Heather and Sarah, the designer duo behind Oak and Orange, pride themselves on designing homes that have character and personality but without compromising on practicality and functionality. Together with their builder husbands, the designers have delivered more than 20 homes over the past decade. Their design philosophy continues in their latest project, the Coastal Farmhouse, which brings together the simplicity of country living with the raw beauty of the coast in one family haven.

Set on an 890sqm parcel of land in a quiet rural suburb on the outskirts of Sydney, the cleverly designed new home has a “warm, relaxed and inviting” feel, achieved by the larger open plan living centred around a pool, and a kitchen must-have – the walk-in butler’s pantry.

“It’s not a dream home unless it’s low maintenance and easy to clean, leaving you more time to spend with your loved ones,” say Heather and Sarah.

At the heart of this beautiful rural suburban home is the kitchen, modern yet comfortable and relaxed, featuring old world rustic charm with new clean lines, achieved through their signature sage green with fresh white and timber accents, and low maintenance yet high quality Westinghouse appliances.

The kitchen island features integrated appliances such as the 44L Built-In Combi Microwave Dark Stainless Steel WMB4425DSC and Freestanding Dishwasher in Dark Stainless WSF6608KXA, framed by almost floor to ceiling cabinetry for storage.

It was the non-negotiable inclusion of the 60cm MultiFunction 10/5 Pyrolytic Duo Oven WVEP627DSC that influenced the entire kitchen layout.

“We love duo ovens and the perfect place for it was in the section the cooktop and rangehood was originally and so we had to move these. Putting them on the external wall perpendicular to the island bench meant there was still a great connection with the living dining area during meal prep time and it was still nice and close to accessing the fridge and pantry.”

This intentional perpendicular design also cleverly creates a walk-in butler’s pantry – a must-have for modern lived-in family homes.

“The walk-in butler’s pantry in this kitchen features plenty of open shelving but is still very easily accessed from the main meal prep area and is nice and close to the fridge. Having open shelving means everything is within easy reach but not visible to guests. Since this walk-in pantry is close to the kettle and toaster, we included a small sink for filling up the kettle, pots or water bottles before they need to go back into the fridge,” the duo explain.

The self-dubbed ‘busy mums with a busy family life’ chose the 90cm 4 Zone Induction Cooktop With BoilProtect WHI945BC, close to the family favourite 609L French Door Fridge WQE6870BA.

“Induction cooktops and pyrolytic ovens are a winner for us. They are easy to clean and make cooking time quicker. We especially love the BoilProtect function on the cooktop and the flexibility of cooking at two different temperatures with the Duo Oven,” say Heather and Sarah.

Heather and Sarah share their Oak and Orange process for fitting out the Coastal Farmhouse kitchen:

1. Choose appliances

We choose appliances very early on when we are deciding the location of the appliances and sinks because we want to ensure the kitchen has a great workflow. To save on having to store loads of different small appliances in the kitchen we also love it when our big built-in appliances can do the job of smaller ones, like the duo oven with AirFry function.

2. Run the utilities

The plumbing and electrical rough-ins are done very early and changing these locations afterwards can become costly.

3. Design the cabinetry

It needs to fit perfectly around the appliances. Again, you don’t want to be changing appliances after your cabinetry has gone into production. We like to consider the finish of the appliances; it’s good to see what’s on trend but also what new technology has become available that may result in easy cleaning.

4. Fixtures and fittings

See your well-thought-out plans come to life.