The principal designer of SG Design renovated her kitchen along with the rest of her Queenstown apartment, and the facility won the National Kitchen and Bathroom Association (NKBA) award for best use of small space and received a ''first runner-up'' accolade for use of colour.
Ms Gillanders said the award effectively recognised the kitchen as the best apartment kitchen in the country in 2013, ''which is fantastic''.
The kitchen melds furniture and art, function and style, providing the utilitarian features of a kitchen as well as the ''wow'' factor in the open-plan living area of the apartment.
The challenge for Ms Gillanders was the obvious constraint on space.
''It needed to provide adequate and efficient storage, while still being user-friendly for regular entertaining,'' she said.
''But at the same time, I couldn't intrude into the smaller open plan living space.''
Her solution was to create three ''blocks'' of ''furniture'' pieces.
A combined pantry/cooking cupboard on legs hides the cooking and storage area behind symmetrical doors that slide away into a cavity. This was placed against the wall in the centre of the kitchen.
Where the kitchen meets the living room, Ms Gillanders installed a table with plinths that hide hydraulic lift hardware so the table can rise from being a formal dining table to being a benchtop and breakfast bar.
Tucked underneath is a movable crockery and cutlery storage unit. Ms Gillanders said the design was inspired by colours and textures she saw at the 2012 Eurocucina-International Kitchen Furniture Exhibition in Milan, Italy.
