January 23, 2025 • 44 mins
Imagine a kitchen that feels like a cozy haven, an eclectic blend of personal style and practical design. In this episode of Design Anatomy, we unlock the secrets to transforming your kitchen space from a minimalist, concealed setup to a warm, lived-in masterpiece that truly reflects who you are. Learn why the shift towards natural materials and personal touches is redefining what it means to have a modern kitchen in 2025. We promise you'll walk away with a fresh perspective on creating spaces that are not just functional, but brimming with character and individuality.
Our journey doesn't stop at aesthetics; we explore the practicality of design as well. Discover the charm of unloved yet stylish glass-front cupboards and the art of curating visible displays. Feel the nostalgia with modular designs and freestanding cabinets, offering a sustainable approach that combines the best of past and present trends. From the rise of mismatched ceramics to the practicality of movable furniture, we explore how these elements create flexible and engaging kitchen environments that defy the conventional norms of sterile, streamlined designs.
But that's not all. We take a closer look at the materials making waves in the design world, from vibrant stones to tactile leathered finishes. Our conversation uncovers the resurgence of fabric skirts in kitchen design, inspired by classic styles and movies like "Calamity Jane." We discuss innovative and budget-friendly ways to incorporate fabric and other nostalgic elements into your home.
Join us as we celebrate the art of interior design, acknowledging the rich cultural history of the spaces we create and inhabit. This episode is packed with inspiration, ready to elevate your kitchen into a space that is uniquely yours.
Want the low-down on the good stuff? Sign up for the launch of Design Edit by Bree Banfield - curated pre-selected decor collections, workshops, design tours and trends. Learn more: BREE BANFIELD
If you're sitting at your desk about to send a fee proposal and you'd just like to run it by someone else first? Or have you ever had a client dilemma and it just doesn't feel right but no one you know understands (except for the dog)?
And do you wonder why you're not raking it in when you're practically living at your desk, busting your creative chops 'round the clock?
These are the things we're diving into with a small group of designers just like you. And so much more in THE CONVERSATION CIRCLE
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Design Anatomy, the interior design
podcast hosted by friends andfellow designers me, Lauren Li
and me, Bree Banfield, with someamazing guest appearances along
the way.
We're here to break downeverything from current trends
to timeless style, with a sharedpassion for joyful,
colour-filled and lived-inspaces.
We're really excited to shareour insights and inspiration
(00:23):
with you.
And just before we get started,I just wanted to remind you
guys that if you're an interiordesigner, you can join us in the
Design Society and we arelearning about just how to be
the best designers that we canbe.
And if you jump into the shownotes, you'll find links to sign
(00:43):
up for my newsletter and keepan eye out for our release of
our pre-selected selections offurniture and finishes that you
can purchase so that you caninterior design your own home
with my help.
Clever, so fun.
My help, clever, so fun.
(01:07):
A good chat today, I think, bree, because I think kitchens is
just one of those things thatthere's just so much to talk
about, right?
Yeah, I love kitchens.
I love doing design forkitchens, kitchens and bathrooms
.
I find really fun.
I quite like the, the planningaspect of it and, you know, the
more permanence to the design ofthose sort of spaces.
Yeah, I mean, we're going totalk about a whole lot of
(01:29):
different things today, but thisepisode about the fundamentals
of kitchen design in 2025, youknow, this is not our first
rodeo.
We've designed a few kitchensbefore and it's just fascinating
to see how our kitchen spaceshave evolved and sort of where
we're at at this point in time.
So the first kind of thing wewant to talk about is just kind
(01:51):
of this vibe shift which isreally towards warmth, comfort
and lived in spaces, which iskind of different to what we
have experienced.
Well, I just know, when I firststarted designing kitchens,
maybe in the 2000s, it was allabout concealing things and
(02:12):
everything being quite sterilelooking.
Yeah for sure.
I think that I guess thatgeneral movement towards being a
little bit more eclectic, Ithink, is probably a good word
and authentic, so things are abit more real.
So we don't mind showing someappliances on the benches or,
(02:35):
you know, canisters of food, thefruit bowls and the I guess
they're more decorative elementsbut they're practical things
because it's real and authentic,and so there's definitely been
that shift towards that.
I think that kind of isaffecting also color, because we
want it to feel warm.
We've realized how much time wealso spend in our kitchens, and
(02:57):
particularly in Australia, wherethey're usually open plan.
I think it's rare now to findthe kitchen as a separate room,
unlike in Europe where there arestill a lot of separate room
kitchens.
In Australia the kitchen is onshow.
So I think that's probably whythere was a big move towards
everything being hidden whenminimalism was a little bit
(03:20):
stronger.
We didn't want mess, andprobably the rise of the
butler's pantry in Australia aswell is due to the fact that our
kitchens are very much seenfrom nearly every part of our
living spaces, right Evenprobably from outdoor living
spaces.
So that kind of pull back andpair back and hide things and
make it clean all the time wasprobably why that sort of
(03:42):
happened, when we were all kindof like, okay, minimalism and
everything has its place.
And now that it's shifted a bitfurther away from that and
we're more into character andhow we live and things having
personality, doesn't make senseanymore for everything to be
kind of really streamlined andtailored and hidden Some things.
I think it's still good to behidden, true, I know, it's
(04:06):
actually interesting.
I was chatting to a client justthe other day actually, and
we're trying to just figure outthe design for her kitchen and
because it is, when you walk init is kind of the first thing
you see, but currently there'ssort of a wall.
It's a U-shaped kitchen thatwas probably built in the
nineties and she was justcontemplating about getting rid
of this wall that divides it tothe lounge area.
(04:30):
And when you walk in, she'slike I just don't want to be
able to walk in and see thekitchen.
I'm like, well, I get that, butshe's like I don't want to just
walk in and see this waterfalledge of the island.
I'm like it's not that we'renot going to do a waterfall edge
in and see this waterfall edgeof the island.
I'm like it's not that we'renot going to do a waterfall edge
, we want it to feel more livedin.
It's going to be a kitchen,obviously, but it feels more
part of a living space thesedays and it's about creating
(04:54):
comfort and warmth and I don'tknow.
I feel like, you know, we'vesort of talked about all these
sort of shiny AI images are justreally off-putting and I feel
like we just want to gettogether, we just want to feel
natural materials, we just wantto see spaces that are a bit
more individual and it's notjust like another Pinterest
image, maybe, yeah, yeah,definitely, yeah, that, um, that
(05:18):
move towards and we weretalking about this with with
trends towards uh, the antitrend, which is where you create it
for you, and that's essentiallywhat we're seeing in kitchens
and it actually is superimportant, because it is such a
large part of your home that itrepresents, that you don't kind
of fall into the trap of itneeds to be white, it needs to
(05:41):
be this, it needs to have awaterfall edge, because this is
what everyone's doing, and youneed to kind of really think
about it from your own personalperspective of what you like and
how it works.
For me, it's got to start there.
You can have great ideas aboutwhat you want it to look like,
but sometimes that changesdepending on how it works.
So, when you're working out,how do I use my kitchen, well,
(06:03):
actually, now that's notpractical to have that
particular finish or whatever itis.
So it is one of those spaces,you know, along with bathrooms,
that really do go hand in handwith you know, function and form
and how something looks.
They have to work together.
They can't be separate.
Well, this is right, and I mean,with this client we were trying
(06:24):
to think about some ways how wecould make it feel a bit more
closed off from the lounge room,but in the end we just had to
land on function.
It's just going to have tofunction and we're just going to
have to open it up.
But, as you said, it goes handin hand with how it looks.
So she sort of had thiswaterfall edge in her mind that
as soon as you walked in youwould see this island bench.
(06:45):
And she had this reallybeautiful red travertine coffee
table that she left.
I said, why don't we introducesome of that red travertine and
have it like this?
So when you walk in, yes, yousee the island bench, but it's a
beautiful piece of almost likefurniture.
So that's kind of where welanded.
But yeah, it is about I I meanit's just the naturally the
(07:06):
heart of the home right,everyone just gathers around
that island bench and, um, it'sjust about making it feel
comfortable and not so uptight.
You know, with those sterilekitchens where everything was
put away.
I just feel like you can't evenrelax, like you can't even put
your phone down and your bag onthe island bench.
It just stands out so muchbecause there's nothing else in
(07:28):
the space.
Yeah, I think that's exactlyright and and we tend to do that
right, you sort of walk in.
I know I often put things.
Um, I have a spot where I putthings because I do like my
kitchen to be.
It's still lived in, but Istill like it to be ordered.
Of course, probably a good word, yeah, but yeah, if it's so
(07:49):
minimal, even just like a set ofkeys, it's going to stand out
and you're going to go oh, Ineed to find somewhere to put
those, I know.
But if you have like a tray orsomething, that's where the keys
and the bag go.
It kind of feels more welcomingspace and it's just a little
more relaxed, integrated, alittle.
Yeah, yeah, which is like whatwe're I guess.
(08:09):
Our second point is, um, that itis now a decorated space where
it wasn't before.
You know, we see artwork inkitchens.
Now I've got an artwork hangingon on the wall in my kitchen,
just a little square one, um,actually I've got two, I've got
another one up on a shelf.
So I guess that's also helpingit integrate into the rest of
the home because you're not justkind of stopping the rest of
(08:31):
the house sort of stops thereand the kitchen's just clear
benches and cupboards.
Now we're kind of going well,no, this is the space we live in
and we still want beautifulthings around us and we want to
look at the kitchen and stillfeel connected to it.
So I think that's often whatthe decoration does in spaces,
it's that little layer ofconnection.
So now your kitchen has, youknow, I don't know the artwork
(08:53):
that was handed down to you fromyour mom, or a bowl from your
nana or whatever.
So it's got some kind ofmeaning and even if it's not
that, it's just something youlove.
Yeah, it kind of gives you abit more connection to the space
.
And I think there's that shiftfrom that white, sterile,
minimalist kitchen that justlooked very kitchen-y to
something that looks a bit morejoinery.
(09:15):
So we're seeing lots of warmtimbers, we're seeing lots of
colour used in the kitchen.
You know like we've looked atthese colours that are coming
through the light blues, theburgundies, you know those sort
of more beige-y colours, thetravertines and more
characterful stones.
It's not just Carrara marble,it makes it feel more like a
(09:35):
lived-in space.
It's not just like I mean,obviously it's a kitchen, but it
just brings in that warmth.
And then you add that layer ofdecoration.
You can't do that in a sterilekitchen.
There are no open shelves toput the artwork on.
