Nature's Embrace Kitchen, Paengaroa.
This kitchen began with the stone. A polished natural quartzite was selected before the cabinetry, before the layout, before anything else was decided. Its surface carries the greens, crystals, and bronzes of the surrounding landscape into the room. Everything that followed answered to it.
A Modern Edge on a Traditional Form.
The cabinetry is a slim Shaker profile in white, chosen to recede and give the stone and the outlook the space they need. Solid brass handles run throughout, grounding the joinery without competing with it. The result is a modern edge on a traditional form: a farmhouse kitchen resolved for the way this family actually lives.
Bringing the Garden Indoors.
The brief at the heart of this project was bringing the garden indoors. The client tends her property with care and wanted the kitchen to feel like an extension of it rather than a departure from it. The natural quartzite answered that directly: the movement and colour of the stone carries the landscape through the glass and into the room.
The original timber floors were refurbished rather than replaced, keeping the warmth and character of the farmhouse beneath the modern joinery. It is that layering of old and new that gives the kitchen its resolve.
The On-Bench Pantry.
The on-bench pantry is the workhorse of the room, designed around how the children use the kitchen. Natural quartzite continues as the splashback here, tying the two spaces together. Strip lighting runs beneath the overhead cabinetry, and the bench holds the daily appliances: the things that generate heat and mess. Keeping that activity contained means the main kitchen stays clear.
When the Design Runs Through the Home.
This kitchen did not lead the home. It followed it. The marble tiled floors, the natural stone sink sitting atop a refurbished furniture stand, the teal panelling on the bathroom walls: all of it was already there, carrying a material language that the kitchen needed to answer to rather than override.
That is where the designer's role sits. Not in selecting what looks right in isolation, but in reading what the home is already saying and resolving the kitchen to match it. Stone, brass, and a considered use of colour that connects rather than repeats. Each room feeling like it belongs to the same place.
The kitchen is the starting point of most renovations. In this home, it was the last piece of a picture the family had been building for years. The work was to make it feel like it had always been there.
The Detail That Ties It Together.
At the sink, a solid brass tap sits above an ABI Vienna double sink in white granite, chosen to disappear within the white engineered stone benchtop on the rear run. The brass overflow on the sink connects back to the tapware and the handles throughout: a detail that only reveals itself on closer inspection.
STYLE
Modern Botanical Farmhouse Kitchen Design.
MATERIALS & FINISHES
Cabinetry: Dezignatek in Dezigner White, Berlin profile vinyl thermoform.
Island benchtop: CDK Cristalizatto 20mm polished quartzite.
Sink benchtop: 20mmTrendstone quartz in Absolute White.
Tapware: Astra Walker solid brass range.
Handles: Powersurge solid brass.
Sink: ABI Interiors Vienna double sink, white granite with brass overflow.
Appliances: Existing
BUILDER
IHF Construction, Pukehina
If you are planning a kitchen where the home and the garden are as much a part of the brief as the cabinetry, that is the place to start. There is no pressure in it, just a conversation about what you are hoping to achieve.
Common Questions.
What is quartzite and why use it in a kitchen?
Quartzite is a natural stone, formed over time from sandstone, and it is one of the hardest surfaces you can put in a kitchen. It is very heat and scratch resistant, and because it is natural, every slab is unique, with its own movement and depth that an engineered surface cannot replicate. In this kitchen the quartzite was chosen as the piece the whole scheme is built around, so the rest of the palette is kept quiet to let the stone lead.
How is quartzite different from engineered stone or marble?
The key difference is that quartzite is natural, not man-made. Engineered stone is manufactured to a consistent pattern, while each quartzite slab is one of a kind, which is part of why it is chosen. It is also considerably harder and more heat resistant than marble, which it can resemble, so it gives you that natural stone character with far more durability for everyday use.
Does quartzite need sealing and how do you look after it?
Yes. As a natural stone, quartzite is sealed on installation and resealed periodically to keep it resisting stains, and everyday care is simply wiping up spills rather than leaving them to sit. Looked after this way it is a hard-wearing, long-life surface. Part of the design conversation is making sure a client understands the stone they are choosing, so it is specified with eyes open and suits how they actually use their kitchen.
Do you design kitchens in Paengaroa and across the Bay of Plenty?
Yes. Design Suite designs kitchens throughout the Bay of Plenty and the wider Waikato, coming to the home to design from the actual space and the way the household lives.