Do you enjoy seeing inside other people’s homes?
Not in a strange peering-through-the-windows kind of way, of course, but in the way most of us love a good home tour, a renovation reveal, or a beautifully photographed kitchen in a magazine or online.
If that sounds like you, then this kitchen renovation reveal is probably going to be your kind of post.
I can’t invite everyone over to walk through our newly renovated kitchen in person, so consider this the next best thing: a detailed look at the before and after, the kitchen design decisions, the appliances we chose, and my favourite part of all — my new cake pantry.
Although I keep calling it our “new” kitchen, it was actually finished at the end of last year. I wanted to wait until everything had a proper place before sharing it, and yes, it also took me a little while to organise my cake pantry.
That’s right: cake pantry. If you are here for the baking, cake decorating, and behind-the-scenes details, you will definitely want to keep reading.
There are not many times I can say there is an upside to being unwell and living with my parents, but being part of a kitchen renovation that could be designed partly around the way I bake and decorate cakes was definitely a silver lining. It also worked out rather well for Mum, because some of the things she wanted could conveniently be justified as things I needed too.
Before we get into the tour, a quick note: I am not an interiors photographer. I can take decent food photos, but photographing a whole kitchen is a very different skill. I did my best, so please be kind.
I have also mentioned the appliance and product brands we used because we genuinely love them and they may be useful if you are planning your own kitchen renovation. This is not a sponsored post.
Now, let’s start where every good kitchen renovation story begins: the before photos.
Before
The old kitchen was not completely terrible, but it simply did not work well for the way we cook and bake. The biggest problem was the lack of usable bench space. There was only a narrow area on either side of the sink and even less room around the stove. Mum and I often cook dinner together, and the battle for bench space happened far too often.
I only made one fondant-covered cake in that kitchen, and it was not a pleasant experience. Rolling out fondant that needs to be larger than the available bench area is frustrating at best. Fortunately, that cake was meant to look like the moon, so a few imperfections in the fondant were not the end of the world.
As a side note, if you notice the room on the right in the photo above, that is my studio and office. I was sanding down my desk to paint it when these “before” photos were taken.
There were other issues too. The oven was tiny, the gas hob had an alarming habit of flaring up when I tried to light it, and the pendant lights above the sink were awkward and difficult to clean. Then there was the strange breakfast bar, which was an odd height and angle and did not serve much of a practical purpose.
In theory, it was a breakfast bar. In reality, it became a dumping ground for random items we did not feel like putting away. It was too high to use comfortably as a bench, especially for someone short like me, and we are not really the type of people who sit at a breakfast bar. The chairs that came with the house ended up being used as extra shelves for the overflow.
And then there was the biggest design challenge in the room: the large gas heater positioned right at the end of the breakfast bar. The back of the heater was not exactly attractive, but moving it was not a realistic option. It would have been expensive, and there was not another obvious place to put it while still heating the whole open-plan living area properly.
This heater is one of the reasons the new island is so large. By extending the island to end just behind the heater, we were able to hide most of the less attractive view from the kitchen side.
So, while the old kitchen was usable, it was not practical for our needs. We wanted a kitchen with more preparation space, better storage, improved lighting, reliable appliances, and a layout that made cooking and cake decorating much easier.
The New Design
We worked with Christine Dawson from Mastercraft Kitchens Tauranga to redesign the kitchen. She was incredibly patient with us, especially when Mum and I initially thought we wanted the oven moved to a different wall and several other elements shifted around. Once the plans were drawn up, we realised our first idea was not right for the space, and we ended up keeping most of the main zones roughly where they had been.
The most obvious feature of the new kitchen is the enormous island. After living with a tiny island and an awkward breakfast bar, this island feels like a complete transformation. It measures 1.4 metres wide and 2.8 metres long, which is roughly 4.6 feet by 9.2 feet. It would have been slightly wider, but 1.4 metres was the maximum width available in the benchtop material we chose.
One side of the island includes drawers, the microwave/convection oven, and the rubbish bins.
