Designer kitchens key in selling top-end homes

You don’t need to be a masterchef to appreciate a good kitchen in a prestige property. “These days, the kitchen is back to being the focal point of a family home,” says Ray White agent Nic Yates, who’s selling our featured house in Sydney’s Mosman, with its magnificent three-month- old kitchen.

“It’s the place where everyone likes to hang out.

“And a great kitchen can provide the X-factor of any prestige home. Great kitchens really do sell homes.”

The top must-haves of fabulous kitchens now are elements like a concealed butler’s pantry – a second kitchen where all the real work, and mess, takes place – custom-made cabinetry, marble or natural stone benchtops and definitely still islands.

Dora Kingsley, the owner of our Toorak featured property, finished her new kitchen a year ago, and is now distraught at having to leave it for work reasons.

“For me, it was always my aim in life to have a butler’s pantry,” she says. “You put everything in there and close the door and no one knows it’s there.

“I absolutely adore it. I never got the butler, but the butler’s kitchen was a great substitute.”

Kay & Burton agent Andrew Baines sold a property near hers two weeks ago for $13 million to Asian buyers who similarly fell for its butler’s pantry. “They decided to put a door on it to seal it off completely,” he says. “Asian buyers like those particularly to keep food smells out of the main part of the house.”

The “show” kitchens in high-end homes are otherwise nearly always open plan, often with views out to the garden, courtyard or balcony, and with beautiful cabinetry. Our Mosman house’s kitchen was created by DEBRICH Custom Joinery, which had one client who spent $350,000 on hers, as against their more average $80,000-$120,000 spend. Benchtops will generally come in at $25,000-$40,000 on top, with appliances anything from $50,000 upwards.

“We hand-make a multitude of different styles according to the client’s, or their architect’s, brief,” says DEBRICH director Richard Curley. “We’re seeing a lot of demand for Hampton-style kitchens [traditional yet with a coastal feel] but we’re also starting to see handpainted pieces coming back into fashion.”

Also now popular, he says, are motorised touch-drive mechanisms on drawers and cupboards, as well as handle-less sensor-type operations. Wolf ovens and Sub-Zero fridges are in huge demand, while Miele appliances are popular for those butler’s pantries.

Apps to open and close cabinets and set ovens, allowing meal preparation to begin before you arrive home, are also becoming more common says Marc Hochstadt, managing director of German company Leicht Kitchens. “At the top end of the market, we’re also seeing everything becoming very minimal and thin worktops, 6mm-12mm, of natural organic materials, like textured marble, stone and raw-looking concrete.”

Designer Heidi Onisforou who smashed the Australian terrace house record with the $13 million sale of her renovated four-bedroom property in Sydney’s Potts Point, says high-end property buyers want both exclusivity and sophistication, with top appliances from Jen-Air or Wolf, all seamlessly integrated.

If a kitchen is chocolate or grey, then those colours outside are exactly what you’ll find inside too. “They like Petra grey marble or Hermes Carrara slabs and always excellent lighting,” says Onisforou who’s now designing her next kitchen in another apartment, this time with a New York-style bar with LED lighting as part of the kitchen. “They like a balance of classic elegant wood and innovative materials, like those made by Poliform of Italy.

“In my last property I had the slab stepped on different levels with detail so there’s an area, for instance, for prepping vegetables. It’s that detail that’s important. It’s important for a kitchen to be functional yet also aesthetically wow.”

What the experts say: “A great kitchen can provide the X-factor of any prestige home,” Nic Yates, Ray White

What’s on trend: “Petra grey marble or Hermes Carrara slabs and always excellent lighting,” Heidi Onisforou

What to look for: “Hampton-style kitchens but we’re also starting to see handpainted pieces coming back into fashion,” Richard Curley, DEBICH

A deep veranda at 151 Raglan Street, offers harbour views.

151 Raglan Street, Mosman
$7.8 million
4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 2 parking

When Ray White agent Nic Yates first stepped into this four-bedroom, four-bathroom home, it was the kitchen that made the impression. “I think it’s the best one I’ve ever seen,” he says. “The Calacatta marble benchtop is about five metres long and it must be worth $25,000 alone, all the joinery has been custom-made by DEBRICH and the butler’s pantry has been concealed.

Everything is the best of the best, including induction cooktops and appliances, and it’s absolutely stunning.” On the Balmoral Slopes, the house was originally built about 1893 and has beautiful harbour views, with a deep veranda. On a corner 780sq m block, it’s set in landscaped gardens and has a home office, a rumpus room, a private master wing, high ornate ceilings and a lower level billiards room and home theatre. The floors are oak and there’s air conditioning. It’s close to schools, shops and parks.

Auction October 10
Nic Yates, Ray White Lower North Shore 0430 772 253
See more at Domain

4/45 Marne Street, South Yarra, is described as elegant and contemporary.

4/45 Marne Street, South Yarra
$7.5 million
3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3 parking

The vendors of this three-bedroom apartment undertake a great deal of entertaining, so they make good use of their butler’s pantry, says Kay & Burton agent Andrew Baines. “Kitchens are so important as they’re terribly social places now, with family and friends liking to sit around them,” he says. “It’s great to have an area where you can hide away all the dishes and preparation work.” This Alan Powell-designed property has interiors by Lombard and Jack, with the kitchen and dining area opening on to the private terrace. “It’s both elegant and contemporary,” Baines says.

Expressions of interest
Andrew Baines, Kay & Burton South Yarra 0418 328 407
In conjunction with Marcus Chiminello, Marshall White 0411 411 271
See more at Domain

A new kitchen at 42B Lansell Road, Toorak, has views over both courtyards.

42B Lansell Road, Toorak
$4.5 million – $5 million
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 parking, 1 pool

Designed by architects Jackson Clements Burrows, this house has another stunning kitchen with two huge ovens – a Wolf oven in the main kitchen and a Miele in the butler’s pantry – and cooktop induction as well as a gas burner. “It’s the epicentre of the home, and usually the key to its success,” says Marshall White agent Anthony Reis. “And this is a beautiful new kitchen which has been positioned specifically to view both courtyards.” A modernist 1960s home, it faces north and has both a formal living area and sliding dividers to change the spaces. The levels are linked with an original elliptical staircase and a lift, and  all three bedrooms have wonderful views.

Auction October 20
Anthony Reis, Marshall White Armadale 0417 352 774
See more at Domain