Don't move, improve!

The desire for a pantry led to this modern update of a family kitchen.

- Mary Jane Harris

In the middle of last year, I got a bee in my bonnet. I decided that I needed a pantry for my groceries and to give me more space in the kitchen. But, at that stage, that's all I wanted," recalls Nadia Bell of Mbombela.

She asked a friend, Sonette de Beer of Nitali Re-Invented Décor, a décor, and design studio, for her advice on how to incorporate this all-important pantry. "The minute Sonette walked in, she pointed to the wall between the kitchen and the passage to the bedrooms and said: 'This wall has to come down," says Nadia.

"The kitchen was very narrow," explains Sonette. "So it made far more sense to increase the width of the whole kitchen by 1.5m than to squeeze a pantry into the passage. And this way there was space for an island which then became the 'hero' feature, something Nadia had always wanted."

Nadia's husband Nico, a professional mountain biker with a cycling business also in Mbombela, wasn't sure that all this breaking down of walls was necessary. However, Sonette convinced him that by keeping the appliances and reusing all their existing cabinets, costs could be minimised. "We reused every single cabinet, if not in the kitchen then in the adjoining scullery and new laundry room. We even reused the handles!"

The only new cabinetry required was for the island and a new sink unit, as the old one couldn't accommodate the farmhouse sink that Nadia requested. "We also increased the height of some of the existing cupboards with display alcoves so that they are now ceiling height, and we added cornices and timber detailing to give them a sophisticated finish," says Sonette.

Mixing it up