Dramatic kitchen with handleless design in a rural setting

This rural kitchen needed to maximise the views and keep clutter out of sight – especially when entertaining on the large deck the space faces. The solution is a sleek design with integrated appliances and hidden working spaces.

Designer: Cube Dentro

Concept: Functional and modern rural kitchen

Result: High-end cabinetry is used to achieve a clean and modern look, supported by a scullery and statement kitchen island

This island kitchen layout leverages a the island and scullery to create different zones, and pocket doors to hide business areas while the party is going on.

The owners of this home are avid entertainers with a family, so the kitchen needed to be practical and durable. It was set within an architecturally designed home with a crisp, modern interior and featured some strong rural cues. In the long thin space framing their outdoor entertaining area the island layout was an obvious choice to meet the brief, but it also needed to be presentable when hosting visitors and to support the extensive view out the full wall glass doors.

Handleless, Push to open drawers and cupboard doors are chosen to contribute to the strong lines carried throughout the interiors, including in the vertical timber panelling on the kitchen island and ceiling treatment. Large sized pocket doors are used to expose the working spaces as required, without impacting the useability when opened.

Other cabinetry considerations include an integrated refrigerator to blend with the pocket doors.

Other featured products

• Cabinetry Prime Art Veneer, planked, with a custom colour stain and clear polyurathane finish
• Benchtops Cosentino Dekton Domoos, Oriental Vein cut Limestone with a honed finish, Stainless steel flat plate
• Lighting Douglas and Bec
• Taps Plumbline Buddy Kitchen Mixer in Black matt and chrome
• Builder David Reid Homes Counties
• Flooring American Oak
• Sinks Blanco Subline 500U, colour Anthracite; Blanco Andano 400IF in stainless steel
• Oven, cooktop, ventilation, refrigeration, dishwasher, wine fridge Fisher & Paykel

Useful information for beginners

• If you’re not familiar with ‘island kitchen layout’ and how it compares to other common kitchen layouts, check out our blog on clever kitchen planning here.
• ‘Push to open’ is the function that facilitates handleless design. It refers to the mechanism that allows a drawer to pop open in response to a pressure on the outside of the drawer or door, as opposed to being pulled open by a handle.
• A ‘soft closing’ drawer is where the drawer automatically slows itself down and pulls itself shut softly and (usually) soundlessly after a gentle push by the user. This means the user doesn’t have to close the drawer all the way, it can’t be slammed, and the contents don’t clink together when it is being closed. 
• ‘Silent System’ is the Hettich brand of soft closing functionality.