Keen to give your kitchen a makeover? To get a range of different kitchen design ideas, we asked JENNY PERRY from Perry Contracting to describe six of her recent projects, from incorporating the right backsplash to adding a feature kitchen island.
#1 Open-kitchen design ideas
In this design, the kitchen island is made of quartz stone. A solid wood table connects at the end, with lower chairs so people can sit comfortably and enjoy their meal. We installed a water filter next to the tap that provides 100 degrees hot water instantly. That means you can make a cup of tea straight away without boiling water in a kettle.
The rubbish bin is built-in underneath the sink, and the dishwasher is installed beside it. All the appliances are from Gaggenau. The fridge freezer is huge – over two metres high, with 480 litres of fridge space and 320 litres of space for the freezer. We installed a led lighting strip underneath the kitchen island and cabinet, for more light source options at night.
The whole open-kitchen colour scheme is black, white and grey, with the wooden table providing a soft contrast.
#2 Featuring backsplash tiles
This U-shaped kitchen design idea combines an island and a sitting area. It features lots of storage areas, including an overhead cabinet in glossy beige, and a base kitchen cabinet in wood laminate. All the wood patterns continue around the kitchen. Because the countertop is U-shaped and has more joins than usual, we recommended Corian for the top. This is because it’s very hard to see joins once it’s been polished well.
The backsplash tiles are handmade in clay from Italy; they came with 12 different colour variations for a soft, natural look. There’s a long double sink in gold colour with matching tap and filter tap, and the chair legs match as well.
#3 Using wood and glass
This is a unique space in a flat on Hong Kong Island, where we transformed a closed kitchen into an open kitchen.
We built a glass brick wall on the side of the kitchen, which allows light to come in. There’s a Corian countertop and we chose a clay tile for the backsplash. We managed to fit a fridge, oven, two gas hobs, 75cm sink and washing machine all as built-ins in the kitchen.
The wooden countertop breakfast area is made from solid teak from Thailand and there is an engineered oak wooden floor.
#4 A space for entertaining
This kitchen design is in a holiday house and is more about entertaining. For example, there are three wine fridges installed in the open part of the kitchen. The island and countertop are made of travertine stone. This required a very high level of skill to put together, as the kitchen island came to the house in 12 pieces of different sizes. Our worker had to puzzle them together to make the island onsite, while also ensuring the pattern continued around all the edges and corners! The result is a 3.6-metre-long kitchen island that allows seven people to sit down at the same time.
In the cooking area next to the entertaining area, we used marble stone cut to rectangle shapes then laid in a herringbone style on the wall. The tap and sink are a gun metal colour. We also installed a Quooker water filter, which supplies hot, cold and sparkling water. The rubbish bin is installed underneath the sink, with the dishwasher next to it.
#5 Closed kitchen design ideas
This is a closed kitchen but it also has an open-kitchen option thanks to glass doors with a black aluminium frame that slide into each side when open. The floor is ceramic tiles, which we laid in a herringbone style for the living room side and normally for the kitchen side.
The backsplash is made of stone with a printed-on pattern. We managed to install an entire piece of stone along one side of the kitchen without cutting it! We used a white Corian countertop to match with the background colour of the stone backsplash.
The cabinet is spray-painted a dark blue-grey colour while the white cabinet inside the kitchen is high-quality laminate. This light and dark colour combination adds a bold contrast to the space.
#6 Statement kitchen island
The island and countertop in this kitchen design are both made from terrazzo stone. We made the side panel in terrazzo as well. The kitchen island is 2.4 metres long and 1.2 metres wide and allows four people to sit along one side.
We chose a blue colour scheme for this space including a backsplash tile in blue clay that came with 12 different colour variations. A rubbish bin is installed underneath the sink, with a built-in dishwasher next to it. There is a pantry next to the fridge with a pocket door.
See more of Jenny’s interior designs at perrycontractinghk.com.
This article first appeared in the December 2024 edition of Expat Living. You can purchase the latest issue or subscribe so you never miss a copy!
