful block form look where materials are applied horizontally and vertically."

And Rowson says by moving your stovetop to your kitchen island, along with your sink, you're creating the ultimate interactive space while cooking.

"When you're cooking you don't have your back to everybody. Kids can be doing homework, you might be entertaining and guests can be sitting at the island having a drink while you prepare food. It's very connected and also safer in terms of it's just a sideways step to the sink as opposed to turning and crossing your kitchen."

Electric drawers

Electric servo-drive drawers by Blum make moving about your kitchen a breeze. Photo / blum.com.au

A luxury kitchen wouldn't have you opening and closing drawers with nothing but your own might.

Rowson says they install a lot of electric push-to-open drawers.

"They have a full kick back so it opens to a full extension of the drawer. It's premium but it is preferable. It's a smoother soft-close, too. It's also really good when you're cooking, if your hands are dirty, you can just nudge the bin with your knee, you can bump something and open up cabinetry without having to touch it all the time. You can really get into your groove when cooking because you can just gently move around."

A statement bench and a sink in the same

Kitchen designer Annika Rowson says people are wanting more natural products, like marble and granite, used in their kitchens. Photo / Gina Fabish

When it comes to the surfaces in your kitchen, statement slabs in natural materials are in, says Rowson.

"We're seeing a really strong movement back to organic stones: granite, quartzite, limestone, marble as well. That's only been in the last 12 to 18 months but I do feel with Covid and delays and supply issues, people seem to want to know where things are coming from and want a more natural product in their kitchen. Also the uniqueness and knowing no one else will ever have the same slab."

Rowson says the marble, quartzites and granites coming through next year are "very bold".

And a particularly lux look is integrating your bench top with your sink. So rather than choosing a chrome or porcelain sink to insert into that beautiful bench top, the same material - marble, granite or quartzite - is used as well.

"It's a really beautiful look that's a little bit more lux. When that's on the island it's really complimentary to have say a granite and have that as the sink as well."

And when you're investing in a bench top with a natural stone, it's a shame not to make the most of it, says Rowson.

"Putting in a stainless bowl, that's not really doing it justice. Especially if you want to make it a little more lux."

A steam dream and rangehood relics

A steam oven means you don't need to use as many fats and oils when cooking. Photo / Fisher & Paykel

Thorburn says, in his opinion, a steam oven is the ultimate appliance to have in the kitchen these days.

It provides for "such ease of cooking in a contemporary, fast-paced world" and works by cooking food in its own juices, cutting down the need for oils and fats.

Meanwhile, range hoods might have been features in our kitchens for a while, but doing away with them altogether may be the way forward.

Instead, says Rowson, "induction hobs with a down draft in the centre are gaining huge popularity. They create a really clean, contemporary look without the need for a heavy overhead rangehood or suspended unit."

Light it right

"Decorative pendants can be used over the workbenches to tie in with the house decor and create impact," says ECC's Mike Thorburn.

Creating ambience in a kitchen is key to giving the space a premium feel and highlight high-end materials, says Thorburn. He suggests, in particular, "good lighting over the task areas, that can be dimmed for mood lighting at a later time.

"We're using a lot of magnetic track systems with ultra-low glare spots and down-lights, where the light source remains discrete, creating a fantastic ambiance that enhances the finishes used in a high-end kitchen."

And using LED strip lighting on back splashes can also "soften the ambiance" while "decorative pendants can be used over the workbenches to tie in with the house decor and create impact," says Thorburn.

Cabinetry and handles

When it comes to handles and faucets, the past 12 months has seen a rise in the use of smoked bronze, a dark and moody take on more traditional metals. Photo / Gina Fabish

In keeping with people's desire for using natural products, Rowson says there's been a real movement back to wooden veneers on kitchen cabinetry.

"Veneers are really elegant and timeless. We're not seeing as many matt surfaces anymore. It's going back to really beautiful grains."

And rather than having a huge double-door fridge on display, Rowson suggests integrating whiteware by placing cabinetry over the top.

"Integration is really key to creating a really elegant and clean-lined kitchen. It's a good way to create more of a furniture-like appeal to the space by removing that utility aspect of, say, a refrigerator. And you'd do the same with dishwashers and dish drawers."

When it comes to handles and faucets, the past 12 months has seen a rise in the use of smoked bronze, a dark and moody take on more traditional metals.

"Brass was really strong, we've had rose golds and copper tones. Now we're seeing more bronze in natural patinas that will just naturally weather over time, which is really lovely."

Changing shades

"Black looks fantastic with timber and really smart with white cabinetry too. We're doing a lot of black appliances," says kitchen designer Annika Rowson. Photo / Gina Fabish

The recent shift from bright white kitchens to dark is on the move again, too, says Rowson.

"We are finding there are lots of creamy neutral tones coming through in a lot of natural stone. If we are using dark, it tends to just be in, say, a back wall of integrated cabinetry in a veneer. The two are really complimentary, so there are still elements of dark in the kitchen. And part of that is also complimentary to a strong movement to black appliances like ovens.

"Black really melds back with cabinetry whereas stainless really pops out. Black looks fantastic with timber and really smart with white cabinetry too. We're doing a lot of black appliances."

A bench top that charges your phone

How luxurious would it be to do away with phone charger cables altogether? Photo / corian.co.nz

Corian stone offers docking stations that go under the bench top material for wireless charging. So you can pop your phone or tablet down next to you and revive its battery while you're cooking.

Corian stone also allows for rebated hot points, so instead of a full power point with a plate and a switch, all you'll see are three pins to plug into.

"It's really cool, a really minimal aesthetic," says Rowson.

• Annika Rowson is a New Plymouth-based kitchen designer who works across North Island, has won multiple awards for her work and been featured in national and international publications.