When a home’s interior already has a
strong decorative feature, a designer has
to be very careful about what else they
introduce into the overall design.
In the living areas of this contempo-
rary home, the antique wood panelling
is a particularly distinctive element. So
when designer Marketa Ramage of Studio
Italia was asked to design the kitchen for
the space, she says it was important that
it complement and not compete with this
existing feature.
“When we came to the project, the
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kitchen’s position was already allocated, so
we worked with the owner to establish the
feel and how the kitchen would transition
into the rest of the interior,” she says.
It was only after an initial scheme for
the kitchen had been prepared that the
owner decided to use the wood panelling
to tie the home’s interiors in with natural
bush and trees on the edge of the property.
“At that point, we changed the kitchen
finishes to a soft black and white, keeping
everything simple so as to not overpower
the panelling, which ran from the living
area through to the kitchen bulkhead.”
But the panelling didn’t just present an
aesthetic consideration – it also provided a
logistical challenge.
“With the kitchen wrapping around
all the panelled walls, and the benchtop
extending alongside the dining and living
area, everything needed to be designed to
within a millimetre for it all to fit exactly.”
The benchtop extension was another
way to integrate the kitchen into the over-
all space, but it also plays a part in meeting
the owner’s request for a very practical