Are you looking for inspiring modern kitchen designs, or are you doing a modern kitchen renovation? Do you want to create a modern kitchen design that satisfies all the requirements of your modern lifestyle? In this article, Auckland kitchen design company Elite Kitchens showcases one of their recently installed modern kitchens and highlights features of its modern kitchen designs that deliver to its owners brief for a functional space for modern living.

Are you in the process of building a new home and need to create a kitchen for it? Or are you about to take a tired, out-of-date kitchen and make it over into a space that’s fit for today’s way of life? Smart, modern kitchen design and building with quality materials is the key to creating a successful, functional space that will stand the test of time.

Another successful modern kitchen design delivered and installed

Clients Becks and Giovanni recently took delivery of a kitchen designed, manufactured and installed by the team at Auckland kitchen design company Elite Kitchens and Cabinets, and are over the moon with the result, saying, “it really is a dream kitchen for us”.

While everyone has their style preferences, smart kitchen design and good craftsmanship are key to creating a modern kitchen (or doing a modern kitchen renovation) that will become the heart of the home and a hub for entertaining family and friends for many years to come.

How modern kitchen designs create a space for living

Modern kitchen designs set kitchens free from the confines of four walls and have transformed them from rooms that simply exist for the purpose of cooking food into something much more central to our modern lifestyles.

Even their positioning is changing, with more and more kitchens being located right in the middle of a home’s living spaces, enabling them to become the central point for eating, entertaining, doing homework and relaxing – and as a space that promotes that all-important indoor-outdoor flow.

Some modern kitchen design elements from one of our latest kitchen designs

More modern kitchen design ideas

If you’re after a new kitchen or doing a modern kitchen renovation, check out our modern kitchen gallery and note down some of your favourite ideas. Then give us a call on (09) 298 8388 to book your modern kitchen design consultation with one of our in-house designers and benefit from their extensive knowledge of modern kitchen ideas as they work with you to start the process of designing the modern kitchen of your dreams. Alternatively, pop into our showroom at 64 Hunua Road in Auckland’s Papakura and see our show kitchens for yourself.

Small Kitchen Design
Do you have a small kitchen?

Would you like to make the best use of your limited kitchen space? In this article our Auckland kitchen designer takes a look at how space is no constraint for high-end, quality living, even in the kitchen.

Living space is shrinking – that is a worldwide trend that we’re also very familiar with in our own society. However, smaller does not necessary mean reduced quality of life. But what about the small kitchen? Often the hub of the family home, the kitchen is a place to cook, eat, do homework, gather and share in special moments together. However, creating a kitchen that can still serves as the multifunctional, aesthetically pleasing heart of the home where space is limited, simply requires smart small kitchen design.

Good things do come in small packages

To answer the question: “How can one live comfortably in a confined space?”, and to show how much comfort and variety one can get out of a small space, including a small kitchen, by using the right solutions, Häfele, a name that is synonymous with innovation, quality and engineering, conceived the “Functionality Cube”.

Under the mantra of “one room, countless configurations”, Häfele’s Functionality Cube combines all living areas with elegance and functionality in a space just 39m2 in size. In the Cube, every corner converts and evolves as per the need of the hour. The kitchen, of course, is of particular interest to us. It’s perfectly accessible when needed, opening to reveal a stunning pantry. The advanced work area features a moveable countertop that reveals the hob and more, while still remaining fully operational. There’s even a hidden dining table that pulls out to accommodate up to five guests.

What Häfele’s one-of-a-kind living concept shows is that living and functioning well in a smaller home, including in a small kitchen, is perfectly achievable through inventive solutions and the use of innovative high-quality kitchen fittings, hardware and systems, like those developed by Häfele.

How to live large in a small kitchen?

Every inch counts in order to make a small kitchen into a super-efficient place to gather, without sacrificing style or functionality. Each component must be perfectly planned, from the layout to the appliances, and all must work cohesively to overcome the limitations of the confined space. Because the requirements are so much more exact, greater care and thought needs to be put into a small kitchen design. For example, to enable your small kitchen to live larger than its footprint you could:

These are just two small kitchen design ideas that, when combined with careful attention to build quality, can create an individual, inspiring and functional kitchen that, no matter how small, will enable you to get the utmost from your unique lifestyle.

Inspiring Auckland’s small kitchen designs for nearly 60 years

For almost 60 years, we’ve been designing, manufacturing and installing kitchens throughout Auckland that combine the latest styles with the best quality in kitchen hardware. That’s why we’re proud of the fact that Häfele has hand-picked Elite Kitchens and Cabinets as one of their “Studio Partners” here in New Zealand, enabling us to incorporate Häfele’s high-quality kitchen hardware in our kitchens.