Whereas what we're seeing nowis that instead of all those
overhead cupboards and don't getme wrong, everyone loves
storage, but sometimes thoseoverhead cupboards, I mean,
(09:58):
they're hard to get, the topshelf, it's hard to reach those
things.
You don't use that storageevery day.
So what we're seeing is morepractical storage, like drawers,
and then we're having a one ortwo shelves above the, the
benchtop, and we have now peoplesay, oh my god, that would
drive me crazy collecting dust.
(10:19):
I'm like, I don't really feellike it's a huge problem, but
you can lean an artwork there,and I'm not talking about, you
know, a precious oil painting,because like, let's a huge
problem, but you can lean anartwork there and I'm not
talking about you know aprecious oil painting, because
like, let's be real, somethingunder glass is better for
kitchen, just a print, cheap andcheerful, or whatever print
that you love.
And then you've got some coolceramic pieces and it could be a
(10:40):
mortar and pestle or maybethat's, I don't know something
that you actually use.
Yeah, I have one of those.
I rarely use it, but I like theway it looks.
I've used it a couple of times.
I've never used it.
I wish I was like one of thosepeople that did use it more.
Yeah, I have.
I mean I have used it.
It's just not like I use itevery week.
(11:00):
I might use it like maybe oncea month, exactly.
But yeah, those kind ofaesthetic pieces in the kitchen.
So yeah, as you said, it's notyour kids' plastic water bottles
we're lining up there.
They still need to be hidden,exactly they do.
But it's you know, hopefullyyou know your favourite coffee
(11:21):
mugs and you know your noodlebowls or something like that.
So hopefully they're not justcollecting dust.
Yeah, and that's where that youknow.
The other shift we've seen isthe glass front cupboards.
So you can see either.
I mean, I think the mostpopular is a type of fluted
glass or a frosted glass or aslump glass or something like
(11:44):
that.
But I think people think thatyou can't see what's in there.
When you have those sort ofcupboards, you still have to
think about you can't put allyour plastic Tupperware
container in there.
Yes, because you can see it.
You might not see it clearly,but if the shapes just look
hectic or you've got brightcolours, it won't give you the
(12:07):
effect you think it's going togive.
You need to think about what'sgoing in that cupboard.
Not my Paw Patrol bowls and mydog bowl, yeah, and all the
kids' coloured drink bottlescan't go in that particular
cupboard, no, yeah, I mean thisis ideal.
This is where, speaking ideally, you know where.
We lived in an apartment before.
We couldn't do that.
(12:28):
We had a glass cupboard that weput everything in.
But you know, I did a cowl aswell.
I'm like I cannot stand all ofthese.
You know stuff, you know youjust end up with mismatched
stuff.
Mismatched stuff, it's actuallyI went to House of Orange.
(12:48):
Yeah, I went to House of Orangeand I just brought up a whole
lot of their cool like 1970sstyle ceramic.
Yeah, I love the ceramics bowlsand glasses and cups and stuff
and they look really cute and itjust looked nice.
It's sort of a.
They mingle nicely together butthey're not all 100% matching,
if you know what I mean.
Yeah, so anyway, yeah, so it'sstill kind of vibe together.
I think it's cool to havemismatched stuff, but not if
(13:10):
it's like at the moment I amoverdue.
I need a new.
I need new cutlery.
I've got to the point now.
What happens to the cutlery?
I'm like, are the kids throwingit out when they clean up the
kitchen?
Or the little spoons are thefirst ones to disappear.
And I reckon that's because Iused to maybe give the kids
yogurt or something and they'dtake it to school and I'd always
(13:32):
say, use the crappy ones, butuse my good ones.
And now I don't think we mighthave like two spoons left.
I reckon there's not enoughknives and forks.
And I'm a bit weird.
I think if you're slightlyneurodivergent you'll understand
this.
I have to eat with certaincutlery and my good cutlery is
the one I like to eat with, andthe rest of it I don't even know
(13:54):
where it came from.
It's just this crappysupermarket, shitty stuff that
somehow ended up in my drawer.
I didn't buy it, I know that.
And if that's what's left inthe drawer and it's dinner time,
I'll look around and the kidswill swap me a fork because I
can't eat with this.
Yeah, oh, that's so funny.
I have to say that does remindme of my three-year-old toddler.
(14:16):
You know, if it's the wrongspoon, that's me still.
I'm still a toddler.
I can't use that plate plate.
It's got a chip in it.
It has to be this plate.
It has to be this particularbowl for breakfast and that
bowl's okay for pasta.
Yeah, yeah, you crazy, I'mtrying to just cereal out of
this bowl.
I know it's anyway.
(14:36):
So, yeah, I need new, yeah,pulling all that together, and
the point I was trying to makebefore I digressed was all that
new stuff.
So, you know, I had just like awhite, you know plates and
bowls and everything.
But you can't really havemismatched ones of new things.
It has to have a bit of a styleto work to be mismatched,
(14:58):
doesn't it?
Otherwise it's just like, oh,what is all this crap?
Yeah, you make a good point.
I think that's why I like thehouse of orange stuff, because
it's all the same size butthey've used different glazes
and stuff on it, so it's reallycute.
Yeah, it's got that vibe thatit can be a bit more eclectic
and probably on your open shelfand you don't have to worry
about arranging it.
They all look, yes, smashedtogether.
(15:20):
Exactly that is key.
Yeah, so we're talking about.
So number one, I guess, was theshift towards warmth and lived
in.
Number two is making your spacedecorated.
Now.
Number three is an unfittedkitchen, so it's kind of like,
you know, a butcher's block inthe middle.
(15:40):
I mean that's nothing newreally, but it is.
It is a step away.
It is, yeah, a step away fromthat really sterile white
kitchen.
Look, I think we did it well inthe seventies and the eighties
and it was the nineties wherethose things sort of started to
disappear, those loose furniturethings in the kitchen.
(16:02):
So I was obsessed with a trolleyor a butcher's block.
Yeah, I really wanted that inmy kitchen.
I've never had it one day.
Maybe one day and that can beso practical as well.
Definitely have that,especially if you can move it
and you've got like a really bigand small kitchen.
So if it's a small kitchen, youmight need that extra space
while you're cooking so you canlike put it where you need it to
(16:23):
be and it's an extra set downspace or whatever, and then you
can put it back wherever it goes.
But a big kitchen, it's greatbecause if you've got
circulation space you can fit itin the middle and it can kind
of stay there and it's an extraspot to I don't know either.
Just look good, going againstwhat I said, where everything
has to have function as well.
But, um, I think it would stillfunction.
(16:45):
That's the idea, yeah, yeah,and it does make it feel a bit
more interesting.
Right, it does.
And actually you remind mebecause my mum actually has a.
It's not a butcher's block, butit is like a little, a little
narrow table with little casterwheels on it, and because she's
got a u-shaped kitchen.
It's not big enough that youwould put an island bench in the
(17:08):
middle of the?
U, but it's, it's.
It's not so small that you, youcan't fit anything, but it's
really handy to have that thingin the middle and it's actually
super handy and it's very cuteand charming.
It's a little antique thingthat she found, um, but also
what I've noticed is like a lookof having like a freestanding
pantry as well, okay, like aseparate cupboard, yeah.
(17:30):
So I've seen, like heckerguthrie do that a lot.
They sort of do a freestandinglike a unfitted.
It's fitted, but it's.
They almost they always sort ofdo like a plinth a stone plinth
, yes, and then there's joineryelements that sort of sit like a
plinth, a stone plinth, yes,and then there's joinery
elements that sort of sit onthat plinth and that's just
really See, I feel like that wasa real 80s thing too.
(17:51):
Do you remember that everyonehad those cabinets that would be
I don't even know, it's not abuffet, because it would have,
you know, like cupboards above,but it would be the base, sort
of, with a plinth and then alittle setback, and then you'd
have like, say, maybe glasscupboards or timber cupboards
that might have cups and stuffin them and you could open it up
and put it down and close thedoor.
(18:11):
I feel like that was a real 80sthing too.
Yeah, maybe, and that'ssomething you would take with
you, like it was a loose pieceso it might sit just outside the
kitchen, but you know you couldhouse all the glassware in
there or something.
Oh my God, what do you callthat?
I don't know.
I swear it has a name becauseit's like a buffet, but it's not
(18:32):
.
Well, maybe buffet does coverit.
I'm always buffet.
I'm always thinking like, justlike a bench height sort of
level or a bit lower than benchheight.
When you think of buffet, whatdo you think of An?
All sorry, that's all right.
Or sideboard is the same thingas a buffet, right, yeah, but I
(18:54):
always think of a sideboard asbeing one level and not a higher
cabinet like a pantry.
Yeah, I'm not sure.
Oh, you'll have to show us animage of that.
Yeah, all right.
Oh, yeah, dig something up froma some archive somewhere.
But yeah, I've sort of seenmaybe, uh, hecker Guthrie do it
in more of a contemporary way,but then I've seen more
(19:15):
traditional kitchens, you know,like those Deval kitchens or,
however you say, those Englishkitchens where they've, you know
they've got their, they've gotmore of a freestanding kind of
look and they'll have it.
It is like a, um, I guess like awardrobe, almost proportion,
and that's freestanding on itsown and that's actually the
pantry and it's very, a littlebit farmhouse kind of charming,
(19:37):
but it has that sort ofauthentic look to it.
I've even seen one and Ithought is that a fridge?
It's like freestanding, yeah.
And I suppose you know what youcould say if you were going to
attempt this kind of unfittedkitchen look, where you have
sort of a module for the sink,you know, another pantry
freestanding and almost anotherone for the fridge, something
(19:59):
like that, as you said in the80s or whatever.
You know, you could actuallytake that apart, which is really
, in a way, so sustainable,because it is.
Yeah, when we're talking aboutthese eras changing, with a
white lemonade kitchen, itactually cannot be reused at all
.
You can't refinish laminateCompletely and even when you
pull it out, it's not as thoughyou can take that piece and
(20:23):
repurpose it.
It would pretty much be trashed.
So, yeah, I do think and therehas been discussion about how to
make those kind of designs moresustainable there has been
discussion about how to makethose kind of designs more
sustainable.
One of the things that comes upis making the things that would
normally be fixed a little bitmore modular, so that you can
take them with you or sell themand get something else like
(20:43):
furniture.
It makes sense.
That's a lot of the way,because people rent so much as
well.
They don't necessarily fit outtheir kitchens the way that we
do, and they do have individualpieces that can be.
They can still have them madeand they're bespoke, but then
they go to the next apartment.
You know, isn't that wild.
You take them with them.
(21:03):
Yeah, it's such a different.
I met a client once she wasfrom Finland but they'd lived in
Germany and she said that, yeah, they bought an apartment and
they had no kitchen in there.
