South Auckland
Contemporary Kitchen Renovation
in Mangere, South Auckland
A closed-off family kitchen opened into contemporary open-plan living
Completed December 2021
Design Case Study
Designed By
Cici Zuo
Designer/ Sales
cici@superiorrenovations.co.nz
0800 199 888
Quick answer: This contemporary kitchen renovation in Mangere, South Auckland opened a closed-off, 40-year-old family kitchen into connected open-plan living, with handleless cabinetry, an extended engineered-stone island and a black gloss splashback as the feature.
| Location | Mangere, South Auckland |
| Completed | December 2021 |
| Scope | Kitchen renovation, open-plan living and dining connection, full project management |
| Designer | Cici Zuo |
| Project type | Owner-occupier |
Renovating the Family Home She Grew Up In
Every renovation carries a story, and this one was more loaded than most. Lua was renovating her childhood home — a Mangere house that had been in her family for 40 years. The plan, at first, wasn’t even to keep it.
“My husband and I bought the house three years ago, and our intention was to put some love into it and put it on the market. But I couldn’t do it — so my husband got on board, and we bought the house,” Lua says about buying it from her mother.
The bones were good. The layout wasn’t. A closed-off kitchen cut off from the dining and living areas didn’t suit a family whose home is the hub for everyone — Mangere is full of well-built homes from this era with solid structure but boxed-in layouts that don’t match how families actually live now. Lua also wanted the place to feel like hers and her husband’s, not just the family home it had always been.
“Even though we bought it three or four years ago, it still felt like the family home, with all our memories. But it wasn’t fair on my husband — it’s his home too, and it was his idea to open it up so we could have all this space. We wanted to put some love into the house, and our own flavour and twist on it. This represents all of that.”
This project pulled our kitchen renovation work together with the open-plan reconfiguration we handle through whole-home renovations across Auckland — every trade managed from design to handover.
Four things Lua wanted from the renovation
- Straight answers and accountability. A previous company had over-promised, under-delivered and gone quiet. Lua wanted clear answers about what was realistic on the budget, what wasn’t, and honesty throughout.
- Project management she didn’t have to chase. She and her partner were flat out — Lua was managing the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, PPE and other medication across New Zealand at the time.
- An open-plan layout. Family, friends and community are central to Lua’s life, and the home was where everyone gathered. The kitchen, dining and lounge needed to connect.
- A local company. Lua wanted to back a business rooted in her own community, which is how she came to meet Cici from Superior Renovations.
“Lua came in with a clear picture of what she wanted — a sketch, a few reference images, the lot. Our job wasn’t to redirect that, it was to refine it and make it work in the actual space. The kitchen you see now is very close to what she first described.”
— Cici Zuo, Designer, Superior Renovations
Floor Plan Design
The First Meeting, and Why Lua Chose Us
Lua first got in touch after watching our video testimonials. What sealed it was the first meeting with Cici, our in-house designer and sales consultant.
“We gave Superior a call and they were quick off the bat — everything was so quick. With Cici it was great. There was an instant connection. She’d say ‘I’ll send you this on this day at this time,’ and it would be there. If I had a question and called and she couldn’t pick up, she’d call back within ten or fifteen minutes. I didn’t have to worry about anything — I could just leave it with her.”
Cici often helps clients design from scratch, but Lua arrived with a firm vision and handed it over through our in-house Design Studio process.
“To be fair, it hasn’t really changed. We pretty much did a sketch saying ‘this is what I want.’ We gave her a few ideas, she came back with a picture, and we said ‘get rid of this, keep that.’ That’s what the kitchen looks like now.”
Before
After
Before
After
Design Phase
Renovating Through Auckland’s Lockdown
Materials and supply held up. The real challenge was running a renovation through Auckland’s COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, with strict protocols inside an occupied family home. The fix was scheduling: one trade in at a time, never crossing over.
“Cici explained there’d be different contractors coming in at different times, and she’d always let us know who was coming and when — the flooring guys, the plumber, the electrician. They were never in our space. She put all our fears to rest by making sure there weren’t a lot of people in the house at once. They were very professional, always had their masks on, and they stayed in their area while we stayed in another.”
It’s the unglamorous part of project management, and it’s exactly where a managed renovation earns its keep. Sound familiar if you’ve ever had three trades turn up at once and nobody in charge?
Opening a Closed Kitchen Into Open-Plan Living
Lua’s family entertain often, and the old shut-off kitchen worked against that every time. The goal was one connected flow between kitchen, dining and living.
We extended the opening from the kitchen through to the living area and added steps down into the lounge. The flooring runs continuously through the kitchen and dining to hold the spaces together, and the dining walls and ceilings were painted in the same tones as the living area so the eye reads it as one room. The kitchen itself was specified in hard-wearing, easy-clean materials — the right call for a busy household.
Now when Lua has people over, the whole party moves easily across three connected spaces instead of bottlenecking in a closed galley. If your kitchen is the room everyone ends up crammed into, this is the change that fixes it.
“The black gloss behind the cooktop does two jobs. It’s the contrast everyone notices the moment they walk in, and because it’s glossy it bounces light around — which makes a fairly compact kitchen feel a lot more open.”
— Cici Zuo, Designer, Superior Renovations
Working With Our Trade Teams
A renovation like this runs on more than ten specialist trades. We asked Lua what her days looked like while it was happening.
“They did what they had to do — we never had to come out and check on them. They all worked so diligently, real professionals the whole way through. They’d knock on our door before leaving, and half the time I forgot they were even here until I heard a bit of banging. I can’t praise the contractors enough — right down to the painters.”
