West Pennant Hills - contemporary kitchenContemporary Kitchen, Sydney

Metcalfe says Dan Kitchens is cautious when it comes to recommending new technology until its has been reliably tried and tested. “I hope these technologies improve our lives and become a welcome aid and not a costly and gimmicky distraction,” he says. “But one thing is clear; the technological and cost divide between a base kitchen and a high-end kitchen will only increase.”

A functional kitchenFor some, a good holiday means zero cooking. But for others, it means more time to spend cooking delicious meals. It also might be important if you have special dietary requirements that make it difficult to dine out all the time. If you’re the holiday-cooking type, check which appliances the kitchen has. At the very least you’ll want a fridge, stovetop and oven. Blenders, coffee machines and food processors are all added bonuses.

1. Clean up your actFirst things first, clean out and organise your kitchen and pantry. Get rid of any broken utensils and damaged cookware. Rid your pantry, fridge and freezer of expired products, kept leftovers and ancient frozen meals. Clean the oven, stove and range hood, wipe down cabinets, cutlery holders, fridge shelves, splashbacks and appliances. Take your spring cleaning to the next level by organising drawers and rationalising your pantry for easier access to ingredients. Bring in matching jars and baskets for storing ingredients for a satisfyingly cohesive look. Now you have a sparkling clean and hyper-organised kitchen.

Walk-in pantryWe all crave a big kitchen with a large walk-in pantry, such as a butler’s pantry. If you are lucky enough to have the space to incorporate a separate one into your kitchen plan, then this could be the perfect place to house all your small appliances.In the design stage, devote an area for a benchtop and make sure it’s deep enough to leave your appliances on, lined up and plugged in. Maybe you can create a baking centre, where everything you need to whip up some yummy muffins, from mixer to tin, is all in one place.More: Planning the Perfect Butler’s Pantry

Size doesn’t matterA large walk-in butler’s pantry isn’t an option for a lot of us, but you can still work a great pantry space into your new kitchen without taking up too much floor space. The pantry pictured here is no deeper than the other cabinets in the kitchen (about 600 to 700 millimetres), yet it includes a benchtop with space for small appliances and storage above and below in the form of open shelves and open-fronted drawers. The space is hidden behind bi-fold cabinet doors, which, when closed, give the illusion that they conceal just another kitchen cabinet. The extra bench space allows the user to keep small appliances plugged in and ready to use at a moment’s notice and also frees up bench space in the main kitchen area.

DILEMMA 9: Your kitchen looked great when it was first renovated, but now the benches are cluttered with appliances and mess.SOLVED: Real life can tarnish the most stylish of kitchens and this is where it pays to think through how you really live (not how you like to think you live). When some people leave the house in the morning, they leave behind a disaster zone – the blender has been used to make a green smoothie, the chopping board and frying pan that were used to make a vegie-filled omelette are sitting in the sink, and the remnants from school lunch-making are littered all over the bench (yes, I’m speaking from experience). For others, mornings mean stacking the spoon and bowl they used for their cereal in the dishwasher and they’re done. Think about how you use your kitchen and design your kitchen from there. If you only use the toaster once a day, for example, does it really need to take up valuable space on the benchtop or should you plan an appliance cupboard or more spacious pantry for such items to make the kitchen feel less cluttered? Also, can you dedicate a space for the family to fling the remnants of the breakfast rush? Leaving the washing up bowl out for dirty dishes might just save you some precious clear-up time when you get home.

False wall and pantry under stairs