They had to put a kitchen inbecause they went with the
previous owner.
They had to get a shop orsomething.
Yeah, it's not uncommon.
No, I couldn't believe it.
It's just a different way ofliving, I guess.
(21:25):
Yeah, but a lot of it couldmake sense.
And I think the other thing wetend to do here in Australia is
everything's.
We love a big kitchen, don't we?
If you've got the space, evenif you don't, I think I don't
know.
I think people maybe even endup with kitchens that are way
too big because they just thinka big kitchen and so like it's
harder to add character to that.
(21:46):
But it would probably be betterif you'd broken it down into
pieces.
Even if it was big, it wouldstill have a lot more character,
wouldn't it?
Well, I mean, you make a reallygood point.
People have a big kitchen as astatus symbol.
So it's not even a kitchen thatthey need to cook.
They might not even cook at all, or they might cook rarely and
(22:10):
they might not even entertainthat often.
But you've got these islandbenches with 10 stalls down them
.
I'm like that just drives mecrazy.
I don't want to sit by myselfhaving my breakfast.
It's such a huge big spacelonely.
It doesn't feel good, I don'tthink, but it's um, it's all
about that, yeah, showing off abig kitchen, but, um, I've had a
funny too.
I don't know if you've had thisconversation with clients where,
um, you know you'll talk aboutokay, so you, you like stools at
(22:33):
the kitchen bench, et cetera,et cetera, and say it's a family
of five.
They're like, well, there needsto be enough for everyone to
sit there.
I would question that.
How many times has everyone, ifyou're all going to sit
together and have dinner, don'tyou sit at the table?
Does everyone sit in a row atthe bench, you know?
And if you're having breakfast,usually it's like maybe there's
two of you there at a time orwhatever.
(22:53):
It's rare that you're allsitting in a line having
breakfast.
Or is that just me?
I have had a client who wantedall the stools at the island
bench.
She had a beautiful solid oakdining table.
They didn't use it because theydidn't want to market.
I'm not even joking, that'sclassic.
I just couldn't.
I was just like, oh, that'sactually.
(23:14):
Then what's it for?
I don't know To look at and nottouch.
Yeah, they'd bought it overseas.
They'd bought it, you know, hadit in this house, had it in
their next house and they reallywant to talk after it.
So the thing too about for me,okay, what's the beauty in
antiques and vintage is that ithas the mark of the previous
(23:34):
owner A hundred percent.
So when you have something thatis particularly a solid timber
table unless you're like a totalminimalist I think they get
more beautiful the more thatthey're used Great.
And if it's a solid timbertable and you get to a point
where, like, actually this islooking a bit, then you refinish
it because it's solid timber.
I agree, you know it's um, Iactually you know it could be a
(23:56):
different thing.
But exactly, I actually metanother client and they bought
the, the dining table from theprevious owner.
So they just bought this houseand they were like, can we
please buy this off you?
And he said that he absolutelyloves it because it's an antique
table.
It was an old butcher's table.
It had drawers underneath someof the part of the top of it and
(24:19):
it was all dinted, marked, andhe said I can just sit here and
relax.
Yes, so I like how easy it'slike having newly polished
timber floors and you knowthey're going to get marked.
They can't not get marked.
So it's like that horriblefeeling of like going, oh, don't
scratch it, yeah, but if it'spre-worn in, you can just live
(24:39):
and relax.
And he loved that.
I thought, oh, that's reallycool, which I guess could bring
us to the next topic ofbenchtops.
So you know, we're seeing areal move away from those really
pristine benches that we feellike we can't even breathe on
the wrong way because they'llstain.
But you know, it is just aconversation that you need to
have and you need to figure outhow you live in the space and
(25:01):
what is acceptable for you,because, I mean, it depends how
you live.
Some people will freak out.
Yeah, I get that.
I get that too.
And what you were saying abouttaking the kitchen with you,
well, I've heard that in Italythey'll take the stone marble
slab with them, the kitchen topwith them, which probably sounds
hilarious to us because ourkitchens are so big.
(25:23):
Can you imagine going?
I'm just going to take thisbench top, but they're bench
tops, aren't they?
Yeah, they're kind of size,it's a little bit more
manageable, exactly, I know.
Yeah, it's a little bit moremanageable, exactly, I know he's
getting a crane in to get you.
Get your fetched six meter longslab.
I'll just take that with me.
But it's, yeah, it's about youknow, something that you, you
know, you've baked on, you'vecooked on.
(25:44):
There's signs of life that haveyou know happened on there and,
as you said, you know, thefirst day in the first cut like
it's gonna hurt.
Yeah, and not everybody's, thedeepest said that, cheryl crow,
it's, rod stewart, I think a fewof them said it.
Maybe let's do it.
Oh, god, oh, but um, you doneed to just be aware of what
(26:09):
the maintenance is, and I thinkwe've seen.
You know, we just wentabsolutely all in on this
Carrara marble, this cool greyand white, and we talked about
the super white marble as well,which is more of a.
It's not really super white, isit?
It's a grey, mottled sort of no, it's mottled.
So the Carrara's probably a bitcleaner, veiny, more contrast,
(26:31):
and the Carrara is probably abit cleaner, veiny, more
contrast, and the super whitehas that, yeah, more mottled
effect.
But I'm just, I am very over agrey marble unless it is super
interesting and the grains areinteresting, because there's
just so much beautiful stone outthere, even porcelain slabs.
If you are really particularabout the maintenance of the
(26:53):
stone.
Porcelain slab might be abetter option for you, but
there's still good.
You know, there's character andwarmth and you can get texture
like that.
You know what I love?
That leathered finish on astone.
Love that.
I want to see more of that, god.
It's good.
Just try to resist running yourfingertips off the top of it.
It's just beautiful.
Beautiful, isn't it?
Caressing your bench all thetime?
(27:14):
That's normal.
It's totally normal.
Yeah, and I think we've seen,yeah, so, a shift from the the
cool grays to all of thesedifferent colors and also edging
as well.
So where we used to do, used todo a 40 or a 60 mil thick edge
and the waterfall edges, we saidwe're not doing any waterfalls
(27:36):
anymore.
But we've seen some really fatbullnose edging, which is kind
of fun, or even like a doublebullnose.
Yeah, I've got that in aproject at the moment a double
bullnose.
Really, I'm kind of obsessedwith it.
Yeah, it hasn't been made yet,it's just on drawings.
Oh, yeah, I'll put one in adrawing too.
I don't know if they'll goahead with it.
(27:57):
We're being influenced bytrends.
I know who isn't.
What color's my sweater, but abullnose is I.
So when I first started doingdesign.
It was sharks, shark nose,shark nose, shark nose, horrible
nose, but shark nose wasprobably more popular, you know,
like with the sharper angle atthe bottom, and then it moved to
(28:18):
everything being square, withjust the little arised edges
right, just pretty boring.
But also cost comes into it.
You know, when you're doing afancier edge detail it does cost
more.
It does finding that, that thecost of stone masons have really
gone up too, and I also thinkthe craft of stone masoning,
(28:40):
stone masoning, I don't knowwhat do you call it like.
You know the way that somestone is sort of just looks like
it's curved, like a piece ofpaper.
Yes, oh, they can do someamazing stuff, really expertly
done.
But yeah, you see, you knowslim, stainless steel benchtops
as well.
So it's about that super fineedge which looks really sharp as
(29:02):
well and it sounds like.
You know, when we talk aboutstainless steel you might sort
of think, oh well, that isn'tthat minimalism.
But I've seen some great use ofsteel in kitchens.
That doesn't.
That still has character andand it is interesting and I
really loved seeing.
I saw a great one in um milanlast year because it was the
kitchen.
Yeah, so it was at the fair andI the brand is escaping me, but
(29:26):
those who know will probablyknow what I'm talking about.
Where, if they only do metal,and they'd done these most
beautiful kitchens all in steel,but they just had still had so
much character, and I loveseeing that sort of fine edge
detail as something a little bitdifferent in a kitchen, because
we've seen so much chunkinessfor a while.
Right, yeah, you're right.
Yeah, stainless steel obviouslyis a very sterile, like a
(29:49):
literally, isn't it quite asterile material?
Yeah, well, that's why you seeit in commercial kitchens.
Yeah, it's not porous, itdoesn't always no, but it does
scratch like crazy.
So if you're looking for aperfect stainless steel, that's
not it.
It's going to scratch and Ithink the germs and stuff come
with the scratches.
(30:09):
But I'm sure we can figure thatout.
But it doesn't always looksterile.
So when you pair it with thosewarm woods, you pair it with the
color and you pair it withother stone as well, it can look
really warm.
And also when you decorate it.
So definitely there is a way touse it for sure Colored stone,
bullnose edges, double bullnose,stainless steel.
(30:30):
And what about tile tops?
I'm here for some tiledbenchtops.
I really love it.
I actually love the way itlooks.
I love the fact that you canadd so much character and
texture on.
You know, depending on the sizeof the tile I mean, usually
they're smaller um, the color ofthe ground, all of that, but it
probably would drive me crazyafter about a year because I
(30:51):
think they don't wear so well,although I've seen old kitchens
with tiled bench tops and youknow they have a really
beautiful character about them.
But, um, I think it depends howcrazy you get with, like
cleaning grout, right, yeah, itdepends on how you cook, like,
maybe it could be on an islandbench where that's actually not
(31:11):
where you're preparing, it'swhere you're sort of more
gathering, and the kitchen andthe cooktop would have a
different bench next to it.
Yes, yeah, yeah, maybe it isabout having different surfaces
to suit what the need is forthat particular area.
And I love I do love a tilesplashback.
I know we went through thewhole, you know, glass
(31:32):
splashback, and since then Ithink people struggle with the
tiles a little bit from acleaning, like particularly
behind a stove, because theythink that.
And I challenge this becausepeople are like, oh, because the
ground, like, have you evertried to properly clean a glass
splashback and actually end uplooking like it needs to look
Once you get a bit of grease andoil and stuff up looking like
it needs to look?
Once you get a bit of greaseand oil and stuff on there, it
(31:54):
never cleans properly.
I challenge you, or you'd spenda lot of time doing it,
probably more so than a bit ofgrout, I agree, and also a
window splash back.
I think we're moving away fromthat, because half the time
you're looking at yourneighbor's fence, you're just
looking at a pale fence.
We've got one above our cooktoparea and I am literally looking
(32:18):
at.
It's actually brick, because Ithink it's the side of their
garage.
So it's, yeah, seems like agood idea.
I mean, I think if you do itand you're doing something nice,
or maybe your pool's out thereor something, and it makes sense
, then I get it.
