Seamless kitchen transformation delivered

Settling into a new home can be hard when certain elements aren’t quite right. Fortunately for a Papakura couple, Jag Kitchens held the final piece to the puzzle.

Tranquil, spacious, and contemporary, John and Frances Fothergill’s new home was everything they wanted – bar the kitchen.

“It was a grey Mitre 10 kitchen with cheap filler cupboards,” says Frances. “One of the corner cupboards was placed in such a way that it was a huge waste of space and I had to pull everything out if I wanted to retrieve something.”

Walls stood between the living and dining rooms, cutting off the flow of the kitchen and the view of the bountiful land that attracted John and Frances to the Papakura lifestyle block. Hence, a new kitchen was in order and the former Pakuranga residents knew just who to call: their old friends Malcolm and Lesley McLagan who own Jag Kitchens in Botany.

Meeting with their Jag Kitchens design consultant, John and Frances began to put their thoughts to paper. Frances already had that practical knowledge about kitchens, so when it came to combining design elements and making suggestions it was easy to reach the desired end result.

Once a sore thumb, the kitchen now looks as if it has always been a part of the light-filled home. The walls have disappeared, revealing a sparkling engineered stone bench with a gorgeous waterfall end. “The space feels so much more open than before,” says Frances. “It fits in with the rest of the house and everything flows.”

Beneath the benchtop, a light taupe colour matches the surrounding interior perfectly and above, a curved bulkhead similarly blends into the home.

A tall, elegantly framed display cabinet serves as a design centrepiece whilst allowing wine glasses and miscellaneous tableware to remain within arm’s reach from the dining table.

The atmosphere is kilowatts brighter than before thanks to the subtle and elegant textured white cabinetry with sleek stainless steel handles.

Functional, as well as easy on the eye, the kitchen boasts a double-door on-bench pantry enabling big appliances such as a coffee machine to be hidden away effortlessly.

“Everything’s really accessible now and I can move around quite easily,” Frances says.

Under the bench, deep, cut-out drawers provide even more storage using up every inch of space available.

Obscurely tucked away, but not unnoticed, the wine fridge is easily accessed from the living or dining areas.

But best of all, is the impressive downdraft which magically rises from the bench top at the press of a button. “It actually works really efficiently and looks stunning,” says Frances.

Overall, the entire experience has been a delight, she adds. “Everything was done and arranged by Jag. Everyone did what they said they would and turned up when they said they would. It was really easy. And having a fantastic designer helped, too. We’re so happy with the result and think it’s truly brilliant.”

– Article courtesy of H&P Times