If you would like to benefit from our kitchen design, build and install experience, and our quality partnerships, simply give us a call on 09 298 8388 or pop into our Auckland kitchen showroom at 64 Hunua Road in Papakura and talk to one of our in-house kitchen designers about designing a kitchen for you that will enable you to get the most out of your living space.

Do you want to invest in a new kitchen that will keep looking good for a long time? In this article our Auckland kitchen designer takes a look at how going with a reputable kitchen manufacturer who uses high-quality kitchen hardware is the only way to ensure kitchen hardware design ideas that deliver optimal, long-lasting performance with style.

Have you ever stepped into a home and felt immediately captivated? Chances are it had something to do with the details and finishing touches of the space. Details and finishing touches are even more crucial when it comes to creating a truly efficient and functional heart of any home, the kitchen. Kitchen hardware design ideas that deliver the right finishing touch definitely make all the difference to a kitchen – and can add significant value to your home.

Kitchen hardware design ideas to make your next kitchen a great kitchen

Any kitchen is going to look beautiful and smart on its first day. However, the tell-tale sign of a really good quality kitchen is how it dates, how it holds up and how it feels when you’re using it. That’s why beautiful kitchen cabinet design is only the first step in a quality kitchen. What’s inside or behind the scenes, so to speak, is even more important for ensuring long-lasting quality and functionality. And when the time comes to sell your home, the quality feeling of your kitchen cabinetry could be just the thing to push that potential buyer over the line.

With almost 60 years’ experience in designing, manufacturing and installing kitchens in New Zealand we’ve built a reputation for quality that sees leading home builders, architects and kitchen designers choose Elite Kitchens and Cabinets as their kitchen manufacturer and supplier. People have come to know that our kitchens combine the very latest styles with some of the best quality European kitchen hardware such as that available from Häfele.

The name Häfele is synonymous with innovation, quality and engineering. This German manufacturer’s innovative kitchen fittings, hardware and systems, and smart storage solutions, improves the way a kitchen works in every way possible. As a proud distributor of Häfele products we’re able to incorporate their high-quality kitchen hardware in our kitchen cabinet designs.

Why does great kitchen cabinet design make such a difference?

Like Häfele, we understand how important your kitchen is to you. It really is the heart of your home, and should be designed and built to provide optimal, long-lasting performance that meets all the requirements of your specific lifestyle. This understanding lies behind all the kitchen fittings and accessories we incorporate in the kitchens we design, build and install.

Kitchen cabinets play a major role in whether or not you’ll be captivated by your kitchen over the long term. Build quality is crucial, as is the smoothness with which doors and drawers glide open and closed, and the weight they can take. After all, there’s really nothing worse than a drawer that doesn’t glide smoothly, or drawers and doors that sag as they get older.

Selecting the right high-quality kitchen cabinet hardware, like that of Häfele’s, will not only give your kitchen a lifetime of enjoyable functionality, but will also ensure a quality appearance that will make your kitchen a pleasure to use day in and day out.

Quality Auckland kitchen designs

If you’re planning on investing in a new kitchen then you simply cannot overlook the importance of incorporating design-inspiring kitchen hardware in the manufacture and installation of your kitchen.

As a long-standing manufacturer and installer of Auckland kitchens, Elite Kitchens & Cabinets will design, build and install a kitchen that incorporates the finest quality kitchen hardware from Häfele to provide you with the ultimate peace of mind and enjoyment in your kitchen.

Give us a call on 09 298 8388 to discuss your kitchen design requirements. Or pop into our Auckland kitchen showroom at 64 Hunua Road in Papakura to talk to one of our in-house kitchen designers about how to turn your requirements into a stylish and practical kitchen that’ll be the captivating heart of your home for a long time to come.

Our Kitchen Designers share their top kitchen design ideas on innovative space-saving methods for kitchens

Are you looking for top kitchen design ideas that save space and look great? In this article our Auckland kitchen designer takes a look at just one of many innovative kitchen design ideas that will put an end forever to dead, unused spaces in corner kitchen cabinets.

A kitchen is not simply a collection of kitchen cabinets, drawers and shelves. As the hard-working ‘heart of your home’, your kitchen design needs to be filled with kitchen ideas that ooze efficiency and innovation so as to enable you to get the most out of the space.

So, thinking about your kitchen design, wouldn’t you much rather prefer to be able to open your kitchen cabinets and easily see and access all your items? The last thing you’d want is having things getting lost at the back of your kitchen cabinets, right?

However, if you have a kitchen with corner units, then you probably know all about the agony of having to crawl into those dark corner recesses in search of that salad spinner or colander that you know is in there somewhere. Yes, without the benefit of good kitchen design, kitchen cabinet corners can often be awkward to access or simply wasted space.