But yes, we were doing them andit made no sense, no sense at
all.
So I guess number five islighting, and I feel like we are
(32:40):
really so fatigued with justdown lights everywhere, um, and
in the kitchen it's.
You just need to be soparticular with your lighting
and I suppose this isn't justsomething new.
But it's really consideringthat task lighting and making
sure that it's not behind youwhen you're at the bench, yes,
which is what everyone seems todo.
(33:00):
I don't know what is wrong withthat.
I think we're talking aboutvery generalised and often spec
homes.
I think would just put mine isthe lights are behind me,
they're above but they're justbehind, and so you're working
and you get that.
I think there might be.
I turn on the lights in thenext room so that I get like a
bit more.
Yeah, yeah, so it happens somuch.
(33:22):
I'm just being really cleverwith that, oh, all the time.
But we're also seeing moredecorative lighting, so it could
be you, you know, a light overthe island bench.
Is it a task light?
No, does it give ambient lighta bit, but it's more of a
statement, kind of sculpturalsort of lighting piece.
Yeah, and it's a nice one tohave on if you, when you're not
using the kitchen, maybe likeyou're not cooking and doing
(33:45):
tasks, it is nice to have that,particularly if you are in an
open plan area and you've gotsomething that's you know not,
maybe super bright, but actuallyjust gives a bit of life to
that space.
So it's not just all tasklighting yeah, perfect.
Um, so I think it's thedowntime mixed, yep, the task
lighting that you need to chopyour veggies and whatever.
It's about having that ambientlighting, as you say, and then
(34:07):
maybe a decorative lighting aswell, and it it's okay to mix
them up.
And lamps now in kitchens oh, Ilove that too.
I'll throw that in there.
Yeah, particularly now thatthere's so many options that
don't need to be plugged in soyou can just charge them and,
you know, have a little bit oflamp light.
You know I'm thinking aboutwhen, you know, maybe you are
sitting at the bench and havinga drink with a friend and you've
(34:28):
already chopped and you justwant a little nice lighting in
your kitchen.
The lamps can actually be, andthey're a nice decorative object
to have too.
I think the first time I saw alamp used in a kitchen and it
would have been on a shoot Idon't think it really lived
there I was like that's cool,but that doesn't work.
And then I think the evolutionof how we use our kitchen spaces
(34:52):
, but also the fact that you canhave a light that doesn't have
to be plugged in so it could sitsomewhere on the bench.
It doesn't have to be rightnext to the power source, but,
you know, with a cord runninghas changed the way we can use
that.
Well, I actually have a lamp atsort of the end of our kitchen
bench.
It is on.
It's about to say it's on 24seven.
We don't turn it off becauseit's just on day and night and
(35:14):
when you've got little kids inthe house at night time and
stuff it's a little bit soft.
It's really nice.
So what about talking abouttiles again?
So we've moved away from thatglass splashback look, and what
I've noticed with tiles is we'reenjoying this kind of
checkerboard kind of moment.
So we're seeing, you know, thischeckered pattern sometimes
(35:34):
being used, and not just for asplash rack, it could be even
the front and the top of anisland bench, like a real kind
of statement yes, yeah, I loveit on the front panel.
I think also it's reallypractical because it's very hard
wearing.
So if you've got people sittingthere and you know, kicking
their feet into the front panel,it makes a lot of sense.
Plus, it's got so muchcharacter and you've got so many
(35:56):
options of how you can do it.
Um, you know, when you talkabout checkered, obviously,
maybe using two different colorsor maybe it's two tonal colors.
That doesn't have to becheckered.
You could do stripes, like youcould do so much with tiles.
That's why I really love themin that way.
You know, same and it's it'snot, uh, the most newest thing
to create a pattern with tile.
(36:17):
It's probably one of the oldestideas, isn't it really?
Yeah, but it's done in such afresh way, yeah.
What about mosaics?
Like I've noticed, I think YSGYasmin uses mosaics quite a bit
in her projects and mosaics kindof well, they're very 90s I
feel.
And when you know that a mosaicit's not obviously a tiler
(36:40):
isn't laying every individualtiny little tile.
They come on a sheet with amesh back and it's a 30 by 30
centimetre sort of mesh shape.
I hate it when you can seethose individual mesh sheets,
you can see the join and I don'tknow what's wrong with me, but
I look for that.
Yeah, so that sort of puts meoff mosaics a bit, I think also
(37:02):
just YSG, I could be wrong theway she often uses mosaics is in
between other tiles to kind ofbreak up and create more texture
.
I think that's a really goodway to use them as well.
Yeah, so you don't have to have, like you know, a splashback.
That's all mosaics.
Maybe you use the mosaics as abit of a feature within
something else.
Even stone, even in betweenstone yeah, I think we might be
(37:23):
seeing more mosaics, maybehaving a bit of a comeback.
Don't know, I've always lovedthem.
I know they definitely had amoment.
I kind of I don't know, I kindof always loved mosaics.
I think it's just what theylook like now, maybe a bit over
glass mosaics.
Yeah, I don't know.
Yeah, little ceramic ones arequite cute, aren't they?
Yeah, like the little buttons,those kind of little buttons
(37:44):
like chocolate, like littlethings I could eat.
One unexpected element that I'venoticed is fabric being used in
the kitchen.
So it's like a skirt over asink or even like in.
You know we're talking aboutour glass cabinets and how
annoying that can be sometimesif everything is an aesthetic
within them.
A curtain, would you describeit like a drop of fabric?
(38:08):
It is like a curtain, ruchedfabric inside, yeah, or, you
know, I guess you could say it'sa drape, a short drape, yeah.
Or a skirt, know, I guess youcould say it's a drape, a short
drape, yeah, or a skirt.
I think skirt's probably thebest word, yeah, and it's fixed
on the bottom as well.
What's funny is I mean, I thinkit's something we're starting
to see and I think the reasonthat's happened is we're looking
(38:29):
for more tactility and so ifyou can bring fabric somehow
into the kitchen, you're addingthat extra tactile material and
element plus.
If it's not, you know it'sruched right.
So we're talking about um, ithaving pleats or whatever it is,
so that adds even more kind ofmovement and texture.
So I kind of love that.
But what I find really amusingis that is so old-fashioned,
(38:50):
isn't it?
That idea is reallyold-fashioned.
So they're taking something youknow that's.
That'd be 40s, 50s, maybe evenlike earlier than that.
I don't know.
For some reason I think of themovie Calamity Jane with Doris
Day.
Do you know that movie?
I don't know it.
I challenge you to watch it.
(39:10):
It's a lot of singing.
I could sing all the words foryou if you like, but you
wouldn't want me doing that.
That'd be great.
Come over, the kids would loveit.
Probably.
I'll come over and watch itwith the kids, but there's this
old rundown shack and she makesit over.
This is probably why I lovedthe movie so much as a child,
because that's my favorite partwhen she makes it, they paint it
and stuff.
But it has the little fabriccurtains and it just reminds me
(39:32):
of that every time.
I think about the skirts oncabinets.
Are they gingham?
I'm sure there's ginghaminvolved, I'm trying to remember
.
But it's very sweet.
It's a very cute moment of theshack being made over.
But don't you think as well, itis like again, just a full
swing from that sterile kitchen.
Look, that's probably thefurthest we can get, really,
(39:53):
isn't it Exactly?
And it's very comforting.
That's probably the furthest wecan get, really, isn't it
Exactly?
And it's very comforting.
It's very homely.
It's almost a little cafe sortof style as well.
I don't know.
I mean, we've seen it done acouple of different ways.
Like you're talking about, thatkind of cafe style feels a bit
homely.
But also, was it?
Fiona Lynch did a kitchen whereshe used fabric in it quite a
different way and that felt alittle more sophisticated.
(40:16):
I can't remember the project.
So it's interesting to kind oftake it to a different level,
right as well, very clever.
Can you remember how it wasdone?
It was like a ruched leather Aruched, you're right Sort of on
the top and the bottom, yes,yeah, and it was a leather that
wrapped around an island bench,and I have to say I think I've
(40:38):
seen brem so one of our previousguests use fabrics quite a bit
within joinery.
I would say, yeah, um, but youknow a, a little fabric skirt
underneath the kitchen sink.
I mean practical, colorful, abit whimsical yeah, is
affordable and easily to changetotally affordable, oh, yeah.
Easily change yeah, so totallyaffordable.
Oh, and easily change yeah, soit's quite sustainable.
(40:58):
We might say, yeah, I mean, Ithink it's a mainstream.
Rip off your cupboard doors andput up some skirts, just like
Doris Day, and doing a quickmakeover of your shack.
That's our prediction.
I do love that, though, and Ifeel like if you were in an
older house where you couldn'tafford to update your kitchen
just yet and you're like, oh myGod, these horrible cupboard
(41:20):
doors or whatever they are maybethey're just worn or you hate
the finish you could remove themand you could fairly easily
install the fabric, which wouldnormally be.
You'd still be able to buy.
It's like a really thick wirethat it goes on.
I don't know if it's calledlike a curtain wire, maybe, or a
drape wire or something thatyou put them on and so it
(41:42):
wouldn't actually be that tricky.
Yeah, and it's tensioned, so itcould be.
I want to see more of that.
People just doing it as a bitof a hack Watch this space, even
on your bathroom vanity orsomething.
Yes, actually, that would beway more practical.
So if you don't have drawers andI advocate for drawers in the
bathroom please have drawers.
If you're designing a bathroom,you need drawers.
(42:03):
Do not put cupboards.
Anyway, you know, withcupboards you have to just leave
the cupboard doors open andthey're kind of in the way.
If it was a curtain, it was askirt, it just slides to the
side and you can just put littlebaskets on the shelf and really
get, yes, pull them out.
Oh, okay, it's cute, it'scutesy.
There you go.
Yeah, it is.
It is mindful and demure.
(42:23):
Mindful, demure, yes, okay.
So we've talked about, you know,this whole vibe shift towards
the warmth and the comfort andeverything.
We're decorating our spaces.
It's an unfitted kitchen, we'vetalked about different
benchtops, we've seen lightingand what we're seeing in tiles,
and then we've got our littlewild card in there our skirts,
(42:46):
cupboards.
I think we've done a nicelittle roundup here.
Yeah, I like it.
What do you reckon, bree?
I think we'll leave some moreto talk about on our future
kitchen episode, which will becoming up Exactly I don't know
when, but it's happening whenwe'll talk a bit more about
appliances and things there andtechnology, because obviously
that plays a big part inkitchens and we haven't touched
(43:08):
on that.
But we'll do that in anotherepisode.
