Headland
House

Enviably positioned on a headland on Waiheke Island, this home designed by Stevens Lawson Architects has a central, informal space where a cleverly camouflaged kitchen emerges from the organic cedar-clad forms.

The Distributed Kitchen

Fisher & Paykel focuses on the usability and tactility of their products – the feel of a dial or profile of a hinge. This is a kitchen that is all about the detail. Particular care has been taken to make the appliances and cabinetry integrate into the form and materiality of the house.

Headland House Cedar Clad Kitchen and Entryway

A Social Space

The layout of the kitchen was based on an understanding of how the space would be used. Architect Gary Lawson says, “Of course you think about relationships between the sink and the oven and the refrigerator and things that you go to regularly. But it’s probably more about thinking about the kitchen socially, how it will work. In a house like this, which is about relaxation, you’re going to have people sitting around the kitchen interacting and talking at all times of the day. It’s about making the kitchen easy to use for big groups.”

In a house like this, you’re going to have people sitting around the kitchen. It’s about making the kitchen easy to use for big groups.

Headland Kitchen and Bay Facing Floor to Ceiling Windows.

Functionality
And Aesthetics

The kitchen island mimics the cedar-clad curves of the home’s exterior, embodying this big idea in a small way. Here again, functionality and aesthetics work as seamless partners – the island’s straight edge creates the working bench, then curves in to allow for bar seating.

Detailed Shot of Stainless Steel Bottom DishDrawer and Cedar Clad Cabinetry.

Every Detail Considered

It is not just the placement and general layout of the appliances that received attention here. Consideration was paid to the tiniest detail of how far the DishDrawer™ handle would jut out, the exact shape of routing of the custom handle pull, and how to minimise the separation between cooktop and oven. What has resulted in a kitchen that is not just aesthetically pleasing, but works at the minute tactile level as well.