Kitchen design gold

One of the latest innovations from Häfele, a German manufacturer of a wide range of high-quality kitchen design ideas, tackles the problem of dead corner spaces in kitchen cabinets in a way that will add value to your kitchen and help you make the best use of all available space.

Häfele’s Lemans II is one of the greatest kitchen design ideas for ensuring you get the maximum amount of available, accessible storage possible from those previously difficult corner spaces, ending forever the age-old kitchen design issue of wasted space, dead corners, and hard-to-access contents.

In small space kitchen designs, the Lemans II takes on even greater significance for ensuring you get every possible space advantage from your small kitchen design.

Top kitchen design ideas capture the pole position for efficiency and convenience

Shaped almost like a peanut, the shelves of the Lemans II ease around corners to bring their entire breadth out of the corner kitchen cabinet and into full view. Not only is Lemans II an inspirational kitchen design idea, it is also a modern accessory that looks like a designer piece each and every time you open it. The shelves also have a non-slip surface which means you can store virtually anything on them without them moving or sliding around during opening and closing.

Your go-to Auckland kitchen designer

The world of kitchen design is an exciting and ever-changing one. So, unless you live and breathe kitchen designs on a daily basis it’s unlikely you’ll know about all the innovative kitchen design ideas available. But that’s not a problem because this is precisely why we are here for you.

As a long-standing kitchen manufacturer in Auckland, Elite Kitchens & Cabinets can design you a kitchen that incorporates the latest kitchen design ideas, such as Häfele’s Lemans II, to suit all your requirements. Give us a call on 09 298 8388 or pop into our Auckland kitchen showroom at 64 Hunua Road in Papakura to talk to one of our in-house designers about designing a kitchen that’s perfect for you.

You can also submit a request to book a FREE design consultation session with us. Send us the ideas you love, whether they be photos, magazine clippings or even your own sketches, and meet with one of our experienced designers to come up with the kitchen of your dreams!

Do you desire a kitchen that offers smart storage solutions? In this article our Auckland kitchen designer takes a look at how getting the detail right in your kitchen design ideas by using quality Blum kitchen storage solutions will deliver optimal, long-lasting functionality.

It has been said that in life, “the difference between something good and something great is attention to detail”. And while a real estate agent will tell you it’s all about location, location, location, when it comes to successful kitchen design, it’s definitely all about details, details, details! In fact, while quality does count in many areas of life, if you’re installing a new kitchen or renovating an existing one, getting the detail of your kitchen design ideas right is simply essential.

THE SECRET TO QUALITY KITCHEN DESIGN IDEAS LIES IN THE DETAIL

These days the kitchen is often the hub of the home and, in this role, is subject to intensive daily use. To make sure you get the highest quality kitchen that will stand the test of time, you need quality – and quality relies on detail. The best way to get the details right is to spend a bit more time when planning the kitchen design.

When it comes to detail, nothing beats Blum. Founded in 1952, Blum is renowned throughout the world for its production of functional and extremely high-quality lift mechanisms, hinges and drawer systems for furniture, particularly for kitchen furniture. Blum has an entire team dedicated full-time to getting the details right, by doing extensive research of customers’ kitchen habits and needs, and then developing their products and testing them intensively to ensure longevity.

As a long-standing designer, builder and installer of kitchens, we at Elite Kitchens and Cabinets are all about quality and getting the details right too. We’ve found that Blum’s kitchen cabinet hardware always stands the test of time, and work day in, day out. That’s why we’re proud to partner with Blum and use their high-quality products in our kitchen design ideas.

2 KEY DETAILS FOR QUALITY KITCHEN DESIGN IDEAS

Irrespective of your individual cooking style or the size of your kitchen, there are two key kitchen design details that are guaranteed to deliver a truly practical and enjoyable kitchen, namely workflow and storage space. In this post we’re going to focus on storage space?

THE OPEN AND SHUT CASE FOR A BLUM-ING GREAT KITCHEN DESIGN IDEA

Simple things like using drawers, including drawers inside kitchen base cabinets, will greatly improve access and give much better visibility of the contents. Blum drawer systems, such as Blum Metabox and Blum Tandembox, come in ‘shallow’ and ‘deep’ versions, and allow for maximum storage and easy organisation of kitchen items.

These drawer systems can also be fully extended without the risk of pulling out the drawer completely, which means you can use and access the entire drawer box – so no more kneeling down and stretching to get at stuff hiding at the back. These internal drawers are a great way to make full use of the entire kitchen base cabinet, by making it easy to reach everything inside. Check out this little video for more detail about Blum’s Metabox and Tandembox drawer storage systems.

