The Block 2021: The judges' tips for creating a kitchen that is beautiful and functional

It’s a well known saying on The Block that “kitchens sell houses”, which is why it’s such an important room for Blockheads to get right if they want to increase their house’s chances of being a must-buy property.

The kitchen is considered the heart of the home. It’s not just an area for food prep and cooking, it’s a place where people can gather, unwind and relax — well, if you have the room and amenities to do so.

While a good-looking kitchen is important, a kitchen that functions well is paramount.

Here are the best tips we took away from the judges’ feedback about the kitchens presented by the teams this year.

Consider your ‘five zones’

One of the big criticisms the judges had about a few of the kitchens was the functionality of their ‘five zones’.

The zones are cleaning (sink and dishwasher), prep (food preparation on an island bench or countertops), cooking (stovetop, oven, microwave), consumables (food storage) and non-consumables (storage for crockery, cutlery, plates etc).

“This is the perfect layout for the cleaning zone,” Darren said of Ronnie and Georgia’s kitchen. “Bin, dishes, wash, dishwasher — that couldn’t be better.”

Install a pantry

If there was one particular feature — or lack of — the judges had the most words about, it was Mitch and Mark’s decision to not include a traditional pantry in their kitchen.

The couple’s island bench contained a couple of deep drawers that were intended for food storage, as evidenced by the cans of food they had included as props, but it left the judges shocked.

“No pantry! That’s crazy. So all your food storage here is either in the fridge or it’s in the drawers,” Neale said.

Shaynna called the move “insane” while Darren said it was “dumb”.

Mitch and Mark defended their decision and said drawers for food storage are a feature in “modern kitchens”.

“In a lot of modern living these days it’s actually more accessible so you’re not getting to the back of a cupboard. You pull the drawers out, you see everything from the top,” Mark explained.

“That’s a massive oversight. This isn’t a kitchen that you can work in, and this would put a buyer off,” Shaynna said.

Scott also noted that a couple of drawers was not enough to store food in a four-bedroom home.

Make sure your kitchen bench is as functional as it is beautiful

The island bench is usually a statement piece in most kitchens and that’s certainly the case for Block kitchens too.

But they need to be as functional as they are beautiful, something Shaynna was particularly critical about.

“I don’t like big sinks in the island bench taking up so much real estate, because they’ve got three chairs there and you can’t sit in front of the sink,” she said in Ronnie and Georgia’s kitchen.

In Tanya and Vito’s kitchen, the bold terrazzo bench wasn’t enough to distract Shaynna from the lack of prep space between the sink and the stovetop.

“You’ve only got that much prep space, because you’ve got your dishes and you’ve got your cooking, and you can only sit three people around the sink… It doesn’t work!” she said. “And that is awful because it’s beautiful.”

There were a couple of island benches that got Shaynna’s tick of approval.

“Shaynna thinks the functionality of this island bench is great. It’s the right depth and the overhang on the end is very good for additional seating,” Scott told Mitch and Mark.

She also thought Kirsty and Jesse’s island bench was “so expansive and so functional”.

Check doors won’t crash into each other if they’re opened at the same time

This is possibly a problem you’ll mostly encounter if you’re able to install a butler’s pantry, but it’s good to know nonetheless.

The judges discovered a few door-clashing issues in some of the kitchens. In Ronnie and Georgia’s, they were surprised the butler’s pantry doors — which blended in with the rest of the cabinetry — opened outwards instead of inwards. The judges agreed they needed to change the doors to swing inwards.

There was a similar problem in Josh and Luke’s kitchen. The dishwasher door and butler’s pantry door couldn’t be opened at the same time.

“I think we have a bit of a functionality issue there,” Neale concluded. As with House 1’s kitchen, they said the problem could be rectified if the pantry doors open inwards.

Don’t forget a bin

They are the least attractive parts of a kitchen but they are also among the most necessary! This year Darren took it upon himself to be the unofficial bin checker of the kitchen reveals.

He spoke up when cleaning zones didn’t have bins, therefore reducing their function. To prove how serious he was he even deducted half a point from his score for Kirsty and Jesse because their butler’s pantry didn’t have a bin (or they would have received 30 out of 30!).

• This article was originally published by Nine.com.au. Reproduced with permission.