Kitchen design services across the Bay of Plenty.
I design kitchens for homes across the Bay of Plenty and into the Waikato, and I hold the whole project from the first conversation in your home to the last detail. A kitchen is one of the larger decisions you will make in a home, and one of the hardest to change once it is built. My role is to carry that decision with you: to begin with your home and how you live, design the kitchen to it, and then see it through procurement and the build so it lands the way it was drawn. You make the decisions that matter, and I hold the detail in between.
WHAT THE STUDIO HOLDS FOR YOU
Design. Procurement. Project management integration.
Three parts, one considered hand. I design the kitchen around your home, the light, and the way one space leads to another. I procure it, sourcing and ordering the cabinetry, surfaces, appliances and hardware through trade, so the right products arrive coordinated rather than chased by you. And I integrate the project management, working alongside your builder and trades so the kitchen sits cleanly inside the wider build. The making and fitting are handled by trusted makers and trades I have worked with for years, coordinated by me, so a small studio delivers work to a standard beyond its size.
What a kitchen costs in the Bay of Plenty.
A considered kitchen is a real investment, and it helps to see what shapes it before you commit. The kitchen cost estimator shows how your choices, from layout and materials to the level of detail, move the cost of a complete kitchen.
Treat the result as an indicative range for a Bay of Plenty project. Your actual figure is confirmed once we have talked through your home and how you want it to work.
How a kitchen is designed: the two-stage process.
I work in two stages, kept deliberately apart, because function and character each deserve full attention and neither should be compromised for the other.
Stage one: function and flow
First we resolve how the kitchen works: how you cook, move and gather, the layout and workflow, storage and ergonomics, and how the kitchen connects to the rooms around it. This is the stage that decides whether a kitchen still works in ten years, so it is settled before a single finish is chosen.
Stage two: character and materials
Once the function is resolved, we move to character: colour, materials, texture and lighting, and the way they layer together. Because the layout is already sound, these choices are made freely, for how the kitchen should feel, rather than to patch a plan that was never quite right.
New builds and kitchen renovations.
New build kitchens.
On a new build, the kitchen is best considered early, while the home is still on paper. Brought in at that stage, I work from the plans alongside your builder, so the kitchen is designed into the home rather than fitted around decisions already made. This is where my construction and project-management experience matters most: I understand how the build runs, what the trades need and when, and how to keep the kitchen coordinated with everything around it.
Kitchen renovations.
Most of my work is renovation, reworking a kitchen inside a home you already live in. The constraints are different from a new build: existing walls, services and the rhythm of a house in use. I design to those rather than against them, finding the layout the home will allow and the one that suits how you live, then coordinating the trades so the disruption is held and the kitchen lands cleanly.
Ergonomics: the real reason to bring in a designer.
Ergonomics sits at the heart of what a kitchen designer does, and it is a large part of why it is worth bringing one in. As a Certified Kitchen Designer (CKDNZ), and with a background in professional kitchens, I design around how a body actually works in a space: where your hands go, how far you reach, the heights you work at, and how you move between the bench, the sink and the heat. A showroom fits you to a layout; a designer resolves the layout to you. It is the difference between a kitchen that looks right and one that is genuinely comfortable to use, every day, for years.
That same understanding is what makes accessible kitchens possible. You can view the full accessible kitchen project designed with dual functionality, which offers ergonomic capabilities to cater for wheelchair use and the entire family, while also adapting to changing needs over time. It is not a separate skill bolted on; it is ergonomics taken further. Split-height benches, pull-out seating with the storage arranged around it, considered oven and appliance heights, and clear reach and movement, all resolved into the design from the start so the kitchen simply works for the person using it, without ever looking adapted or clinical. You can see this at work in an accessible Papamoa kitchen, where the ergonomics were designed in from the start.
The work does not stop at the kitchen.
The kitchen is the heart of what I do, but the thinking rarely stops at its door. It carries into the rooms around it, the finishes that tie it to the home, the bathrooms and ensuite, and the laundry, so the whole home reads as one considered piece rather than a set of rooms decided separately.
Kitchen interior design: the finishes that make it cohesive.
A kitchen rarely sits on its own. Where it meets the rest of the room, I also guide the finishes that make it cohesive: cabinetry, materials, paint, flooring and window furnishings, extending into the laundry and the connected rooms wherever the joinery runs. This is kitchen-led interior design, the finishes that let the kitchen and its connected spaces read as one considered whole, rather than whole-home decorating.
Most kitchens are chosen on their own, then set into a room whose paint, flooring and window treatments were decided separately, and the join tends to show. I work the other way, choosing the finishes alongside the cabinetry so the palette is resolved together, from the wall colour to the timber underfoot, and the kitchen and the room read as a single considered space.
Laundry and mudroom cabinetry.