So much to unpack.
Yeah, it is Always Thanks, brie.
Thank to unpack.
It is always Thanks, brie.
Thank you, always a pleasureOver and out.
See you next time Bye.
So thank you guys for listeningin.
And just a quick reminder ifyou would like some help with
the interiors for your own home,I can help you in a course
called the Style StudiesEssentials.
(43:29):
Or for designers out there,come into the Design Society for
business and marketing and allof the things.
Yeah, and in the same shownotes you'll find a link to sign
up for my soon to be releasedfurniture collections,
pre-selected furniturecollections and cool trend
information, and then in thefuture some short courses on
(43:51):
styling and trends as well.
So so good, bree.
We've got the utmost respectfor the Wurundjeri people of the
Kulin Nation.
They're the OG custodians ofthis unceded land and its waters
where we set up shop, createand call home and come to you.
From this podcast today, a bigshout out to all of the amazing
(44:12):
elders who have walked before us, those leading the way in the
present and the emerging leaderswho will carry the torch into
the future.
We're just lucky to be on thisjourney together.
Welcome to Design Anatomy, the interior design
podcast hosted by friends andfellow designers me, Lauren Li
and me, Bree Banfield, with someamazing guest appearances along
the way.
We're here to break downeverything from current trends
to timeless style, with a sharedpassion for joyful,
colour-filled and lived-inspaces.
We're really excited to shareour insights and inspiration
(00:23):
with you.
And just before we get started,I just wanted to remind you
guys that if you're an interiordesigner, you can join us in the
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And if you jump into the shownotes, you'll find links to sign
(00:43):
up for my newsletter and keepan eye out for our release of
our pre-selected selections offurniture and finishes that you
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with my help.
Clever, so fun.
My help, clever, so fun.
(01:07):
A good chat today, I think, bree, because I think kitchens is
just one of those things thatthere's just so much to talk
about, right?
Yeah, I love kitchens.
I love doing design forkitchens, kitchens and bathrooms
.
I find really fun.
I quite like the, the planningaspect of it and, you know, the
more permanence to the design ofthose sort of spaces.
Yeah, I mean, we're going totalk about a whole lot of
(01:29):
different things today, but thisepisode about the fundamentals
of kitchen design in 2025, youknow, this is not our first
rodeo.
We've designed a few kitchensbefore and it's just fascinating
to see how our kitchen spaceshave evolved and sort of where
we're at at this point in time.
So the first kind of thing wewant to talk about is just kind
(01:51):
of this vibe shift which isreally towards warmth, comfort
and lived in spaces, which iskind of different to what we
have experienced.
Well, I just know, when I firststarted designing kitchens,
maybe in the 2000s, it was allabout concealing things and
(02:12):
everything being quite sterilelooking.
Yeah for sure.
I think that I guess thatgeneral movement towards being a
little bit more eclectic, Ithink, is probably a good word
and authentic, so things are abit more real.
So we don't mind showing someappliances on the benches or,
(02:35):
you know, canisters of food, thefruit bowls and the I guess
they're more decorative elementsbut they're practical things
because it's real and authentic,and so there's definitely been
that shift towards that.
I think that kind of isaffecting also color, because we
want it to feel warm.
We've realized how much time wealso spend in our kitchens, and
(02:57):
particularly in Australia, wherethey're usually open plan.
I think it's rare now to findthe kitchen as a separate room,
unlike in Europe where there arestill a lot of separate room
kitchens.
In Australia the kitchen is onshow.
So I think that's probably whythere was a big move towards
everything being hidden whenminimalism was a little bit
(03:20):
stronger.
We didn't want mess, andprobably the rise of the
butler's pantry in Australia aswell is due to the fact that our
kitchens are very much seenfrom nearly every part of our
living spaces, right Evenprobably from outdoor living
spaces.
So that kind of pull back andpair back and hide things and
make it clean all the time wasprobably why that sort of
(03:42):
happened, when we were all kindof like, okay, minimalism and
everything has its place.
And now that it's shifted a bitfurther away from that and
we're more into character andhow we live and things having
personality, doesn't make senseanymore for everything to be
kind of really streamlined andtailored and hidden Some things.
I think it's still good to behidden, true, I know, it's
(04:06):
actually interesting.
I was chatting to a client justthe other day actually, and
we're trying to just figure outthe design for her kitchen and
because it is, when you walk init is kind of the first thing
you see, but currently there'ssort of a wall.
It's a U-shaped kitchen thatwas probably built in the
nineties and she was justcontemplating about getting rid
of this wall that divides it tothe lounge area.
(04:30):
And when you walk in, she'slike I just don't want to be
able to walk in and see thekitchen.
I'm like, well, I get that, butshe's like I don't want to just
walk in and see this waterfalledge of the island.
I'm like it's not that we'renot going to do a waterfall edge
in and see this waterfall edgeof the island.
I'm like it's not that we'renot going to do a waterfall edge
, we want it to feel more livedin.
It's going to be a kitchen,obviously, but it feels more
part of a living space thesedays and it's about creating
(04:54):
comfort and warmth and I don'tknow.
I feel like, you know, we'vesort of talked about all these
sort of shiny AI images are justreally off-putting and I feel
like we just want to gettogether, we just want to feel
natural materials, we just wantto see spaces that are a bit
more individual and it's notjust like another Pinterest
image, maybe, yeah, yeah,definitely, yeah, that, um, that
(05:18):
move towards and we weretalking about this with with
trends towards uh, the antitrend, which is where you create it
for you, and that's essentiallywhat we're seeing in kitchens
and it actually is superimportant, because it is such a
large part of your home that itrepresents, that you don't kind
of fall into the trap of itneeds to be white, it needs to
(05:41):
be this, it needs to have awaterfall edge, because this is
what everyone's doing, and youneed to kind of really think
about it from your own personalperspective of what you like and
how it works.
For me, it's got to start there.
You can have great ideas aboutwhat you want it to look like,
but sometimes that changesdepending on how it works.
So, when you're working out,how do I use my kitchen, well,
(06:03):
actually, now that's notpractical to have that
particular finish or whatever itis.
So it is one of those spaces,you know, along with bathrooms,
that really do go hand in handwith you know, function and form
and how something looks.
They have to work together.
They can't be separate.
Well, this is right, and I mean,with this client we were trying
(06:24):
to think about some ways how wecould make it feel a bit more
closed off from the lounge room,but in the end we just had to
land on function.
It's just going to have tofunction and we're just going to
have to open it up.
But, as you said, it goes handin hand with how it looks.
So she sort of had thiswaterfall edge in her mind that
as soon as you walked in youwould see this island bench.
(06:45):
And she had this reallybeautiful red travertine coffee
table that she left.
I said, why don't we introducesome of that red travertine and
have it like this?
So when you walk in, yes, yousee the island bench, but it's a
beautiful piece of almost likefurniture.
So that's kind of where welanded.
But yeah, it is about I I meanit's just the naturally the
(07:06):
heart of the home right,everyone just gathers around
that island bench and, um, it'sjust about making it feel
comfortable and not so uptight.
You know, with those sterilekitchens where everything was
put away.
I just feel like you can't evenrelax, like you can't even put
your phone down and your bag onthe island bench.
It just stands out so muchbecause there's nothing else in
(07:28):
the space.
Yeah, I think that's exactlyright and and we tend to do that
right, you sort of walk in.
I know I often put things.
Um, I have a spot where I putthings because I do like my
kitchen to be.
It's still lived in, but Istill like it to be ordered.
Of course, probably a good word, yeah, but yeah, if it's so
(07:49):
minimal, even just like a set ofkeys, it's going to stand out
and you're going to go oh, Ineed to find somewhere to put
those, I know.
But if you have like a tray orsomething, that's where the keys
and the bag go.
It kind of feels more welcomingspace and it's just a little
more relaxed, integrated, alittle.
Yeah, yeah, which is like whatwe're I guess.
(08:09):
Our second point is, um, that itis now a decorated space where
it wasn't before.
You know, we see artwork inkitchens.
Now I've got an artwork hangingon on the wall in my kitchen,
just a little square one, um,actually I've got two, I've got
another one up on a shelf.
So I guess that's also helpingit integrate into the rest of
the home because you're not justkind of stopping the rest of
(08:31):
the house sort of stops thereand the kitchen's just clear
benches and cupboards.
Now we're kind of going well,no, this is the space we live in
and we still want beautifulthings around us and we want to
look at the kitchen and stillfeel connected to it.
So I think that's often whatthe decoration does in spaces,
it's that little layer ofconnection.
So now your kitchen has, youknow, I don't know the artwork
(08:53):
that was handed down to you fromyour mom, or a bowl from your
nana or whatever.
So it's got some kind ofmeaning and even if it's not
that, it's just something youlove.
Yeah, it kind of gives you abit more connection to the space
.
And I think there's that shiftfrom that white, sterile,
minimalist kitchen that justlooked very kitchen-y to
something that looks a bit morejoinery.
(09:15):
So we're seeing lots of warmtimbers, we're seeing lots of
colour used in the kitchen.
You know like we've looked atthese colours that are coming
through the light blues, theburgundies, you know those sort
of more beige-y colours, thetravertines and more
characterful stones.
It's not just Carrara marble,it makes it feel more like a
(09:35):
lived-in space.
It's not just like I mean,obviously it's a kitchen, but it
just brings in that warmth.
And then you add that layer ofdecoration.
You can't do that in a sterilekitchen.
There are no open shelves toput the artwork on.
Whereas what we're seeing nowis that instead of all those
overhead cupboards and don't getme wrong, everyone loves
storage, but sometimes thoseoverhead cupboards, I mean,
(09:58):
they're hard to get, the topshelf, it's hard to reach those
things.
You don't use that storageevery day.
So what we're seeing is morepractical storage, like drawers,
and then we're having a one ortwo shelves above the, the
benchtop, and we have now peoplesay, oh my god, that would
drive me crazy collecting dust.
(10:19):
I'm like, I don't really feellike it's a huge problem, but
you can lean an artwork there,and I'm not talking about, you
know, a precious oil painting,because like, let's a huge
problem, but you can lean anartwork there and I'm not
talking about you know aprecious oil painting, because
like, let's be real, somethingunder glass is better for
kitchen, just a print, cheap andcheerful, or whatever print
that you love.
And then you've got some coolceramic pieces and it could be a
(10:40):
mortar and pestle or maybethat's, I don't know something
that you actually use.
Yeah, I have one of those.
I rarely use it, but I like theway it looks.
I've used it a couple of times.
I've never used it.
I wish I was like one of thosepeople that did use it more.
Yeah, I have.
