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When vintage furniture seller Sarah Godden and music teacher Mike Trappett first laid eyes on this Fitzroy warehouse residence, it was a true blank canvas.
Not only because it had white walls and soaring ceilings, but because the building was virtually a big, empty, open-plan space. Having previously served as an office, the 1880s warehouse conversion didn’t even have a proper kitchen installed when the couple moved in.
‘A very small room under the stairs had a sink and some cupboards, but it definitely wasn’t part of the dream when we saw the space,’ says Sarah, whose home now doubles as an events and photoshoot space, Soft Focus House.
‘I knew even before we sent our offer through that the vast open plan area with the north-facing windows would be a better place for a kitchen — and I planned it out on Canva to make sure it would be proportionate.’
The international inspiration behind the kitchen
Despite having never designed a kitchen before, Sarah was equipped with something arguably more powerful: a vision. That, and Mike’s willingness to get on the tools to help bring it to life!
It also helped that she had been saving references of open-plan warehouses filled with stainless steel kitchens for years. The trick was finding a way to make something look custom, without blowing their budget.
‘The aim was to make the space liveable first and then do the kitchen later,’ she adds.
‘I think we lived with an air fryer and kettle in the small office kitchen space for a month after we moved in. Loft conversions in New York, Berlin and Paris were the main inspiration — particularly the way those examples combined existing historical features with more minimalist, modern fit-outs.’
How they built the stainless-steel bench, using IKEA cabinets
For the first stage of the project, Mike and Sarah bought ‘as many IKEA cabinets’ as they could afford and created a plywood benchtop against the back wall, with space for the sink cut out.
Finding an induction cooktop and oven on Facebook Marketplace spurred on the second part of the transformation, when they also added tiles to the plywood benchtop.
‘We lived with this version of the kitchen for about five months, until we were ready to attack the island, which I designed and Mike built using more IKEA cabinets, with a false frame on the back,’ Sarah explains.
‘We used MDF (Medium-Density Fibreboard) to create the outer shell. At this stage, I thought we might only be able to afford to tile it, but then I found a lovely guy on Marketplace who supplied commercial, kitchen-grade stainless steel sheets. After I measured and re-measured a zillion times, he precisely cut and bent them for us.
‘We used contact adhesive to attach the steel, which was so tricky and had to be pre-rehearsed, as it dries in a few seconds. But the minute we pulled the protective film off the steel, I was overwhelmed with emotion — it looked even better than I could have dreamed!’
Why navigating the former warehouse had its challenges
‘Considering it was just one big open space, we didn’t really change the layout so much as created one,’ Sarah says.
Placing a long kitchen bench along the eastern wall, centred between two existing brick pillars, was a natural starting point. The main limitations they had to work around were the existing placement of the fridge and a large bulkhead, which houses the electrical and water connections.
‘We ended up deciding to start the bench further out from the wall to accommodate the bulkhead. We then framed out and rendered this new section of the wall, adding a built-in shelf to make it seem like it was always there,’ Sarah adds.
How they approached the budget
While Sarah had originally hoped to get it done for $5000, the finished kitchen came in just under $8000. She says working out their deal-breakers early on by writing down things they ‘didn’t want’ and working backwards from there helped them understand where to invest, and where to save.
Their innovative approach, using largely second-hand appliances and materials, also offered a huge saving — although they have no regrets splurging on an integrated IKEA dishwasher to complete the fit-out’s custom look.
‘I’m terrible with budgets; I just work out the cheapest way to do something, and then break it down into less imposing stages. And looking at the total, it doesn’t seem too bad!’
Budget breakdown
IKEA cabinetry: $4370
Handles: $100
Tiles, grout, adhesive: $500
Benchtop: $1290
Oven/cooktop: $150
Marketplace sink: $100
IKEA tapware: $129
Pendant: $100
Built-in dishwasher: $1000
DIY wall sconces: $120
Overall total: $7859