The other side has large cupboards. These were originally intended for some of my baking supplies, but they eventually became storage for appliances, extra baking pans, and food storage containers.
We also added a slight overhang on this side of the island. The idea is that I can place a stool there and sit while doing detailed cake decorating. At some point we may add proper bar stools, but that has not been a priority yet.
You may notice that the pendant lights above the old sink area are gone. They were replaced with three recessed LED lights, which make the kitchen feel cleaner, brighter, and easier to maintain.
The island finishes just behind the heater, hiding most of the back of it. We had hoped to add a mantle or some kind of boxed detail to conceal it further, but that was not possible because the heater requires a certain amount of venting space for safety.
Along the side wall of the kitchen are three large pantry cupboards. One is used for crockery and glassware.
Another is used for food storage, although it was far too messy on photo day to be included here. The third pantry became my cake pantry, which is absolutely my favourite part of the whole kitchen.
The cupboards are melamine with a velvet finish. They are not overly textured, so they are easy to wipe clean. We chose a mix of standard handles, handle-free upper cupboards above the stove, and push-to-open hardware for the rubbish bin drawer. The push-to-open bin drawer is especially useful when your hands are messy and you can open it with your hip.
We also added a very satisfying corner storage unit.
It spins smoothly and makes the cupboard space much easier to access. I may or may not spin it just for fun sometimes.
The Appliances
One of my favourite additions to the kitchen is the oven. We chose a 900mm Westinghouse pyrolytic oven with a gas hob. We had an oven this size in our previous home in Wellington, and both Mum and I had missed it. Going from being able to fit several cakes on one oven shelf to barely fitting one or two was a major adjustment.
So far, this oven has been excellent. It bakes evenly, cooks well, and is straightforward to use once you learn the symbols. I do wish oven manufacturers would use more words on digital displays, because some of the icons can feel like a secret code until you memorise them.
The best part is the size of the oven cavity. We looked at many 90cm-wide ovens, and quite a few had surprisingly small interiors once the door was opened. This model makes good use of the available space.
When the electricians unpacked it for installation, I was embarrassingly excited. But for someone who bakes and decorates cakes, a large, reliable oven is a very big deal.
If you look closely, you can see one of the oven thermometers I always use. I do not fully trust built-in oven temperature indicators because they can be inaccurate by 10 degrees or more, which can make a real difference when baking. So far, this oven seems to hold an even and accurate temperature.
We were also very happy to add a Fisher and Paykel French door fridge. We had one in Wellington and loved it, but we could not bring it with us because it would not have fitted in the old kitchen. These fridges are also plumbed for the water filter and automatic ice maker, so getting a new one for the renovated kitchen made sense.
The Fisher and Paykel DishDrawer dishwashers were another must-have. We had used them before and knew how practical they were. Being able to run one drawer while still loading dishes into the other is especially useful when I am baking and creating a lot of dishes at once.
Another favourite feature is beside the sink.
The tap I am holding in the photo is the pull-out hose on the regular tap, but the smaller tap next to it is an Insinkerator instant hot water tap. It gives almost-boiling water on demand.
After using one at a friend’s house, I knew how convenient it would be. There is no waiting for the kettle when you need tea immediately, which is especially important first thing in the morning.
I would be cautious about choosing this exact model if you have young children in the house, because it dispenses scalding hot water as soon as the lever is pulled. There are other models with safety mechanisms that may be more suitable for families.
The Benchtops
The benchtops are Caesarstone engineered stone in the colour Fresh Concrete. In photos it can look mostly white, but in person it is a soft pale grey with darker grey flecks and subtle white streaks. I absolutely love it. It has a beautiful feel, and I still occasionally find myself patting the bench because the surface is so lovely.
The back bench is 25mm thick. For the island, 50mm mitred edges were added to make the stone appear thicker and more substantial.
The island really is as large as it looks. It took four people to carry it in and lift it into place. It has already been wonderful for photographing cake tutorials because the surface is not super shiny, so it does not create too much reflection in photos.
