5 steps to creating a functional kitchen — everything you need to know for your new home

For the first episode of our At Home with Sarah Todd series, we're tackling the biggest question when it comes to crafting your new kitchen — how to creating a functional working space.

Whether you consider yourself a MasterChef in the making or you're more of a meal prepper come Sunday afternoon, having a functional kitchen that works with you — rather than against you — is so important.

Which is why we've called on international chef and MasterChef superstar, Sarah Todd, as well as our General Manager of Product and Innovation, Dave Clynk, to walk you through the key steps to designing a functional kitchen that not only does the job, but looks stylish and contemporary too.

Sarah and Dave headed to our new Walkerville 38 on display in the Harpley Estate, Werribee to talk all things cooking and design. Watch the episode and keep scrolling for their top tips!

Step #1: Boost connectivity and flow between spaces

Form enhances function with open plan kitchen and living.

The first step when creating a functional kitchen is considering its placement within the home and how it interacts with the living spaces around it.

"One of the key features is around connectivity to the spaces — so areas like the family and dining room and the outdoor entertaining areas. We've got to have a good form kitchen, but we've also got to have a good relationship with the rooms around it," Dave advises.

It's not just about connectivity with social spaces either. Designing a layout that connects the kitchen with the laundry, linen storage and internal garage door (for easy access with supermarket shopping) can be just as important as it's placement with the living and dining.

Step #2: Think about high traffic zones

Allow your design choices to be guided by how your household uses your home.

When designing your kitchen layout, it's really important to consider your high traffic zones — especially in regard to young ones and safety.

"As a Father of two, safety is really important to me and the Walkerville 38 is a great example of how you can take safety into account with your layout," Dave says. "We designed this kitchen to have the cooker and sink working together, but when the kids come into the kitchen, they can get to the fridge without having to come through the hot spaces."

More often than not, your kitchen island bench is the hub of activity. With this in mind, additions like a waterfall finish can be great to prevent scuff marks over the years — especially if you have pets or young children. Plus, a big island bench makes for a beautiful focal point, and a convenient addition if your children like to perch and do homework while you prep dinner.

Step #3: Take your cabinetry into consideration

Include smart and functional storage solutions for your kitchen.

It's no surprise that one of the top consideratons when it comes to a designing a usable kitchen is — you guessed it — storage.

Along with mapping out all of your storage needs, it's about hiding appliances to make a sleek and streamlined finish. Concealing the rangehood behind a beautiful laminate finish has also become more of a popular choice amongst homeowners.

"For me as a chef, but also as a Mum and home cook too, I really value having the right amount of space and storage, and it's so important to have all your equipment within arm's reach of whatever task you're doing in the kitchen," Sarah explains.

Small additions can also bring a big impact. "Soft close drawers are one of my most underrated features in the kitchen," she adds.

And Dave's golden rule when it comes to storage?

"I'll do drawers over doors any day when it comes to the lower benches, as you can get deeper into the cupboard and easily retrieve all the pots and pans you need when cooking. But when it comes to overheads, it's all about doors. They're easy to access, the finger pulls make for a nice streamlined finish too," he adds.

Step #4: Choose a colour palette to suit your tastes (and tastebuds!)

Create stylish cohesion through matching your fittings and fixtures to your decor.

Sarah's tip for anyone who loves to cook with pigmented spices?

"My absolute must-have for a kitchen island bench has got to be a dark stone. It's important that it's heat-resistant and it doesn't stain, and I'm always cooking with pigmented spices that run the risk of staining lighter stone," she says.

Not only is darker stone useful for adventurous cooks, it also suits a chic colour palette that will look right at home in contemporary home builds.

"What we're finding on trend at the moment is that black is very 'in' with our accents," Dave says. "Darker appliances, black fittings and moody tones all come together, and you can easily tie these into decor choices like black picture frames to bring a sense of cohesion through the home."

Step #5: Create a well-lit and functional butler's pantry

Keep the party out the front, and the mess out the back to clean up later.

The butler's pantry is really about function. A double bowl sink adjacent to your dishwasher and built-in rubbish bin creates a convenient work zone when getting through dishes after entertaining. It's also a useful area, equipped with plenty of storage and bench space if you're someone who likes to meal prep for the week.

Open shelving above gives you easy access to every day items, but helps you create a visually appealing space by having your beautiful glassware, serving platters or recipe books on show.

Although the idea of the butler's pantry is to hide it out of sight, you still want to make it inviting, Sarah and Dave explain.

"We love natural light to our butler's pantries. It's a hard working area, but what we find is that having natural light really just makes it easier to work. Plus, when it's late night and you're cleaning up it's nice to have ambient light — like strip LED lighting under your shelving," Dave says.