Kitchen Design

OpenStone × cabinet colour

Vadara Monteserro V875 (honed) or Cosentino Ēclos Wondr (polished) on the island, its seat face, both waterfalls, the back-run top and the splashback - the same pieces either way. Every front, panel and kick in polytec Cinder Venette or a custom graphite 2-pac. The kitchen brief has every size.

SettledThe island

2900 of cabinets under a 2958 × 1056 stone: drawers, bin, sink and dishwasher on the working side, four stools under a 300 overhang on the table side. Waterfalls to the floor at both ends.

SettledEverything else

Every unit under a plastered bulkhead with the house cornice, drop doors over the bench, sharknose finger pulls, the five appliances already bought, bench at 920.

Monteserro V875 · Cinder Venette

The design

Vadara Monteserro V875, honed; every front polytec Cinder Venette

Monteserro V875 · Cinder Venette in daylight — The kitchen has no window of its own, so daylight is borrowed from the glazing beyond. Switch to evening to see what the LED layers actually do — that is when this room is mostly used.

Monteserro V875 · Cinder Venette at dusk — The kitchen has no window of its own, so daylight is borrowed from the glazing beyond. Switch to evening to see what the LED layers actually do — that is when this room is mostly used.

Walk in → Orbit the model

The design being built. The back wall is one dark plane in polytec Cinder Venette - drawers, overheads, the oven tower and its framing panels - with the black ovens and fridge in it, and the Monteserro splashback glowing between dark above and below. The island reads as one block of stone from the table: Monteserro on its top, both waterfalls and its seat face; its working drawers in the same Cinder as the back run's. Cinder Venette is polytec's super-matt, fingerprint-resistant board - chosen over the custom 2-pac graphite so every front is a stock board the CNC supplier cuts, sharknose included. The white bulkhead and cornice give the dark wall a crisp top edge.

Why this one

Chosen 2026-10-20 from the final selection (201): the stone and the board the client and his wife settled on.

What is wrong with it

Dark fronts read near-black at night beside the lit stone (the downlights' fronts get ~40% of the bench's light) - smart dimming gives a softer evening setting. Venette shows oily marks at the pull edge with cooking hands: clean with methylated spirit per polytec; order the drawer fronts double-sided so the pull's back face matches.

Cost: polytec Cinder Venette 18 board, CNC cut with the sharknose; Vadara Monteserro V875, 4 slabs (with the laundry top and the glass cabinet). Indicative only.

The specification

Back run — bases	Cinder Venette
Back run — overheads	Cinder Venette
Oven tower & fridge	Cinder Venette
Island — working side	Cinder Venette
Island — seating side	Stone, the benchtop's - between the waterfalls
Finger pull	Sharknose, 30 gap; rail tonal
Benchtop	Vadara Monteserro V875
Splashback	Stone, 20mm, from the benchtop's slab

Materials

Cabinetry

Surfaces

The same view with the Augusta swivel stools - kept in reserve, comfort over looks

The glass cabinet in the meals corner - the glassware on display, a top strip at the front behind the doors

The glass cabinet in the meals corner - the glassware on display, a top strip at the front behind the doors - evening — The glass cabinet in the meals corner - the glassware on display, a top strip at the front behind the doors — evening

From the fridge, looking down the back run to the oven tower

From the ovens, looking along the island's working side

From the ovens, looking along the island's working side - evening — From the ovens, looking along the island's working side — evening

Where the stone meets the oven tower - square into its framing panel, the fronts flush

The island's corner, the stone running from the benchtop down the waterfall to the floor

From the tower end, looking back to the fridge

From the tower end, looking back to the fridge - evening — From the tower end, looking back to the fridge — evening

The whole room, from the dining end - evening — The whole room, from the dining end — evening

The back run, straight on - the island cut away

Monteserro V875 · Graphite 2-pac

Vadara Monteserro V875, honed; every front a custom graphite 2-pac

Monteserro V875 · Graphite 2-pac at dusk — The kitchen has no window of its own, so daylight is borrowed from the glazing beyond. Switch to evening to see what the LED layers actually do — that is when this room is mostly used.