I mean I have used it.
It's just not like I use itevery week.
(11:00):
I might use it like maybe oncea month, exactly.
But yeah, those kind ofaesthetic pieces in the kitchen.
So yeah, as you said, it's notyour kids' plastic water bottles
we're lining up there.
They still need to be hidden,exactly they do.
But it's you know, hopefullyyou know your favourite coffee
(11:21):
mugs and you know your noodlebowls or something like that.
So hopefully they're not justcollecting dust.
Yeah, and that's where that youknow.
The other shift we've seen isthe glass front cupboards.
So you can see either.
I mean, I think the mostpopular is a type of fluted
glass or a frosted glass or aslump glass or something like
(11:44):
that.
But I think people think thatyou can't see what's in there.
When you have those sort ofcupboards, you still have to
think about you can't put allyour plastic Tupperware
container in there.
Yes, because you can see it.
You might not see it clearly,but if the shapes just look
hectic or you've got brightcolours, it won't give you the
(12:07):
effect you think it's going togive.
You need to think about what'sgoing in that cupboard.
Not my Paw Patrol bowls and mydog bowl, yeah, and all the
kids' coloured drink bottlescan't go in that particular
cupboard, no, yeah, I mean thisis ideal.
This is where, speaking ideally, you know where.
We lived in an apartment before.
We couldn't do that.
(12:28):
We had a glass cupboard that weput everything in.
But you know, I did a cowl aswell.
I'm like I cannot stand all ofthese.
You know stuff, you know youjust end up with mismatched
stuff.
Mismatched stuff, it's actuallyI went to House of Orange.
(12:48):
Yeah, I went to House of Orangeand I just brought up a whole
lot of their cool like 1970sstyle ceramic.
Yeah, I love the ceramics bowlsand glasses and cups and stuff
and they look really cute and itjust looked nice.
It's sort of a.
They mingle nicely together butthey're not all 100% matching,
if you know what I mean.
Yeah, so anyway, yeah, so it'sstill kind of vibe together.
I think it's cool to havemismatched stuff, but not if
(13:10):
it's like at the moment I amoverdue.
I need a new.
I need new cutlery.
I've got to the point now.
What happens to the cutlery?
I'm like, are the kids throwingit out when they clean up the
kitchen?
Or the little spoons are thefirst ones to disappear.
And I reckon that's because Iused to maybe give the kids
yogurt or something and they'dtake it to school and I'd always
(13:32):
say, use the crappy ones, butuse my good ones.
And now I don't think we mighthave like two spoons left.
I reckon there's not enoughknives and forks.
And I'm a bit weird.
I think if you're slightlyneurodivergent you'll understand
this.
I have to eat with certaincutlery and my good cutlery is
the one I like to eat with, andthe rest of it I don't even know
(13:54):
where it came from.
It's just this crappysupermarket, shitty stuff that
somehow ended up in my drawer.
I didn't buy it, I know that.
And if that's what's left inthe drawer and it's dinner time,
I'll look around and the kidswill swap me a fork because I
can't eat with this.
Yeah, oh, that's so funny.
I have to say that does remindme of my three-year-old toddler.
(14:16):
You know, if it's the wrongspoon, that's me still.
I'm still a toddler.
I can't use that plate plate.
It's got a chip in it.
It has to be this plate.
It has to be this particularbowl for breakfast and that
bowl's okay for pasta.
Yeah, yeah, you crazy, I'mtrying to just cereal out of
this bowl.
I know it's anyway.
(14:36):
So, yeah, I need new, yeah,pulling all that together, and
the point I was trying to makebefore I digressed was all that
new stuff.
So, you know, I had just like awhite, you know plates and
bowls and everything.
But you can't really havemismatched ones of new things.
It has to have a bit of a styleto work to be mismatched,
(14:58):
doesn't it?
Otherwise it's just like, oh,what is all this crap?
Yeah, you make a good point.
I think that's why I like thehouse of orange stuff, because
it's all the same size butthey've used different glazes
and stuff on it, so it's reallycute.
Yeah, it's got that vibe thatit can be a bit more eclectic
and probably on your open shelfand you don't have to worry
about arranging it.
They all look, yes, smashedtogether.
(15:20):
Exactly that is key.
Yeah, so we're talking about.
So number one, I guess, was theshift towards warmth and lived
in.
Number two is making your spacedecorated.
Now.
Number three is an unfittedkitchen, so it's kind of like,
you know, a butcher's block inthe middle.
(15:40):
I mean that's nothing newreally, but it is.
It is a step away.
It is, yeah, a step away fromthat really sterile white
kitchen.
Look, I think we did it well inthe seventies and the eighties
and it was the nineties wherethose things sort of started to
disappear, those loose furniturethings in the kitchen.
(16:02):
So I was obsessed with a trolleyor a butcher's block.
Yeah, I really wanted that inmy kitchen.
I've never had it one day.
Maybe one day and that can beso practical as well.
Definitely have that,especially if you can move it
and you've got like a really bigand small kitchen.
So if it's a small kitchen, youmight need that extra space
while you're cooking so you canlike put it where you need it to
(16:23):
be and it's an extra set downspace or whatever, and then you
can put it back wherever it goes.
But a big kitchen, it's greatbecause if you've got
circulation space you can fit itin the middle and it can kind
of stay there and it's an extraspot to I don't know either.
Just look good, going againstwhat I said, where everything
has to have function as well.
But, um, I think it would stillfunction.
(16:45):
That's the idea, yeah, yeah,and it does make it feel a bit
more interesting.
Right, it does.
And actually you remind mebecause my mum actually has a.
It's not a butcher's block, butit is like a little, a little
narrow table with little casterwheels on it, and because she's
got a u-shaped kitchen.
It's not big enough that youwould put an island bench in the
(17:08):
middle of the?
U, but it's, it's.
It's not so small that you, youcan't fit anything, but it's
really handy to have that thingin the middle and it's actually
super handy and it's very cuteand charming.
It's a little antique thingthat she found, um, but also
what I've noticed is like a lookof having like a freestanding
pantry as well, okay, like aseparate cupboard, yeah.
(17:30):
So I've seen, like heckerguthrie do that a lot.
They sort of do a freestandinglike a unfitted.
It's fitted, but it's.
They almost they always sort ofdo like a plinth a stone plinth
, yes, and then there's joineryelements that sort of sit like a
plinth, a stone plinth, yes,and then there's joinery
elements that sort of sit onthat plinth and that's just
really See, I feel like that wasa real 80s thing too.
(17:51):
Do you remember that everyonehad those cabinets that would be
I don't even know, it's not abuffet, because it would have,
you know, like cupboards above,but it would be the base, sort
of, with a plinth and then alittle setback, and then you'd
have like, say, maybe glasscupboards or timber cupboards
that might have cups and stuffin them and you could open it up
and put it down and close thedoor.
(18:11):
I feel like that was a real 80sthing too.
Yeah, maybe, and that'ssomething you would take with
you, like it was a loose pieceso it might sit just outside the
kitchen, but you know you couldhouse all the glassware in
there or something.
Oh my God, what do you callthat?
I don't know.
I swear it has a name becauseit's like a buffet, but it's not
(18:32):
.
Well, maybe buffet does coverit.
I'm always buffet.
I'm always thinking like, justlike a bench height sort of
level or a bit lower than benchheight.
When you think of buffet, whatdo you think of An?
All sorry, that's all right.
Or sideboard is the same thingas a buffet, right, yeah, but I
(18:54):
always think of a sideboard asbeing one level and not a higher
cabinet like a pantry.
Yeah, I'm not sure.
Oh, you'll have to show us animage of that.
Yeah, all right.
Oh, yeah, dig something up froma some archive somewhere.
But yeah, I've sort of seenmaybe, uh, hecker Guthrie do it
in more of a contemporary way,but then I've seen more
(19:15):
traditional kitchens, you know,like those Deval kitchens or,
however you say, those Englishkitchens where they've, you know
they've got their, they've gotmore of a freestanding kind of
look and they'll have it.
It is like a, um, I guess like awardrobe, almost proportion,
and that's freestanding on itsown and that's actually the
pantry and it's very, a littlebit farmhouse kind of charming,
(19:37):
but it has that sort ofauthentic look to it.
I've even seen one and Ithought is that a fridge?
It's like freestanding, yeah.
And I suppose you know what youcould say if you were going to
attempt this kind of unfittedkitchen look, where you have
sort of a module for the sink,you know, another pantry
freestanding and almost anotherone for the fridge, something
(19:59):
like that, as you said in the80s or whatever.
You know, you could actuallytake that apart, which is really
, in a way, so sustainable,because it is.
Yeah, when we're talking aboutthese eras changing, with a
white lemonade kitchen, itactually cannot be reused at all
.
You can't refinish laminateCompletely and even when you
pull it out, it's not as thoughyou can take that piece and
(20:23):
repurpose it.
It would pretty much be trashed.
So, yeah, I do think and therehas been discussion about how to
make those kind of designs moresustainable there has been
discussion about how to makethose kind of designs more
sustainable.
One of the things that comes upis making the things that would
normally be fixed a little bitmore modular, so that you can
take them with you or sell themand get something else like
(20:43):
furniture.
It makes sense.
That's a lot of the way,because people rent so much as
well.
They don't necessarily fit outtheir kitchens the way that we
do, and they do have individualpieces that can be.
They can still have them madeand they're bespoke, but then
they go to the next apartment.
You know, isn't that wild.
You take them with them.
(21:03):
Yeah, it's such a different.
I met a client once she wasfrom Finland but they'd lived in
Germany and she said that, yeah, they bought an apartment and
they had no kitchen in there.
They had to put a kitchen inbecause they went with the
previous owner.
They had to get a shop orsomething.
Yeah, it's not uncommon.
No, I couldn't believe it.
It's just a different way ofliving, I guess.
(21:25):
Yeah, but a lot of it couldmake sense.
And I think the other thing wetend to do here in Australia is
everything's.
We love a big kitchen, don't we?
If you've got the space, evenif you don't, I think I don't
know.
I think people maybe even endup with kitchens that are way
too big because they just thinka big kitchen and so like it's
harder to add character to that.
(21:46):
But it would probably be betterif you'd broken it down into
pieces.
Even if it was big, it wouldstill have a lot more character,
wouldn't it?
Well, I mean, you make a reallygood point.
People have a big kitchen as astatus symbol.
So it's not even a kitchen thatthey need to cook.
They might not even cook at all, or they might cook rarely and
(22:10):
they might not even entertainthat often.
But you've got these islandbenches with 10 stalls down them
.
I'm like that just drives mecrazy.
