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kitchens & bathrooms
                                                   RETAIL DESIGN DIRECTIONS
What’s current from a design perspective, starting with the merchants and DIY retailers?
From a bathroom perspective, Louise Cook, speaking for PlaceMakers and Mico, suggests that Kiwi homeowners currently may still be seen as “playing it safe” in terms of tiles and wall colour, but then looking to add colour with the basins, tapware, and accessory pieces.
Louise further highlights continued interest in natural textures, materials and finishes with tapware to match, along with a recent move towards lightweight concrete for basins for vanity tops and baths.
In terms of kitchen styles, Melanie Gallo says Mitre 10 updated its kitchens last year to reflect demand that had shifted towards more wood grain and interest in matte blacks.
Melanie adds that shifts in demand, however, have been “relatively minor” because the trend-defining trade fairs simply haven’t taken place.
“There’s a lot of recycling of trends happening,” she adds, citing a softening of colour palettes, more mainstream use of woodgrain finishes across whole kitchens, and a growing preference for matte finishes across a wider range of colours.
Melanie Gallo also cites noteworthy changes including growth in interest in acrylic doors rather than standard tried and true foil doors, strong colour and even patterns in splashbacks to add a little “pop” and excitement, as well as a return to sculleries for somewhere to store small appliances etc without spoiling that modern, minimal look.
For PlaceMakers, Category Manager Rebecca Collier-York agrees that, although Kiwis still largely follow European kitchen
 28 NZHJ | AUGUST 2021
MORE AT www.hardwarejournal.co.nz
 Best of the best in NKBA’s 2021 Excellence in Design Awards were two designs by Davinia Sutton, who took out Supreme Kitchen Design sponsored by Fisher & Paykel as well as Supreme Bathroom Design sponsored by St Michel.
Best in the business?
Davinia Sutton of Detail by Davinia Sutton was judged 2021’s NKBA Designer of the Year.
Her Supreme Kitchen and Supreme Bathroom award-winning designs were deemed by the judging panel to deliver on all aspects of quality – functionality, detailing, spatial planning, material selection ... and wow factor.
The judges described Davinia’s winning kitchen (photo above) as achieving real punch with its use of extraordinary Patagonia granite slab enhanced with backlighting detail.
A monochromatic palette was chosen for the main body of the joinery to accentuate the strong architectural form.
Two-toned dark stained textured veneer adjacent box “walls” are blended within a contrasting whitewashed veneer.
From a working perspective, Davinia explains that the front zone serves the day-to-day needs of the family, while the rear kitchen provides overflow with a working pantry zone, additional storage, prepping station, and integrated appliances.
On the back side of the pantry space is a hidden bar, with a custom














































































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