Five ways to a fabulous kitchen

For your new kitchen, once you understand the design and project management process and have checked off your layout and storage wishlist, it is time for the fun part: selecting finishes.

There are five finishes in your collection that will make your dream kitchen so good you can’t wait to have a round of Masterchef at yours!

The main thing when you are selecting finishes is to stay true to the style outcome that you desire. Start with finding a few examples that you like and you will soon see a common colour combination or style that you are drawn to. The rest will be decided throughout the design process.

The first biggest decision is the colour scheme, which is driven by the cabinet fronts and the benchtop.

While 80 percent of homeowners right now choose white cabinets with mid grey/dark top, there is a huge colour range available for you.

While 80 percent of New Zealand kitchens are white with grey counters, you can play with exciting colour schemes. Photo / Supplied

Even within that palette, there are 50 shades of grey while the trending colours are caramel toned woods, sages, navy and black cabinetry.

Some people match wall colour to the cabinets. If you do this I recommend picking a shade that is a tint darker than the cabinets so that the space has some depth while keeping within the same colour family.

Choosing cabinet products depends on budget. Basic melamine finishes come in all sorts of shades and wood-look grains. For a slighter bigger budget, upgrade to soft touch acrylic, veneer or a fingerprint-less ply edged high pressure laminate.

Many lower grade granite stones are now comparable in price to laminate bench tops. Photo / Supplied

For bench tops, over the years the price of some lower grade granites has come down to now be comparable to the price of a high-pressure laminate. Or dive into the broad range of engineered stone or sheets of decadent marble.

To add detail to a kitchen, have fun with the style of the cabinet fronts. A simple on-line search shows all the different options, from shaker style insets perfect for a villa to rustic beaded fronts or a clean fronted minimalist finish.

Style detailing also comes from the handles for drawers and cupboards. The design world is indulging in organic curved lines rather than the square handle, but if the slick straight line is better suited for your style then go for it. Or, with push-touch cabinet technology advances, opt to have no handles at all for a clean look.

Finally, the humble splash-back is a design feature that shouldn’t be overlooked.

I personally left printed glass splash backs behind in the year 2000 but plain toughened glass with a colour that complements bench and cabinets is still a popular look.

Today’s incredible range of tiles really makes us spoilt for choice, so tiles are generally my go-to for splash-backs. I like to link the kitchen tile with the laundry or bathroom feature tile. Make sure the tile is sealed so it is easy to wipe down and keep clean.

Or, for a sleek high-end look, wrap a stone benchtop material up the wall to make the splash-back seamless. It's an effortless addition that looks particularly dramatic with a marble or stone with a striking vein.

- Laura Heynike is director of Pocketspace Interiors