Residential kitchen project - Pink Palace

Transforming a sad beige galley kitchen into a joyous,  colourful and super functional space.

Photos (of new kitchen) by Elsa Campbell Photography

 

Before

A light-challenged beige, cream and grey (the holy trinity of boringness) galley kitchen was the project’s starting point. Unnecessarily small, awkward and rather frustrating, this project started with how to use the existing kitchen and laundry (behind the pink wall) space better, and how to bring the space to life with colour and fun, as it’s the heart of the home after all.

Brief

It’s not the easiest thing to take a brief from yourself (yes, this is my house!). Because you are not a good client; you don’t know what you want, you hope you can tell yourself about ‘the vibes’ and magically, a design will appear. You’re a designer, how hard can it be? Well, quite difficult unless you do the actual work of uncovering your wants and likes and dislikes and hopes and dreams and secrets.  And then more work to turn those ‘vibes’ into an IRL space. So, after giving myself a good talking to about FOLLOWING MY OWN DESIGN PROCESSES, I began. And by I began, I mean is we contracted a building designer (thank you Geometrica!), as this was, a) before I started interior design school, and b) council planning and building permits were needed, hence having experienced people to manage this part was vital. They managed the nitty gritty of the process, while I instructed them on the layout, and designed the colours, fixtures and finishes.

Wildly improved function

A galley kitchen is a wonderful option when you’re space is super limited. But the actual size of our kitchen and laundry (next to each other) was fairly generous, but not a good use of space. Thus both of them were annoying to use and could be so much better. We wanted to combine the spaces, then carve them up again for a much better kitchen (and laundry, but that’s a story for another time).

Whoever was using the kitchen, felt like a sad lonely wistful waif, because it was strictly a one person space. And the kitchen’s orientation (perpendicular to the living area) meant you were basically MIA if you were entertaining. We wanted to rotate the orientation to make it a proper open-plan living style kitchen. And combine the kitchen and dining to create more space in the living area.

Other kitchen-based outrages and solutions:

  • Not enough bench space; hence lots more please!
  • Pantry was a weird square shape that was both too deep and too narrow to ever be useful or organised; walk in pantry!
  • Two ceiling heights in one tiny space. Like wot; fix ceiling heights
  • x2 practically useless corner cupboards that required extreme patience and contortionist skills to get stuff in and out of them; no corner cupboards. In fact, pot draws for all the under bench cabinetry.
  • Let’s get rid of the gas; only electric appliances so we can make more use of our solar panels.  

 

 

Super colourful

  • It MUST be colourful; pink, blue, yellow, orange!
  • A mix of old and new; nod to 50s and 60s pastel kitchens
  • Multiple colours for the cabinetry, but without making it look like a childcare centre
  • As little white as possible
  • No stone, too cold.
  • No tiles; take the floorboards through from the living room to the kitchen. 

 

Just some super cute art that inspired the design. It’s an original artwork from Greenhouse Interiors .

After

Reorienting the whole kitchen and laundry space, as well as doing a teeny weeny extension out to the boundary behind the old space, gave us plenty of room to create a more appropriate sized kitchen for humans of the 21st century, as well as a walk-in-pantry, that leads to a smaller, but much more useable laundry (not pictured, soz). The blue side of the kitchen is where the old kitchen was, and the pantry entrance was the old kitchen window. Pink side was the old laundry and backdoor entrance.

Arranging the three cabinetry colours – pink, blue and timber – into sections, with overflow of each colour into one other section gives the kitchen a fun, joyous feel that’s not reminiscent of a childcare centre. The buttery yellow tiles across the space unify the vibe. Fun and colourful but not childlike. 

A very big window means a light drenched space which contributes to the uplifting, joyous vibes. Attaching a dining banquette to the main bench created lots of seating for meals, with a small footprint. This meant we don’t need a dining room in the living space, effectively doubling the space left to do the ‘living’. But it also ‘effectively’ just means more space for toys to be strewned. So much strewning. A small breakfast nook between the tall coupboards and fridge means there’s a second spot to sit.

Will I regret it in the morning?

Heavens no! We are lucky enough to own this home and therefore are able to do things to it, to make it feel like the best it can, and to optimise this 1960 Edwardian bungalow to get the very most out of every bit of space.

Dave and I also don’t subscribe to the ‘renovate with selling it in mind’ (we never want to move) nor the endless focus on homes as investments. Can a home not just be a home to live in and love? And not always be thinking about future profit? Frankly, it’s just the old internalised capitalism that holds a lot of people back and traps them into the safe beige and grey and white trap.

I’m not saying everyone should have a pink kitchen, but I am saying I want you to have WHAT YOU LOVE when you make the big decision to change expensive shit like kitchens. And when we start to look at why we’re being ‘safe’ or neutral or future proofing your investment or however you describe it, we might find that those reasons don’t stand up. Not to your values, or to the things you love, and might even free you up to explore what would truly bring you joy in your home.