Wherever the joinery runs, it carries through with the same thinking. The laundry does real work in a family home, so it is designed with the same care as the kitchen: tall cabinetry for the boots, the coats and the everyday, a place for everything, so the load stays behind a door. Treated as a mudroom, it takes the daily wear off the rest of the house, which is often what lets the kitchen stay as calm as it does.
Too often the laundry is the last room drawn and the first to run out of space. Here it was planned from the start: a bench to fold on, storage for the baskets and the overflow, and the machines set in cleanly. In this villa the cabinetry is drawn to the door line rather than the ceiling, so the room keeps its light and proportion, and the brass handles and sink carry the warmth of the kitchen through.
Bathroom and ensuite cabinetry and vanities.
I also design bathroom and ensuite cabinetry and vanities, bringing the same considered approach to the storage and joinery. This is cabinetry and design rather than full bathroom renovation, so it complements your builder and plumber rather than replacing them, and it is backed by the New Zealand Diploma in Kitchen and Bathroom Design.
The tapware, basins and shower fittings are sourced through quality suppliers and coordinated for you, so the pieces arrive matched rather than gathered off the shelf. Brass suits a villa, carrying a warmth and period character that chrome never would, so the bathroom feels drawn from the age of the house.
A kitchen is mostly decided before it is built.
The finishes can change over the years. The layout, the flow and the way the room works cannot... the more of the outcome is still yours to shape.
When to bring a kitchen designer in.
Earlier than most people expect. The most useful time to plan a kitchen is before the layout of the home is fixed... that is the right time to talk.
Why the design comes first.
The design is the part that protects everything spent after it. A layout resolved around how you actually cook and gather, decided before anything is ordered, is what avoids the expensive changes and the compromises noticed a year in. It is a smaller cost that lowers the risk on a much larger one. Cost is discussed openly and early, so you always know where a project sits before you commit to it.
Where I work.
I am a mobile kitchen designer. I come to your home, from Tauranga and Mount Maunganui through to Te Puke and into the Waikato, and design from the actual space, its light and its flow. The full area I cover is on the designer page.
Kate Blakeborough, CKDNZ. The considered hand behind every Design Suite kitchen.
Common Questions.
What does project management integration mean in practice?
It means the kitchen design is coordinated within the wider renovation programme rather than handed off at the point of documentation. I liaise with your builder, the cabinetry fabricator, and relevant trades, review fabrication against the design documentation, attend key site milestones, and manage the kitchen-specific detail through to completion. It does not replace a project manager or builder where one is engaged: it sits alongside them, focused on the kitchen and the design intent throughout the build.
What does kitchen planning involve?
Kitchen planning covers the full sequence from spatial assessment and layout resolution through to material specification, documentation and procurement. At Design Suite, function is resolved before aesthetics: layout, workflow, storage and the relationship of the kitchen to the rest of the home are established first. Material and finish decisions follow once the spatial resolution is settled. This sequence is deliberate — it means neither the layout nor the finish is compromised for the other.
Are you a mobile kitchen designer?
Yes. I am a mobile kitchen designer, so I come to you rather than asking you to visit a showroom. Designing from your actual home, its light, its flow and the way you live, is what lets the kitchen suit the house rather than a display floor. I work this way across the Bay of Plenty and into the Waikato.
Is there a fee for the first visit?
Yes, a small fee applies for the initial in-home consultation, for the time and travel to your home. It is where the design starts, with a proper look at the space and how you live, so it is a working session, not a sales call.
How early in a new build should I bring a kitchen designer in?
Early engagement is the most valuable thing you can do on a new build kitchen. If the kitchen is considered from the planning and consent stage, the spatial flow, window placement, plumbing rough-in positions, and structural elements can all account for how the kitchen will work. If the kitchen design happens after those decisions are made, it is fitting to the home rather than designing for it. The right time to begin a conversation is when the plans are being drawn, not when the slab is poured.
What is included in the kitchen interior design service?
The kitchen interior design service extends the specification into the connected spaces: the rooms the kitchen leads into, and the surfaces and finishes that need to read as one resolved whole. This includes paint, flooring and window furnishings where relevant, selected to complement the kitchen rather than sit beside it as a separate decision. It is kitchen-anchored: it does not extend to whole-home decorating, furniture selection, or spaces unrelated to the kitchen and its adjacent areas.
What does it cost?
Cost depends on the scope, and we discuss it openly and early so there are no surprises. A designer is not an added cost so much as what protects the much larger spend on the kitchen itself: the right layout the first time, fewer expensive changes, and decisions you will not regret a year on.
How is my investment protected?
Your project runs under a written contract with clear disclosure, a payment schedule, and any changes recorded as written variations, so you always know where the project stands.
Begin a Design Conversation.
If you are planning a kitchen and want it designed around your home and the way you live, the first step is a conversation. There is no pressure in it. We talk through what you are hoping to achieve, and whether a considered, design-led approach is the right fit for your project.