I don't want to sit by myselfhaving my breakfast.
It's such a huge big spacelonely.
It doesn't feel good, I don'tthink, but it's um, it's all
about that, yeah, showing off abig kitchen, but, um, I've had a
funny too.
I don't know if you've had thisconversation with clients where,
um, you know you'll talk aboutokay, so you, you like stools at
(22:33):
the kitchen bench, et cetera,et cetera, and say it's a family
of five.
They're like, well, there needsto be enough for everyone to
sit there.
I would question that.
How many times has everyone, ifyou're all going to sit
together and have dinner, don'tyou sit at the table?
Does everyone sit in a row atthe bench, you know?
And if you're having breakfast,usually it's like maybe there's
two of you there at a time orwhatever.
(22:53):
It's rare that you're allsitting in a line having
breakfast.
Or is that just me?
I have had a client who wantedall the stools at the island
bench.
She had a beautiful solid oakdining table.
They didn't use it because theydidn't want to market.
I'm not even joking, that'sclassic.
I just couldn't.
I was just like, oh, that'sactually.
(23:14):
Then what's it for?
I don't know To look at and nottouch.
Yeah, they'd bought it overseas.
They'd bought it, you know, hadit in this house, had it in
their next house and they reallywant to talk after it.
So the thing too about for me,okay, what's the beauty in
antiques and vintage is that ithas the mark of the previous
(23:34):
owner A hundred percent.
So when you have something thatis particularly a solid timber
table unless you're like a totalminimalist I think they get
more beautiful the more thatthey're used Great.
And if it's a solid timbertable and you get to a point
where, like, actually this islooking a bit, then you refinish
it because it's solid timber.
I agree, you know it's um, Iactually you know it could be a
(23:56):
different thing.
But exactly, I actually metanother client and they bought
the, the dining table from theprevious owner.
So they just bought this houseand they were like, can we
please buy this off you?
And he said that he absolutelyloves it because it's an antique
table.
It was an old butcher's table.
It had drawers underneath someof the part of the top of it and
(24:19):
it was all dinted, marked, andhe said I can just sit here and
relax.
Yes, so I like how easy it'slike having newly polished
timber floors and you knowthey're going to get marked.
They can't not get marked.
So it's like that horriblefeeling of like going, oh, don't
scratch it, yeah, but if it'spre-worn in, you can just live
(24:39):
and relax.
And he loved that.
I thought, oh, that's reallycool, which I guess could bring
us to the next topic ofbenchtops.
So you know, we're seeing areal move away from those really
pristine benches that we feellike we can't even breathe on
the wrong way because they'llstain.
But you know, it is just aconversation that you need to
have and you need to figure outhow you live in the space and
(25:01):
what is acceptable for you,because, I mean, it depends how
you live.
Some people will freak out.
Yeah, I get that.
I get that too.
And what you were saying abouttaking the kitchen with you,
well, I've heard that in Italythey'll take the stone marble
slab with them, the kitchen topwith them, which probably sounds
hilarious to us because ourkitchens are so big.
(25:23):
Can you imagine going?
I'm just going to take thisbench top, but they're bench
tops, aren't they?
Yeah, they're kind of size,it's a little bit more
manageable, exactly, I know.
Yeah, it's a little bit moremanageable, exactly, I know he's
getting a crane in to get you.
Get your fetched six meter longslab.
I'll just take that with me.
But it's, yeah, it's about youknow, something that you, you
know, you've baked on, you'vecooked on.
(25:44):
There's signs of life that haveyou know happened on there and,
as you said, you know, thefirst day in the first cut like
it's gonna hurt.
Yeah, and not everybody's, thedeepest said that, cheryl crow,
it's, rod stewart, I think a fewof them said it.
Maybe let's do it.
Oh, god, oh, but um, you doneed to just be aware of what
(26:09):
the maintenance is, and I thinkwe've seen.
You know, we just wentabsolutely all in on this
Carrara marble, this cool greyand white, and we talked about
the super white marble as well,which is more of a.
It's not really super white, isit?
It's a grey, mottled sort of no, it's mottled.
So the Carrara's probably a bitcleaner, veiny, more contrast,
(26:31):
and the Carrara is probably abit cleaner, veiny, more
contrast, and the super whitehas that, yeah, more mottled
effect.
But I'm just, I am very over agrey marble unless it is super
interesting and the grains areinteresting, because there's
just so much beautiful stone outthere, even porcelain slabs.
If you are really particularabout the maintenance of the
(26:53):
stone.
Porcelain slab might be abetter option for you, but
there's still good.
You know, there's character andwarmth and you can get texture
like that.
You know what I love?
That leathered finish on astone.
Love that.
I want to see more of that, god.
It's good.
Just try to resist running yourfingertips off the top of it.
It's just beautiful.
Beautiful, isn't it?
Caressing your bench all thetime?
(27:14):
That's normal.
It's totally normal.
Yeah, and I think we've seen,yeah, so, a shift from the the
cool grays to all of thesedifferent colors and also edging
as well.
So where we used to do, used todo a 40 or a 60 mil thick edge
and the waterfall edges, we saidwe're not doing any waterfalls
(27:36):
anymore.
But we've seen some really fatbullnose edging, which is kind
of fun, or even like a doublebullnose.
Yeah, I've got that in aproject at the moment a double
bullnose.
Really, I'm kind of obsessedwith it.
Yeah, it hasn't been made yet,it's just on drawings.
Oh, yeah, I'll put one in adrawing too.
I don't know if they'll goahead with it.
(27:57):
We're being influenced bytrends.
I know who isn't.
What color's my sweater, but abullnose is I.
So when I first started doingdesign.
It was sharks, shark nose,shark nose, shark nose, horrible
nose, but shark nose wasprobably more popular, you know,
like with the sharper angle atthe bottom, and then it moved to
(28:18):
everything being square, withjust the little arised edges
right, just pretty boring.
But also cost comes into it.
You know, when you're doing afancier edge detail it does cost
more.
It does finding that, that thecost of stone masons have really
gone up too, and I also thinkthe craft of stone masoning,
(28:40):
stone masoning, I don't knowwhat do you call it like.
You know the way that somestone is sort of just looks like
it's curved, like a piece ofpaper.
Yes, oh, they can do someamazing stuff, really expertly
done.
But yeah, you see, you knowslim, stainless steel benchtops
as well.
So it's about that super fineedge which looks really sharp as
(29:02):
well and it sounds like.
You know, when we talk aboutstainless steel you might sort
of think, oh well, that isn'tthat minimalism.
But I've seen some great use ofsteel in kitchens.
That doesn't.
That still has character andand it is interesting and I
really loved seeing.
I saw a great one in um milanlast year because it was the
kitchen.
Yeah, so it was at the fair andI the brand is escaping me, but
(29:26):
those who know will probablyknow what I'm talking about.
Where, if they only do metal,and they'd done these most
beautiful kitchens all in steel,but they just had still had so
much character, and I loveseeing that sort of fine edge
detail as something a little bitdifferent in a kitchen, because
we've seen so much chunkinessfor a while.
Right, yeah, you're right.
Yeah, stainless steel obviouslyis a very sterile, like a
(29:49):
literally, isn't it quite asterile material?
Yeah, well, that's why you seeit in commercial kitchens.
Yeah, it's not porous, itdoesn't always no, but it does
scratch like crazy.
So if you're looking for aperfect stainless steel, that's
not it.
It's going to scratch and Ithink the germs and stuff come
with the scratches.
(30:09):
But I'm sure we can figure thatout.
But it doesn't always looksterile.
So when you pair it with thosewarm woods, you pair it with the
color and you pair it withother stone as well, it can look
really warm.
And also when you decorate it.
So definitely there is a way touse it for sure Colored stone,
bullnose edges, double bullnose,stainless steel.
(30:30):
And what about tile tops?
I'm here for some tiledbenchtops.
I really love it.
I actually love the way itlooks.
I love the fact that you canadd so much character and
texture on.
You know, depending on the sizeof the tile I mean, usually
they're smaller um, the color ofthe ground, all of that, but it
probably would drive me crazyafter about a year because I
(30:51):
think they don't wear so well,although I've seen old kitchens
with tiled bench tops and youknow they have a really
beautiful character about them.
But, um, I think it depends howcrazy you get with, like
cleaning grout, right, yeah, itdepends on how you cook, like,
maybe it could be on an islandbench where that's actually not
(31:11):
where you're preparing, it'swhere you're sort of more
gathering, and the kitchen andthe cooktop would have a
different bench next to it.
Yes, yeah, yeah, maybe it isabout having different surfaces
to suit what the need is forthat particular area.
And I love I do love a tilesplashback.
I know we went through thewhole, you know, glass
(31:32):
splashback, and since then Ithink people struggle with the
tiles a little bit from acleaning, like particularly
behind a stove, because theythink that.
And I challenge this becausepeople are like, oh, because the
ground, like, have you evertried to properly clean a glass
splashback and actually end uplooking like it needs to look
Once you get a bit of grease andoil and stuff up looking like
it needs to look?
Once you get a bit of greaseand oil and stuff on there, it
(31:54):
never cleans properly.
I challenge you, or you'd spenda lot of time doing it,
probably more so than a bit ofgrout, I agree, and also a
window splash back.
I think we're moving away fromthat, because half the time
you're looking at yourneighbor's fence, you're just
looking at a pale fence.
We've got one above our cooktoparea and I am literally looking
(32:18):
at.
It's actually brick, because Ithink it's the side of their
garage.
So it's, yeah, seems like agood idea.
I mean, I think if you do itand you're doing something nice,
or maybe your pool's out thereor something, and it makes sense
, then I get it.
But yes, we were doing them andit made no sense, no sense at
all.
So I guess number five islighting, and I feel like we are
(32:40):
really so fatigued with justdown lights everywhere, um, and
in the kitchen it's.
You just need to be soparticular with your lighting
and I suppose this isn't justsomething new.
But it's really consideringthat task lighting and making
sure that it's not behind youwhen you're at the bench, yes,
which is what everyone seems todo.
(33:00):
I don't know what is wrong withthat.
I think we're talking aboutvery generalised and often spec
homes.
I think would just put mine isthe lights are behind me,
they're above but they're justbehind, and so you're working
and you get that.
I think there might be.
I turn on the lights in thenext room so that I get like a
bit more.
Yeah, yeah, so it happens somuch.
(33:22):
I'm just being really cleverwith that, oh, all the time.
But we're also seeing moredecorative lighting, so it could
be you, you know, a light overthe island bench.
Is it a task light?
No, does it give ambient lighta bit, but it's more of a
statement, kind of sculpturalsort of lighting piece.
