How to renovate your kitchen for maximum impact

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Simon Vos and wife Ash are currently in the process of renovating their Coffs Harbour home to give it a Southern Californian, ‘Palm Springs’ look and feel. 

This month it’s the kitchen that’s getting their attention – they’ve totally overhauled the space to take advantage of the stunning views of The Great Dividing Range behind their home.

“The view was the starting point for this renovation, and it’s something we wanted to open up when it came time to think about our kitchen,” says Ash, who has been married to The Block: Glasshouse winner Simon Vos for five years.

“We were thinking about how we wanted the house to flow, and we decided that we were going to move the kitchen from blocking the view, to looking out at it.”

The result is stunning – and certainly creates a dramatic impact.

Here’s how they did it and how you can create an impactful kitchen:

Go bold with colour

Ash and Simon wanted their kitchen to make a statement, but still blend with the surroundings. They chose a beautiful Eucalyptus green for the cabinetry – a bold choice, but one that works seamlessly.

“The decision to do green cabinetry was kind of obvious,” says Ash. “We wanted those lines, so that when you look at the house and you see the views, you don’t see this big, bright, white kitchen standing out, distracting from it – we wanted it to blend in.”

They matched the colour with one they’d used elsewhere.

“Palm Springs style is synonymous with a coloured front door,” Ash explains. “We wanted to bring that colour inside and match our kitchen to the front door, so we opted for a really fun Australian green.”

Skylights create natural light in the kitchen. Picture: Ben Adams

Create a focal point

In Ash and Simon’s kitchen, their stunning concrete island bench – which Simon made himself, with the help of some friends – is a stand-out feature of the room.

“We got a load of concrete delivered that was already coloured, so all we had to do was just  pour it really well,” says Ash. “Simon formed up all the ply exactly how he wanted them and he poured them. Then, a bunch of our friends came over and we lifted them in.”

It certainly makes a statement. “It’s a tactile focal point,” says Ash. “Everyone who walks in the kitchen touches the benches – it’s hard to NOT touch them, as they just have the coolest texture.

“It messes with your mind that such a harsh material can look so beautiful and feel so polished. It really is a cool material to work with.”

The concrete bench creates texture in the kitchen. Picture: Ben Adams

Use quality appliances

If you really want to make an impact with your kitchen, opt for high-end, quality appliances. Ash recommends you choose your selection first, then design around what you’ve bought.

It’s important to ensure cabinetry and appliances work well together with other parts of the house, especially in open-plan areas.

“I think sometimes appliances can really stick out in a kitchen, but we wanted our kitchen to complement the house,” says Ash. The couple opted for Electrolux products in a dark steel colour.

Simon was able to do much of the building work himself, which meant they could go all-out.

“We had never had a french-door fridge,” says Ash. “We were like, ‘If we are going to renovate, we’re going to have a french door fridge – and it’s GOT to have an ice-maker!”

Design around your show-stopping additions

Which brings us to our next point – if you’ve spent up big on stoves and appliances, show them off!

“I really wanted a 90cm long-format oven and hob, so that kind of framed a lot of the flow of our kitchen, because it’s quite a wide space to facilitate having those things,” Ash explains.

“There is a trend for people to have two ovens, and that’s cool, but I’m not that great at cooking, so I wanted to have an oven that looked really beautiful and a cooktop that looked really beautiful too.

“We wanted something that was versatile and big enough that if you want to entertain you have that wider oven and cooktop.”

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Create an indoor/outdoor space

If your floorplan permits, try to make your kitchen work with both indoor and outdoor living areas.

They designed their kitchen so that the countertop could flow from inside to the outside BBQ entertaining area beyond. This meant removing an internal wall, and getting rid of an old ‘butler’s pantry.’

Running their kitchen bench all the way through to the outside area helps to join the two spaces together.

“You naturally step from the inside of the kitchen now, to outside with the alfresco living,” Ash says.

“If you look at photographs by (famed American photographer) Slim Aarons from the 1950s in Palm Springs, all those views and focal points of the pools and kitchens, they all have these mountains out the back – that’s kind of what our kitchen feels like too,” says Ash.

Continuing the line of the bench creates connection between the indoors and outdoors. Picture: Ben Adams

Opt for a grand scale

Before they began their renovation, Ash and Simon’s kitchen was small and cramped with lots of cupboards. They opened up their ceiling space to help create a sense of space and scale.

When they were planning the way the kitchen would flow, they also took into consideration the fact they would have large amounts of people over whilst entertaining, making sure to factor that into their floorplan.

“Simon is from a really big family, so if we are going to have Christmas at our house there are usually loads of people around,” Ash explains. “We wanted it so that one person could be at the sink or island bench, and another person could be at the cooktop and it wouldn’t feel crowded.

“Our builder was like, ‘Nup, this needs to be smaller!’ but we both pushed back and said, No, this has to be as wide as possible.’” They also positioned their fridge so that it was easily accessible from outside the kitchen thoroughfare.

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Think about how you’ll entertain

Post-renovation, Ash and Simon’s home has become THE entertaining venue for friends and family.

“We have now become the ‘entertainer house,’” says Ash. “We have an 8-seater table on the deck and a six-seater table in the dining space. We also have bar stools – there is loads of space for people.

“Strangely, I never imagined the kitchen being the room I’d be in the most, but I’m there all the time – same with Simon.

“Before, the kitchen was complicated and you never wanted to be in there – now it’s the natural hanging place.”

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