Specifications
Cabinetry
- Moisture-resistant particle board carcasses
- 18mm MDF doors in white Melteca
- High water-resistant plywood carcass under the sink
- Blum soft-close door hinges
- Recessed handle profile across every cabinet and drawer — the handleless look
- Hafele soft-close drawer runners to keep the kitchen quiet
- Stefano handleless profile for a contemporary, sleek finish
Benchtop, Splashback and Island
- 30mm engineered stone benchtop, matte finish — white with darker veining
- Island extended to seat a breakfast bar with stools
- Two contrasting subway tiles for deliberate drama
- Black gloss 100×300 bevel tiles behind the cooktop — they reflect light and make the small kitchen feel larger
- White matte Carrara-look 100×300 bevel tiles across the rest of the walls, with subtle black veining to tie back to the black splashback
Features and Floating Shelves
- Undermount stainless steel sink
- Square matte mixer with a pull-out U-tap
- Round pull-out bin for easy rubbish disposal
- Four timber-veneer floating shelves to open up the upper wall
- Five-burner Midea gas hob with rangehood and new ducting
- Re-wiring with LED downlights through the kitchen and dining
- PDL 600 series switches
Flooring and Painting
- Kitchen floor levelled
- New underlay through the kitchen, dining and hallway
- Light oak-look laminate flooring run continuously through the kitchen, dining and hallway
- Dining skirting removed; new skirting installed in the hallway
- Full plaster repair throughout
- Dulux neutral — one undercoat and two top coats on walls and ceilings
What a Kitchen Renovation Like This Costs in Auckland
Every kitchen is priced to its own scope — the size of the space, the materials, and how much structural and open-plan work is involved all move the number. Opening a closed kitchen into living, as we did here, is a different job from a like-for-like replacement. Rather than quote a figure that won’t match your home, use our kitchen renovation cost calculator to get a realistic Auckland estimate for your own project.
💡 Quick tip: An extended island and a run of engineered stone like Lua’s add cost in the stone fabrication and install, not just the slab — the bigger the single benchtop run, the more careful the templating has to be.
Lua’s Favourite Thing About the Renovation
“For everyone who comes in, it’s the black splashback — it’s a real good contrast. Every single person who walks in says ‘wow, what made you think of that?’ We all had a hand in it. Even though we didn’t physically do anything, we can say we designed this. So yeah — the splashback for sure, and the island. And I love my floating shelves, because I want to display things.”
— Lua, Mangere
A Family Kitchen That Finally Fits the Family
Lua kept the home that holds 40 years of family memories and made it hers at the same time — a contemporary kitchen that opens into the living and dining her family actually use. From our showroom at 16B Link Drive, Wairau Valley, we work across Auckland, including South Auckland suburbs like Mangere.
➡ Book your free in-home consultation with Superior Renovations
➡ See more of our Auckland kitchen renovations
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Frequently Asked Questions
What was the timeframe for this Mangere kitchen renovation?
The project was completed in December 2021 and managed around Auckland's COVID-19 lockdown restrictions at the time. Because we could only have one trade on site at a time, scheduling was tighter than usual — the build was sequenced so the flooring, plumbing, electrical and finishing teams never overlapped inside the occupied home.
What was used for the splashback in this contemporary kitchen renovation in Mangere?
The feature splashback behind the cooktop is black gloss 100x300 bevel tiles. The rest of the kitchen walls are white matte Carrara-look 100x300 bevel tiles with subtle black veining, which ties back to the black splashback. The gloss on the black tiles reflects light, which helps a compact kitchen feel larger.
How do you renovate a kitchen while living in the house during a lockdown?
Through strict scheduling and clear communication. Only one trade was allowed on site at a time, the homeowners were told in advance who was coming and when, contractors stayed in their work zone while the family stayed in another, and masks were worn throughout. The whole point is keeping the household safe and informed while the work continues.
Can a closed-off kitchen be opened into open-plan living?
Yes — that was the core of this project. We extended the opening from the kitchen through to the living area, added steps down into the lounge, ran the flooring continuously across the kitchen and dining, and painted the dining walls and ceilings in the living-area tones so it all reads as one connected space.
What benchtop and island were used in this kitchen?
A 30mm engineered stone benchtop in a matte finish — white with darker veining. The island was extended so it could seat a breakfast bar with stools, which became one of the homeowner's favourite features alongside the splashback.
Why choose handleless cabinetry?
Handleless cabinetry gives a clean, contemporary, sleek look with no hardware breaking up the lines. This kitchen used a recessed handle profile across every cabinet and drawer, a Stefano handleless profile, plus Blum soft-close hinges and Hafele soft-close drawer runners to keep everything quiet and smooth.
Did the renovation include new flooring and electrical work?
Yes. The kitchen floor was levelled, new underlay was installed, and light oak-look laminate flooring was run continuously through the kitchen, dining and hallway so the floor reads as one surface. The kitchen and dining were re-wired with LED downlights, and PDL 600 series switches were fitted.
How much does a kitchen renovation in Mangere cost?
It depends entirely on scope — size, materials, and whether structural or open-plan work is involved, as it was here. We don't quote a flat figure that won't match your home. The most accurate way to get an Auckland estimate for your own kitchen is our kitchen renovation cost calculator, which factors in the choices that actually move the price.
Further Resources
- More completed Auckland renovation projects
- Real client stories from across Auckland
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