Underneath the arches

DESKTOP

MOBILE

Designed by: Carmen Hansberry-Kennedy, Carmen Hansberry Design

Photography by: Joel Barbitta, D-Max Photography

Owner brief

This kitchen forms part of a comprehensive rear extension and interior reconfiguration to an existing residence in Mount Pleasant.

The brief centred on transforming a fragmented layout into a cohesive, high-end entertaining home, capable of supporting both everyday family life and large gatherings of up to 25 guests.

At its core, the project sought to reimagine the rear of the home as a unified living domain, integrating kitchen, dining, bar, and alfresco into a seamless spatial experience.

The homeowners envisioned a space that would feel open, warm, and connected, while maintaining a refined and timeless aesthetic.

A key requirement was the delivery of a highly functional kitchen and scullery arrangement, where the primary kitchen would remain visually calm and uncluttered, supported by a secondary workspace capable of accommodating the intensity of food preparation and clean-up during entertaining.

While the rear induction hob keeps a low profile the crenulated rangehood cover is a feature.

The brief further called for:

A resolved open-plan environment with strong connection to adjacent living spaces
A generous island to support both preparation and social interaction
Efficient appliance planning to enable high-volume use
Integration of a cohesive bar and large-scale dining zone
A restrained, modern material palette that would endure over time

Design rationale

The design response is grounded in the principle of clarity through separation, allowing the kitchen to operate at a high functional capacity while maintaining a composed and refined presence within the home.

The rear extension provided the opportunity to reconfigure the plan into a more resolved geometry, establishing a clear and efficient spatial arrangement.

The kitchen is positioned within a unified composition alongside the dining, bar, and alfresco zones, reinforcing its role as the central organising element of the home.

A key planning move was the establishment of a front-of-house and back-of-house relationship between the kitchen and scullery.

The primary kitchen is expressed as a clean, open volume within the living space, while the scullery accommodates more intensive preparation, secondary cooking, and cleaning functions.

This allows the main kitchen to remain visually controlled, even during peak use.

One of two archways leading to the scullery with coffee station nook in wood veneer to the right. — One of two archways leading to the scullery with coffee station nook to the right.

The island is conceived as both a functional workstation and social anchor, proportioned to support preparation, seating, and circulation simultaneously.

Its central placement reinforces visual and physical connections across the open-plan environment, ensuring the kitchen remains fully integrated with adjacent spaces.

Joinery is resolved as a series of integrated architectural volumes, with tall elements consolidated to minimise visual disruption.

Appliances are fully integrated wherever possible, allowing materiality and proportion to define the space.

Internal storage is meticulously planned to support the owners’ lifestyle while maintaining overall clarity.

The material palette is restrained, relying on tonal variation and subtle contrast to create depth.

Soft, light-reflective finishes are balanced with deeper elements, establishing a sense of permanence and cohesion with the broader interior scheme.

Lighting is layered and integrated, supporting both task-based functionality and ambient atmosphere.

This ensures the kitchen performs equally well as a workspace and as part of the home’s entertaining environment.

Key design moves

A defining move within the project is the separation of functional intensity from visual experience.

By positioning a fully equipped scullery directly behind the kitchen, the design enables high-performance use without compromising the clarity of the primary space.

The behind-the-scenes well-appointed scullery complete with handleless, wood veneer cabinetry. — The behind-the-scenes well-appointed scullery.

This is further reinforced through the introduction of dual entry points flanking the main cooktop elevation, allowing multiple users to circulate efficiently and work concurrently.

This planning move also establishes a direct connection to the outdoor alfresco kitchen, minimising bottlenecks and supporting seamless indoor-outdoor entertaining.

The entry openings are resolved as arched forms, using the same radius as the primary kitchen feature arch, creating a subtle continuity of geometry.

This repetition establishes a cohesive architectural language across the space, an understated move that reinforces balance and visual harmony.

The over-scaled island operates as both infrastructure and interface, supporting multiple simultaneous uses while anchoring the spatial composition and reinforcing the kitchen’s role as a social hub.

A further move is the treatment of joinery as architectural form, with appliances and storage fully integrated to minimise visual noise and create a cohesive, enduring outcome.

Looking across from the kitchen to the bar zone with matching wood veneer, handleless cabinetry. — Looking across from the kitchen to the bar zone with matching cabinetry.

Outcome

The kitchen achieves a considered balance between performance and restraint, delivering a space that is highly functional yet architecturally composed.

Through disciplined planning, spatial clarity, and refined detailing, the design resolves the competing demands of scale, usability, and aesthetics.

Functional intensity is carefully absorbed within the scullery, allowing the primary kitchen to maintain a calm and ordered presence, even during large-scale entertaining.

The result is a kitchen that operates effortlessly across both everyday use and high-volume hosting, elevating it beyond functional necessity to a refined architectural centrepiece within the home.

The new kitchen is a centrepiece within the wider open-plan living environment. An engineered wood herringbone patterned floors also features. — The new kitchen is a centrepiece within the wider open-plan living environment.

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Credit List

Designer Carmen Hansberry-Kennedy, Carmen Hansberry Design	Builder Powell Building
Kitchen cabinet manufacturer The Kitchen Studio	Cabinetry Polytec Cabinet Doors, Sussex Profile, in colour Tempest, finished in Woodgrain matt, thermo-laminated; island bench detail in Polytec Steccawood Black Woodmatt with cove profile
Cabinetry hardware Blum Tandembox Antarro Silk White with Blumotion (soft close) drawer runners; Blum Clip Top Blumotion (soft close) door hinges; Blum Aventos – HK-S lift-up door hinges; Blum Servo Drive for integrated fridge/ freezer, Blum REVEGO duo Pocket set to coffee station area; Hafele pull out double waste bin, Hailo Euro Cargo; Blum Orgaline Cutlery & utensil Inserts; Blum Pull-out Bottle Rack	Benchtops Lusso Stone – Mont Blanc Quartzite, honed, 2cm thick, 4cm mitred edge throughout, island 2cm inverted step detail
Lighting Montauk Lighting	Flooring Woodcut Engineered Timber
Kitchen sink Franke Undermount Maris Polar White Double Sink and Gold Waste Kit	Taps Franke Eos, Neo Gold, pull-out
Splashback Grey/smokey mirror glass – Grade A Safety Vinyl backed mirror glass, 6mm thick, cut to size in one piece	Oven Miele Black 60cm, 76 l pyrolytic Moisture Plus oven & Miele Black Combi Steam Oven
Cooktop Miele induction	Ventilation Falmec "Milano+ 90 Off Board Motor under cupboard rangehood
Refrigeration Miele 213L Integrated Freezer and KS Integrated Fridge with Perfect Fresh Pro	Wine fridge Miele integrated fridge/freezer with mains ice maker
Water dispenser Billi Home BC with XL Levered Dispenser in Urban Brass with 120mm riser	Awards Trends International Design Awards (TIDA) Kitchens – Runner Up