Walk in → Orbit the model

The stone every option is drawn in: Vadara Monteserro V875, honed, 2 cm, 3200 x 1600 slabs, its ground rendered at #D2CFC6 from your own sample against the Antique White wall. Quiet veining that reads as texture across the room and as marble up close; honed, so it shows neither glare nor fingerprints.

Why this one

The reference: the primary stone since 2026-10-17.

What is wrong with it

Honed stone marks more readily than a gloss face and wants sealing per the fabricator's care sheet.

Cost: The slab count is on the slabs page. Indicative only.

The specification

Back run — bases	Custom 2-pac #48484A
Back run — overheads	Custom 2-pac #48484A
Oven tower & fridge	Custom 2-pac #48484A
Island — working side	Custom 2-pac #48484A
Island — seating side	Stone, the benchtop's - between the waterfalls
Finger pull	Sharknose, 30 gap; rail tonal
Benchtop	Vadara Monteserro V875
Splashback	Stone, 20mm, from the benchtop's slab

Materials

Cabinetry

Surfaces

From the fridge, looking down the back run to the oven tower - evening — From the fridge, looking down the back run to the oven tower — evening

Where the stone meets the oven tower - square into its framing panel, the fronts flush - evening — Where the stone meets the oven tower - square into its framing panel, the fronts flush — evening

The island's corner, the stone running from the benchtop down the waterfall to the floor - evening — The island's corner, the stone running from the benchtop down the waterfall to the floor — evening

The back run, straight on - the island cut away - evening — The back run, straight on - the island cut away — evening

Ēclos Wondr · Cinder Venette

Cosentino Ēclos Wondr, polished; every front polytec Cinder Venette

Ēclos Wondr · Cinder Venette at dusk — The kitchen has no window of its own, so daylight is borrowed from the glazing beyond. Switch to evening to see what the LED layers actually do — that is when this room is mostly used.

Walk in → Orbit the model

Cosentino Ēclos Wondr on the island, its seat face and both waterfalls, the back-run top and the splashback; every front polytec Cinder Venette, the fingerprint-resistant Venette board. By day every kitchen light is off and the sun is out - the room as the daylight leaves it; at night the kitchen's own lights.

Why this one

The final selection: Cosentino Ēclos Wondr with polytec Cinder Venette.

What is wrong with it

Board colour from the maker's swatch - judge it on a real sample in the kitchen, by day and under the lights, with an oily-thumbprint test on the face, the bevel and the edge tape.

Cost: Indicative only.

The specification

Back run — bases	Fx Cinder
Back run — overheads	Fx Cinder
Oven tower & fridge	Fx Cinder
Island — working side	Fx Cinder
Island — seating side	Stone, the benchtop's - between the waterfalls
Finger pull	Sharknose, 30 gap; rail tonal
Benchtop	Bench Eclos Wondr
Splashback	Stone, 20mm, from the benchtop's slab

Materials

Cabinetry

Surfaces

The hero at night with the eye adjusted - the same lights, one stop brighter, as the room looks after a minute in it - evening — The hero at night with the eye adjusted - the same lights, one stop brighter, as the room looks after a minute in it — evening

The back run at night with the eye adjusted - the same lights, one stop brighter - evening — The back run at night with the eye adjusted - the same lights, one stop brighter — evening

Ēclos Wondr · Graphite 2-pac

Cosentino Ēclos Wondr, polished; every front a custom graphite 2-pac

Ēclos Wondr · Graphite 2-pac at dusk — The kitchen has no window of its own, so daylight is borrowed from the glazing beyond. Switch to evening to see what the LED layers actually do — that is when this room is mostly used.