I do need to be a little careful with the benchtop, as this finish can be more prone to staining than a glossier stone surface. Colouring fondant directly on the bench with gel colours is not something I would do. That is not a major problem for me because I usually use a non-stick work board for colouring fondant anyway. So far, any marks have come off with a good scrub or a little isopropyl alcohol on a paper towel.
The only thing that is slightly challenging is the bench height. It is standard height, but I am only 5’2”, so kneading or rolling fondant can be a little difficult because I cannot use my full body weight as easily.
In our previous home, I had a cake bench installed at the perfect height for me, about 10cm lower than standard. The installers even held the benchtop in place while I pretended to roll out fondant so we could get the height right. In this kitchen, the bench needed to work for everyone, so standard height made more sense. I may eventually use a small stool when working with fondant for long periods.
The Splashback
The splashback is white with a tiny reflective sparkle. I strongly wanted a plain splashback because our previous kitchen had a bright green one. It looked great in the room, but it was terrible for food photography. Anything photographed on or near the stovetop picked up a green tint, which was especially unhelpful when trying to photograph things like caramel.
The simple white splashback has been much better for photos, and it also came with an unexpected bonus: it reflects the view from the sliding doors opposite the kitchen.
The electricians also installed LED strip lighting along the underside of the upper cupboards, placed close to the glass splashback. This has been especially useful in the corner where the toaster sits, which can otherwise feel a little dark.
Now we can talk about my favourite part of the kitchen renovation.
🎉 My Cake Pantry 🎉
When we first talked about the kitchen design, the plan was that my cake decorating supplies would not be stored in the kitchen at all. I expected to keep most of them in my studio, which is just off the kitchen. Then we considered using some of the island storage for baking items such as cake pans, while keeping decorating tools in the studio.
The original plan for the three tall pantry cupboards was one for food, one for appliances, and one for crockery. Once the kitchen was installed, we realised that the cupboards under the island were not quite as convenient for frequently used baking supplies because of the slight overhang. So the appliance pantry became my cake pantry, and the appliances moved into the island cupboards instead.
I also keep my ice cream maker in the cake pantry because it is very heavy, and there is a power point inside the cupboard. That means I can leave it running in there without having to move it around.
It took a couple of weeks and several trips to find the right plastic drawers and dividers, but the cake pantry is now organised and easy to use. I thought I would need labels, but surprisingly, I remember where most things are. I may still add labels eventually, especially for those moments when I am halfway through a cake and need someone else to grab something for me.
My ganache boards live on the top shelf, neatly organised in a wooden plate rack. I also use a plate rack as a stand mixer attachment holder, which has been a very handy little organisation solution.
In the top lower drawer of the pantry, I keep my gel colours, candy colours, paintbrushes, sugar shapers, knives, scalpels, and other cake decorating tools.
The next drawer holds cake cards, a pasta machine, ganache tools, fondant tools, dowels, and rolling pins.
The bottom drawer stores my round and square cake pans in different sizes. I now also keep my turntable on top of the round pans because it is easy to reach there.
I still have a few small organisation tweaks I would like to make, and every now and then I realise something might work better in a different spot. I will keep adjusting it over time as I use the pantry more.
What I love most is that I can stand at the island, turn around, and immediately reach almost anything I need. After years of walking between the kitchen and a spare bedroom where my cake supplies were stored, having everything close by feels like a luxury.
So there it is: our kitchen renovation, from awkward old layout to practical new kitchen, complete with a huge island, better storage, reliable appliances, and a dedicated cake decorating pantry.
The next time you see one of my recipes or cake tutorials, you will know exactly where it was created. Just do not imagine it too accurately, because that would probably involve me working in my pyjamas, and that brings us a little too close to the window-peering situation I warned against at the beginning.
Kitchen Credits
These are some of the people and businesses involved in bringing this kitchen renovation together.
Design: Christine Dawson – Mastercraft Kitchens Tauranga
Cabinetry Installation: Dan from Mastercraft
Electrical Work: Ethan and Nathan from MacMurdo Electrical
Benchtops: A1 Benchworx
Splashback: Glass Art
Plumbing: Plumber Man
Appliances: Appliance Plus Tauranga