Then there’s also the detail of soft close kitchen cabinetry. Blum drawers use smart mechanisms that enable effortless opening and closing. While this might sound like a luxury in your kitchen, they’re one of those little details in life that once you experience them, you’ll never want to go back.

After all, life’s noisy enough without disrupting the tranquillity of your home with the sound of banging drawers and rattling crockery, especially if you have an early riser or night owl in your home who needs to use the kitchen before you’re up or after you’ve retired for the night. No way do you want to be woken up by those sorts of sounds coming from your kitchen. And with more and more open plan living, there’s a need to reduce noise in our homes wherever possible.

INSPIRING AUCKLAND KITCHEN DESIGNS FOR NEARLY 60 YEARS

If you would like to benefit from our quality partnership with Blum and our almost 60 years’ experience designing, building and installing kitchens throughout the greater Auckland region, simply give us a call on 09 298 8388 or pop into our Auckland kitchen showroom at 64 Hunua Road in Papakura. There you’ll be able to talk to one of our in-house kitchen designers about your kitchen design ideas and how to design a kitchen for you that will be the functional and enjoyable hub of your home for many years to come.

Kitchen design idea – How to use them, and why getting the details right is so important

Does the thought of working in your kitchen make you sigh, instead of getting you excited about heading in there and making a great meal? When it comes to creating a quality kitchen it all boils down to getting a number of things right in the kitchen design stage, such as layout, storage and appliances – and making sure all the details that go into these kitchen design elements are also right.

Often, however, people can become so fixated on sorting out the overall look of their new kitchen that they forget about some of the finer details. In this article our Auckland kitchen designer takes a look at one kitchen design idea that can make all the difference in achieving a kitchen that lives up to the requirements of your lifestyle.

The two sides to the kitchen design story

Designing a new kitchen or a kitchen renovation is a major undertaking in any home. Therefore, it’s important to get every aspect of it right, so your kitchen can stay looking good and functioning perfectly for many years to come. After all, there’s probably nothing more irritating than a kitchen where something does not work properly.

So there are two sides to every kitchen design – the inside and the outside. For example, even if you know exactly how you want your kitchen cabinets to look on the outside, do you know how they will function on the inside?

Answering that question in the kitchen planning stage includes looking at how to achieve the optimal opening and closing motion for the doors of your kitchen cabinets. If you don’t think this is such a big deal, just try living for a while with loud slamming kitchen cabinet doors or doors that don’t close properly and see how you feel then.

A quality kitchen is more than just skin deep

Throughout Auckland kitchen manufacturer Elite Kitchens and Cabinets almost 60 years in the business of designing, manufacturing and installing kitchens, we’ve sought to provide our clients with the highest quality product – one that both looks good and functions well.

The kitchen is the room in the home that people use the most, so there’s no point in having a good-looking kitchen if it’s annoying to use. That’s why we ensure that the quality and aesthetic appeal of our custom-made kitchen cabinetry is more than just skin deep. The same amount of thought and planning that we put into the overall design and manufacture of our kitchens also goes into our choice of cabinetry hardware, such as door hinges, drawer runners and door stops.

How to make smart choices in kitchen hardware

So where does one start when making hardware choices that will ensure the smart, functional operation of the kitchen cabinetry for the life of your kitchen? For us at Elite Kitchens and Cabinets the answer is easy – Blum, the world-renown German designer and manufacturer of high-quality hardware for kitchen cabinetry. Blum shares our ideals for quality and aesthetic appeal – and designs their hardware accordingly.

Soft, effortlessly closing kitchen cabinet doors

With Blum’s CLIP top BLUMOTION hinges, slamming kitchen cabinet doors are a thing of the past. CLIP top BLUMOTION brings together innovative technology, award-winning design and enhanced user convenience within the smallest space. That’s because with BLUMOTION the previously separate dampening system has now been seamlessly integrated into the hinge boss itself.

A deactivation switch for small or light doors and an improved pivot point for heavy doors also ensure that any sized door opens smoothly. And the adjustable hinges prevent doors from knocking against each other, making it possible to achieve a smaller gap between the doors – a significant consideration in a small kitchen design. In this video you can see how CLIP top BLUMOTION guarantees soft and effortless closing.

Want to know more about innovative Blum hardware? Ask your Auckland kitchen manufacturer

Besides superb hinges, Blum offers a number of other high-quality products for smart kitchen designs. As proud distributors of Blum hardware, Elite Kitchens and Cabinets can incorporate their innovative products in the design of your kitchen too.

So, give us a call on 09 298 8388 to discuss your kitchen design requirements – or pop into our Auckland kitchen showroom at 64 Hunua Road in Papakura to talk to one of our in-house kitchen designers about how using high-quality Blum hardware can achieve the kitchen of your dreams.