House Rules: Kitchen makeover

Habitat asked the House Rules teams to share their secrets for four of the best room reveals of the series so far. In South Australia, Tasmanian team Cassie and Matt took some design risks when creating a new kitchen and dining area for Ryan and Marlee.

Guided by House Rules that included “Serve up happiness and sunshine in our kitchen” and “Hit us with a bam in every room”, Cassie and Matt were tasked with the kitchen and dining space in Ryan and Marlee’s South Australian home.

“We wanted it to be fun as well as get away from the bachelor pad feel of the old kitchen and dining room,” Cassie said.

When the team first saw the kitchen, they noted how dark it was. “It had a small window which didn't get much sunlight and the kitchen itself was dark brown and very dated,” Cassie said.

Their riskiest decision was the choice of yellow for the kitchen’s lower cabinets, all from Masters. “It was definitely out of our comfort zone and had everyone worried all week about how it would turn out,” Matt said. “We’re definitely happy with the end result.”

The couple agreed that designing a kitchen in a few hours was a difficult task. “We tried to use the space we had as best we could and design a practical kitchen that made the best use of that space,” Matt said.

Before the makeover, the adjacent dining room was a simple space with a dark wood table. “It did look very bachelor pad and was definitely crying out for some TLC,” Cassie said.

They added a dining table from Nick Scali, paired with chairs from Keeki, and artwork from Transforma.

The judges said Cassie and Matt hit the house rule of “sunshine and happiness” with the yellow cabinets, however, they appreciated that it wasn’t overdone. Mr Snell said he enjoyed its partnering with the crisp white joinery and clean lines of the Caesarstone benchtop, while Ms Moore said the master stroke was the position of the fridge as, in such a small kitchen, keeping it out of the work zone made for easy access.

House Rules airs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7.30pm, Thursdays at 8pm and Sundays at 7pm on Seven/GWN7. For more information, visit yahoo7.com.au/houserules.

Ryan and Marlee’s kitchen before the renovation.