Freemans Bay Villa

This kitchen project was awarded to Matisse by a passionate developer who was seeking our collaboration to help with the rebuild to transform one of Freemans Bay’s original early 1900 villas into a modern residence but sympathetic to the original villa style so familiar in the inner-city areas of Auckland.

A ‘hidden’ scullery door was to be incorporated into the design with specific spatial placement for each element of the kitchen and the scullery to provide flexibility for storage.

The design to be in line with the client’s budget, it was important for the design to fit in seamlessly with the villa features of the old house. Due to space limitations, it was initially quite challenging to incorporate a hidden scullery door into the design. However following discussion and agreement with the client, the original proposed location of the scullery door was relocated to provide a full-length back wall for the kitchen. To accommodate the scullery door, the design of the adjacent bathroom was amended to allow for placement of the door into the scullery.

A combination of door finishes, bench-top and cabinetry height were carried through from the kitchen to the scullery to create unity to both spaces. To provide the requirement for flexible storage, adjustments were made available on all the dark wood veneer open shelving in the scullery.

Due to the budget constraints, the client’s preferred option for the finishing on the island benchtop was reconsidered. The eventual solution was to use Florim Calacutta porcelain on all benchtop surfaces. To allow for a deeper overhang plus strengthening for the 12mm porcelain, this required thickening which was achieved by doubling up the back and the waterfall ends to provide support and to improve the overall aesthetic appearance.

The integrated fridge and freezer also required bulkhead ventilation, so this was creatively resolved by allowing for a double negative black detail to provide a gap above the integrated appliances for ventilation.

In keeping with the classic villa design appearance as per the client brief, Matisse worked closely with the client to ensure that every aspect of the kitchen installation was considered to work in with the finer finishing details of the new villa construction.