Bold Dark Kitchen with Soft Natural touch

A Bold Kitchen with a Soft Touch in a Palmerston North home with City views


This Palmerston North kitchen blends together the soft and bold, while using an intelligent layout to open up space.

Designer: Nicola Ross

Photographer: Avodah Photo and Cinema

Concept: A dark kitchen with soft and natural elements.

Result: A well-thought out layered kitchen that uses colour and smart joinery to open up space.

Palmerston North soft and bold open-plan kitchen
Nicola Ross designs a bold open-plan kitchen with a soft touch.

Enter a quiet home away from the city noise and step foot into an entertainers kitchen. A layered design hides away an impressive scullery that leaves plenty of space to host. The hustle and bustle of guests takes place in the main kitchen and living area that flows so effortlessly to the garden. The open-plan kitchen’s ranch sliders add a soft touch because of the natural lighting they let into the space. For a premium kitchen experience, Nicola uses InnoTech Atira drawers and Sensys soft-closing hinges.

Mixing soft and bold elements in a kitchen

... what is often overlooked is the stuff inside the cabinetry, quality hardware is the thing that will keep your spaces working well for years to come with straight doors and perfect opening to drawers.”

Nicola Ross
Proudly using:

The InnoTech Atira drawers are the perfect balance between practicality and functionality. Paired with our Quadro runners that are concealed and have integrated soft-closing capabilities for peace and quiet around the home. InnoTech is a great drawer for everyday use. Go for handle less drawers to create a seamless look, which is particularly useful for families that find handles bothersome and opens up space.

The Sensys hinges‘ unique 35-degree closing angle requires less effort to close your doors. There is an incredibly premium feel to the soft-closing function as well as keeping the noise down in an already potentially stressful area. It is a great way to ensure no startling interruptions to the great flow of conversations.

Creating a contrasting kitchen such as this may prove challenging but with the right design eye it can come to light.
Matte black finishes have become extremely popular over recent years and recent innovations can be easy to clean
while minimising fingerprints and scratches (Nicola uses the brand Purematte).
Using the colour black instantly adds drama and gives a daring and bold feel to your space, utilising the right kinds of accent colours,
materials and textures, like in the vertical battening of this Palmerston North oasis. These are great ways to keep your kitchen interesting.

We also have an informative blog about intelligent kitchen layouts here to help guide you with your decision making.

Read more below.