The Block 2023 kitchen reveals: Eliza and Liberty get their first win by being 'brave and bold'
Continuing our recaps from our expert panel of ex-Block contestants, who will this year get to spend room-reveal night judging from their couch rather than standing on the proverbial chopping block before Scotty Cam. This week, Season 9 contestant Carlene Duffy dissects the seventh room reveal of Season 19, 2023.
It’s kitchen week on The Block, and the word on the street is kitchens sell houses, so the pressure is on these contestants to deliver a knockout space.
There’s a lot of chat from the judges around butler’s pantries. Some were good, some were bad, some made sense, and some did not.
The inclusion of a butler’s pantry should make sense to a home’s floor plan, or it will otherwise come at the sacrifice of functionality. I’ve mentioned this in the past, and I think if you’re designing a home right now, this is a must-watch episode for you.
House 1: Kyle and Leslie ($33,740 spend)
In Kyle and Leslie’s house the judges were wowed by the beautiful, curved ceiling – Shaynna calls it “the house of curves” – and the way it interacts with the skylights. I’d hate to know their plastering bill, but I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest it was worth it. Ceilings are often the forgotten surface in design, so it’s refreshing to see this ceiling get some love.
This couple do a muted colour palette well, in that they manage to maintain warmth. You can’t go too wrong with timber-grain laminate joinery, but I would have liked to see some beautiful metal hardware on the kitchen cabinet fronts to make the space just a little bit extra.
I agree with the judge’s notion that the butler’s kitchen in this floor plan isn’t quite right. Replacing the door to the backyard, as per the original floor plan, with additional bench space is a bummer, to put it mildly. Neale says there is some “unlearning” that needs to be had around butler’s pantries.
But it’s not all bad. “There’s a lot to like in this kitchen and this laundry,” says Neale. “In this instance, less than perfect is still exceptionally good,” Darren adds.
House 2: Leah and Ash ($22,083 spend)
Leah and Ash did well to combine multiple materials to create visual interest rather than visual chaos. There’s a fine line.
The pink stone mosaic tiles on the island bench front add luxury and the plum velvet stools help tie back to the bold colours employed in the common areas of the house.
“These tiles … absolutely gorgeous benchtop. It is so beautiful,” Neale says. Darren’s besotted and says everything is “bold and courageous”.
While they love the look, they then consider the functionality, and question the size of the bench and the placement of the sink. Neale’s suggestion to move the sink along to the end of the bench to provide more bench space doesn’t account for the fact that you need bench space at either side of your sink for best functionality.
The judges again zero in on the butler’s pantry and wonder if it was needed in a kitchen of this size. It does feel forced in this space and comes at the expense of bench space.
House 3: Kristy and Brett ($29,878 spend)
In Kristy and Brett’s kitchen, there’s no doubt the rosso natural stone used on the island bench is a total knockout.
I’m so happy that they committed to it in the way they did, having it wrap all sides of the bench. It wouldn’t have had the same impact had they not waterfalled it.
The judges love it too and praise the couple for showing restraint elsewhere, making the bench the hero.
The judges also love the huge wine fridges and they are certainly sleek, but they also take up a lot of real estate – I would rather put that space to better use.
Neale pointed out that the dining chairs were far too large for the space, and he’s right. He also criticised the lack of functionality of the white boucle bench stools. My issue with them is more that they pull focus from that beautiful stone bench. But, as Shaynna says, these things are quite minor and can be easily swapped out.
Are we sick of talking about butler’s pantries yet? Sorry, but we must, because finally, we have a butler’s kitchen that is fitting to the floor plan. “This time we have a butler’s pantry that makes sense, it’s not compromising anything,” Nelae says.
House 4: Steph and Gian ($25,304 spend)
I really, really like Steph and Gian’s kitchen. It feels incredibly sophisticated.
The three wall lights above the splashback feel truly unique, but in a quiet way. Neale describes the style as “Jandi,” – a mix of Japanese and Scandi. Whatever it is, it’s peaceful and someone is going to love this space.
“If we were judging on aesthetics, it would be a winner,” Neale says. “But …”
All the judges have an issue with the functionality and think the pair hasn’t allowed for enough space to house pots, pans and plates, which means they would need to be kept in the butler’s kitchen. This would drive me nuts in my busy kitchen, but hopefully they attract some buyers who won’t be bothered by this.
Over in the laundry, the judges were delighted by the “large and very functional benchtop”. For me, the cabinet material didn’t work as well in here as it does in the kitchen. Sometimes, carrying the kitchen cabinet material through to the laundry achieves continuity, but, sometimes we need a break from the kitchen materials, and this is one of those cases.
House 5: Eliza and Liberty ($23,669 spend)
Eliza and Liberty’s kitchen was hands down the most functional, which was no doubt due to the size of the space they had to work with. “It’s the first bench that we’ve seen today that doesn’t have either a cooktop or a sink in it, it’s just pure, unadulterated bench,” says Neale.
“This is the correct way to do an island bench,” Darren adds.
However, it’s not my fave stylistically. That said though, I am 100 per cent on board with the orange rangehood and oven. It’s a very bold move with a very cool outcome. Neale thinks it’s “brave and awesome”.
For me, the colour combination of the orange against the grey concrete-look splashback feels a bit too industrial. I’d like to see this style of rangehood sitting on a small-scale tile splashback and probably something like a simple subway tile would have been in keeping.
The ladies included a butler’s pantry that functions and makes sense in the floor plan. “They’ve taken butler’s pantries back to what they were originally, and that’s a pit stop to put things out of the line of sight,” Neale says.
However, I don’t think I would be as forgiving as the judges for the small scale of the laundry bench given the generous space they had to work with overall.
The girls received some of the most positive feedback they’ve had so far and the judges decided this kitchen has what the others were lacking (functionality and space), which was enough to see the girls take out their first win – and score a 10 from Shaynna. Well done, ladies!
Results
1st – House 5: Eliza and Liberty with 29 points (+ a secret gnome point)
2nd – House 3: Kristy and Brett with 28.5 points
3rd – House 1: Kyle and Leslie with 25 points
4th – House 2: Leah and Ash with 23.5 points
5th – House 4: Steph and Gian with 22 points
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