Walk in → Orbit the model

Cosentino's Ēclos Wondr in place of the Monteserro: a whiter, brighter ground (its photo L* 94 against the Monteserro's 94 before correction, but cooler - b* +4.5, a* -2) and much bolder veining - long grey and blue-grey strokes that cross the island top and fall down the waterfalls. Against the graphite fronts it is the higher-contrast stone: the island reads as a sculpted white block, the splashback as a feature wall. Polished, so it carries reflections of the pendants and the windows the honed Monteserro doesn't.

Why this one

A second stone for the design: brighter and bolder than the Monteserro, from Cosentino's silica-free mineral range - and it takes a hot pan straight from the hob (to 220 C, Cosentino).

What is wrong with it

Gloss only - it shows smears and catches glare; the vein layout varies slab to slab, so the waterfall and splashback match needs the slabs selected and laid out by the fabricator. Its photo leans faintly cool-green (a* -2); the real slab may be a neutral white - judge it from a sample beside the graphite. Slabs: the pieces pack as on Monteserro (3270 x 1590 is a touch longer, 10 narrower) - the job still takes 4.

Cost: Cosentino Ēclos, priced by the fabricator per slab. Indicative only.

The specification

Back run — bases	Custom 2-pac #48484A
Back run — overheads	Custom 2-pac #48484A
Oven tower & fridge	Custom 2-pac #48484A
Island — working side	Custom 2-pac #48484A
Island — seating side	Stone, the benchtop's - between the waterfalls
Finger pull	Sharknose, 30 gap; rail tonal
Benchtop	Bench Eclos Wondr
Splashback	Stone, 20mm, from the benchtop's slab

Materials

Cabinetry

Surfaces

Kitchen Design

What is settled, and what is still open

Already decided

Kitchen Design (2026-10-17, after the cabinet maker): the full-length island with four stools under 300 of stone on the table side, no steel, the waterfalls carrying both ends. Corners rounded R20.
Bench at 920 with a 20mm top, on a 100mm kick. Tested on an adjustable desk — 900 and 920 were indistinguishable, so it went up. 940 was ruled out by the dishwasher, which cannot reach the stone above 920.
Custom cabinetry, CNC cut to size, the back run 670 to the stone with a 20mm stone splashback; the oven tower framed by panels, flush with them; the panels at both bench ends dark to the cabinets and white above.
A plastered bulkhead with the house cornice above every unit at 2190 — no joinery band, no dust ledge — with the hood's white grille in its face. The overhead doors drop 26 below the cupboards and hide the under-cabinet light; the one over the hood is a lift-up.
The west bulkhead leg comes out, and the fridge wall is cut back. The fridge stands 100 off the wall so both its doors open fully. The island bulkhead is rebuilt slim.
Oven below, microwave on top, its controls just under the line of the overheads, where they are today. A roast on the middle rack comes out at bench height.
Sharknose finger pulls with soft close on every drawer and door (a 30 finger gap, a rail behind it); push-to-open only on the two cupboards over the ovens and the fridge.
The stone: Vadara Monteserro V875.
Concealed rangehood at the back of the middle overhead; induction, not gas; no pendant — round downlights over the island.

Still to decide

Decided 2026-10-20: Option 1 — V875 with Cinder Venette, the stone seat face.
2-pac or board for the fronts (sharknose suits 2-pac), and the custom colours from draw-downs beside the stone.
The island downlights: how many and where, clear of the duct and drainage in the bulkhead. Before the electrician's rough-in.
A home for the celebration ware. The island no longer has table-side cupboards: the stemware, the good dinner set and the table linen need somewhere else.

Colours: any colour - polytec or a custom 2-pac pigment - can be tried on the Kitchen Design — the model changes only its finish layer, so a colour study takes minutes rather than a redesign.

On cost: the cost notes are relative — which is dearer than which, and why. They are not quotes and not estimates.

On the renders: every dimension comes from the measured drawing and laser checks, and every appliance is drawn at its manufacturer’s real size. Materials are photographed from the actual products. Colours on a screen are not colours on a sample — get chips in the room before anything is ordered.