Yeah, and it's a nice one tohave on if you, when you're not
using the kitchen, maybe likeyou're not cooking and doing
(33:45):
tasks, it is nice to have that,particularly if you are in an
open plan area and you've gotsomething that's you know not,
maybe super bright, but actuallyjust gives a bit of life to
that space.
So it's not just all tasklighting yeah, perfect.
Um, so I think it's thedowntime mixed, yep, the task
lighting that you need to chopyour veggies and whatever.
It's about having that ambientlighting, as you say, and then
(34:07):
maybe a decorative lighting aswell, and it it's okay to mix
them up.
And lamps now in kitchens oh, Ilove that too.
I'll throw that in there.
Yeah, particularly now thatthere's so many options that
don't need to be plugged in soyou can just charge them and,
you know, have a little bit oflamp light.
You know I'm thinking aboutwhen, you know, maybe you are
sitting at the bench and havinga drink with a friend and you've
(34:28):
already chopped and you justwant a little nice lighting in
your kitchen.
The lamps can actually be, andthey're a nice decorative object
to have too.
I think the first time I saw alamp used in a kitchen and it
would have been on a shoot Idon't think it really lived
there I was like that's cool,but that doesn't work.
And then I think the evolutionof how we use our kitchen spaces
(34:52):
, but also the fact that you canhave a light that doesn't have
to be plugged in so it could sitsomewhere on the bench.
It doesn't have to be rightnext to the power source, but,
you know, with a cord runninghas changed the way we can use
that.
Well, I actually have a lamp atsort of the end of our kitchen
bench.
It is on.
It's about to say it's on 24seven.
We don't turn it off becauseit's just on day and night and
(35:14):
when you've got little kids inthe house at night time and
stuff it's a little bit soft.
It's really nice.
So what about talking abouttiles again?
So we've moved away from thatglass splashback look, and what
I've noticed with tiles is we'reenjoying this kind of
checkerboard kind of moment.
So we're seeing, you know, thischeckered pattern sometimes
(35:34):
being used, and not just for asplash rack, it could be even
the front and the top of anisland bench, like a real kind
of statement yes, yeah, I loveit on the front panel.
I think also it's reallypractical because it's very hard
wearing.
So if you've got people sittingthere and you know, kicking
their feet into the front panel,it makes a lot of sense.
Plus, it's got so muchcharacter and you've got so many
(35:56):
options of how you can do it.
Um, you know, when you talkabout checkered, obviously,
maybe using two different colorsor maybe it's two tonal colors.
That doesn't have to becheckered.
You could do stripes, like youcould do so much with tiles.
That's why I really love themin that way.
You know, same and it's it'snot, uh, the most newest thing
to create a pattern with tile.
(36:17):
It's probably one of the oldestideas, isn't it really?
Yeah, but it's done in such afresh way, yeah.
What about mosaics?
Like I've noticed, I think YSGYasmin uses mosaics quite a bit
in her projects and mosaics kindof well, they're very 90s I
feel.
And when you know that a mosaicit's not obviously a tiler
(36:40):
isn't laying every individualtiny little tile.
They come on a sheet with amesh back and it's a 30 by 30
centimetre sort of mesh shape.
I hate it when you can seethose individual mesh sheets,
you can see the join and I don'tknow what's wrong with me, but
I look for that.
Yeah, so that sort of puts meoff mosaics a bit, I think also
(37:02):
just YSG, I could be wrong theway she often uses mosaics is in
between other tiles to kind ofbreak up and create more texture
.
I think that's a really goodway to use them as well.
Yeah, so you don't have to have, like you know, a splashback.
That's all mosaics.
Maybe you use the mosaics as abit of a feature within
something else.
Even stone, even in betweenstone yeah, I think we might be
(37:23):
seeing more mosaics, maybehaving a bit of a comeback.
Don't know, I've always lovedthem.
I know they definitely had amoment.
I kind of I don't know, I kindof always loved mosaics.
I think it's just what theylook like now, maybe a bit over
glass mosaics.
Yeah, I don't know.
Yeah, little ceramic ones arequite cute, aren't they?
Yeah, like the little buttons,those kind of little buttons
(37:44):
like chocolate, like littlethings I could eat.
One unexpected element that I'venoticed is fabric being used in
the kitchen.
So it's like a skirt over asink or even like in.
You know we're talking aboutour glass cabinets and how
annoying that can be sometimesif everything is an aesthetic
within them.
A curtain, would you describeit like a drop of fabric?
(38:08):
It is like a curtain, ruchedfabric inside, yeah, or, you
know, I guess you could say it'sa drape, a short drape, yeah.
Or a skirt, know, I guess youcould say it's a drape, a short
drape, yeah, or a skirt.
I think skirt's probably thebest word, yeah, and it's fixed
on the bottom as well.
What's funny is I mean, I thinkit's something we're starting
to see and I think the reasonthat's happened is we're looking
(38:29):
for more tactility and so ifyou can bring fabric somehow
into the kitchen, you're addingthat extra tactile material and
element plus.
If it's not, you know it'sruched right.
So we're talking about um, ithaving pleats or whatever it is,
so that adds even more kind ofmovement and texture.
So I kind of love that.
But what I find really amusingis that is so old-fashioned,
(38:50):
isn't it?
That idea is reallyold-fashioned.
So they're taking something youknow that's.
That'd be 40s, 50s, maybe evenlike earlier than that.
I don't know.
For some reason I think of themovie Calamity Jane with Doris
Day.
Do you know that movie?
I don't know it.
I challenge you to watch it.
(39:10):
It's a lot of singing.
I could sing all the words foryou if you like, but you
wouldn't want me doing that.
That'd be great.
Come over, the kids would loveit.
Probably.
I'll come over and watch itwith the kids, but there's this
old rundown shack and she makesit over.
This is probably why I lovedthe movie so much as a child,
because that's my favorite partwhen she makes it, they paint it
and stuff.
But it has the little fabriccurtains and it just reminds me
(39:32):
of that every time.
I think about the skirts oncabinets.
Are they gingham?
I'm sure there's ginghaminvolved, I'm trying to remember
.
But it's very sweet.
It's a very cute moment of theshack being made over.
But don't you think as well, itis like again, just a full
swing from that sterile kitchen.
Look, that's probably thefurthest we can get, really,
(39:53):
isn't it Exactly?
And it's very comforting.
That's probably the furthest wecan get, really, isn't it
Exactly?
And it's very comforting.
It's very homely.
It's almost a little cafe sortof style as well.
I don't know.
I mean, we've seen it done acouple of different ways.
Like you're talking about, thatkind of cafe style feels a bit
homely.
But also, was it?
Fiona Lynch did a kitchen whereshe used fabric in it quite a
different way and that felt alittle more sophisticated.
(40:16):
I can't remember the project.
So it's interesting to kind oftake it to a different level,
right as well, very clever.
Can you remember how it wasdone?
It was like a ruched leather Aruched, you're right Sort of on
the top and the bottom, yes,yeah, and it was a leather that
wrapped around an island bench,and I have to say I think I've
(40:38):
seen brem so one of our previousguests use fabrics quite a bit
within joinery.
I would say, yeah, um, but youknow a, a little fabric skirt
underneath the kitchen sink.
I mean practical, colorful, abit whimsical yeah, is
affordable and easily to changetotally affordable, oh, yeah.
Easily change yeah, so totallyaffordable.
Oh, and easily change yeah, soit's quite sustainable.
(40:58):
We might say, yeah, I mean, Ithink it's a mainstream.
Rip off your cupboard doors andput up some skirts, just like
Doris Day, and doing a quickmakeover of your shack.
That's our prediction.
I do love that, though, and Ifeel like if you were in an
older house where you couldn'tafford to update your kitchen
just yet and you're like, oh myGod, these horrible cupboard
(41:20):
doors or whatever they are maybethey're just worn or you hate
the finish you could remove themand you could fairly easily
install the fabric, which wouldnormally be.
You'd still be able to buy.
It's like a really thick wirethat it goes on.
I don't know if it's calledlike a curtain wire, maybe, or a
drape wire or something thatyou put them on and so it
(41:42):
wouldn't actually be that tricky.
Yeah, and it's tensioned, so itcould be.
I want to see more of that.
People just doing it as a bitof a hack Watch this space, even
on your bathroom vanity orsomething.
Yes, actually, that would beway more practical.
So if you don't have drawers andI advocate for drawers in the
bathroom please have drawers.
If you're designing a bathroom,you need drawers.
(42:03):
Do not put cupboards.
Anyway, you know, withcupboards you have to just leave
the cupboard doors open andthey're kind of in the way.
If it was a curtain, it was askirt, it just slides to the
side and you can just put littlebaskets on the shelf and really
get, yes, pull them out.
Oh, okay, it's cute, it'scutesy.
There you go.
Yeah, it is.
It is mindful and demure.
(42:23):
Mindful, demure, yes, okay.
So we've talked about, you know,this whole vibe shift towards
the warmth and the comfort andeverything.
We're decorating our spaces.
It's an unfitted kitchen, we'vetalked about different
benchtops, we've seen lightingand what we're seeing in tiles,
and then we've got our littlewild card in there our skirts,
(42:46):
cupboards.
I think we've done a nicelittle roundup here.
Yeah, I like it.
What do you reckon, bree?
I think we'll leave some moreto talk about on our future
kitchen episode, which will becoming up Exactly I don't know
when, but it's happening whenwe'll talk a bit more about
appliances and things there andtechnology, because obviously
that plays a big part inkitchens and we haven't touched
(43:08):
on that.
But we'll do that in anotherepisode.
So much to unpack.
Yeah, it is Always Thanks, brie.
Thank to unpack.
It is always Thanks, brie.
Thank you, always a pleasureOver and out.
See you next time Bye.
So thank you guys for listeningin.
And just a quick reminder ifyou would like some help with
the interiors for your own home,I can help you in a course
called the Style StudiesEssentials.
(43:29):
Or for designers out there,come into the Design Society for
business and marketing and allof the things.
Yeah, and in the same shownotes you'll find a link to sign
up for my soon to be releasedfurniture collections,
pre-selected furniturecollections and cool trend
information, and then in thefuture some short courses on
(43:51):
styling and trends as well.
So so good, bree.
We've got the utmost respectfor the Wurundjeri people of the
Kulin Nation.
They're the OG custodians ofthis unceded land and its waters
where we set up shop, createand call home and come to you.
From this podcast today, a bigshout out to all of the amazing
(44:12):
elders who have walked before us, those leading the way in the
present and the emerging leaderswho will carry the torch into
the future.
We're just lucky to be on thisjourney together.
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