Terrace homes in most parts of Sydney are typically a narrow and long footprint., This home in Newtown was no exception to the rule. The space presented challenges but also gave many opportunities to find creative ways of incorporating storage without filling the room with bulky joinery, maintaining clear line of sight through the home to the courtyard space and natural light.

Some of the more custom features displayed in this project are the finger groove style handles, which require additional plywood to be placed behind the gap to keep the cupboards and drawers enclosed. The door or drawer front then gets a steep 45 degree angled cut with slight flat edge, known as a sharknose, to make easy to grab and pull the unit open.

The internal structure is entirely hidden with vertical panels installed between each of the carcass boxes and full depth cover panels at each end, finished with a birch plywood kick for a floor to ceiling treatment.

The architect and client immediately agreed that Birch Plywood would give the warmth of natural timber and the slightly industrial nature of plywood as a material would compliment the polished concrete floors. Taking our knowledge of finishes we worked with the plywood to achieve a lighter appearance to keep the space feeling open and bright, while using a few clever tricks to hero the textural edge of this amazing material throughout the design. The overall appearance is strong yet elegant, and the pop of black in the open box shelves give a focus to draw your eye into the centre of the kitchen and cary it along the space.