This new kitchen, titled Te Kāuta (Cooking House), was designed by Morgan Cronin of Cronin Kitchens in Auckland, and is one of six New Zealand finalists in the prestigious SBID International Design Awards.

”As the name suggests, the person who does most of the cooking in this home is very proud of her Māori heritage, and this is the room where the family gathers,” Cronin says.

“The family did not want to change anything outside the room that contained the kitchen, so the brief was to design a modern, minimalist kitchen that was aesthetically sympathetic to the existing home. The brief also included seating for six at the island, natural stone benchtops, and a long list of specific appliances – some of which were in the original kitchen.”

Cronin says he and the client spent weeks looking for a natural stone that would suit the new modern aesthetic while also working with the existing beige wall colour. “Unfortunately, everything we looked at was too grey or too yellow.”

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“So, I looked at the space and came up with defined lines at the three exit points of the room where we could subtly change the wall and ceiling colour to a more conducive tone without changing the colour of the whole house. Although subtle, this allowed more scope for choosing the stone, and Berrini quartzite was soon agreed upon.”

Cronin says the minimal, timeless colour palette does not compete with the existing aesthetic and works perfectly with the white oak flooring.

The Berrini quartzite, from Stone and Joinery Supplies, is teamed with cabinets in 18mm thick MROE board from Laminex, painted in Resene Quarter Blanc. And there’s a surprise when you open the doors – the carcass interiors are black Melamine.

The bespoke glass extractor canopy pays homage to the existing kitchen’s glass cavity slide doors and the glass that is a feature of the home’s architecture. The extractor features toughened low-iron glass backpainted to match the bank of four white ovens.

And white is a big colour here – the ovens are white, and so is the Dornbracht tapware and Hafele sink.

A full complement of Miele appliances was specified, including a “knock-to-open” integrated dishwasher and an integrated fridge-freezer. In addition, there is a single Fisher & Paykel tall DishDrawer.