On Saturday night, at a gala event held at the ANZ Events Centre, 250 designers and industry professionals gathered with eager anticipation to find out who had designed the best kitchens and bathrooms of 2016.

This year’s awards saw a record number of entries and featured the very best of New Zealand design – and the standard was up too, with a whole new raft of young designers coming onto the scene, which is great for the industry.

Perennial winning designer Morgan Cronin took out the Supreme Kitchen award with a sublime, minimalist design that provoked these comments from the panel of judges – “This kitchen sits beautifully in the surrounding architecture and incorporates a stunning combination of materials. The strong colour of the cabinetry blends with the surrounding softer palette and textures, enhancing and blending into the space with a marriage of streamlined aesthetics and harmony”. Praise indeed, and a thoroughly deserved win for one of New Zealand’s most prolific designers.

Runner up in the Supreme Award for kitchens was Shane George, from Newmarket-based Kitchens By Design, for his modern interpretation of a large family kitchen in an authentic Italian villa in Karaka. It’s a fantastic blend of modern and traditional, and features almost twice the number of appliances found in a typical kitchen. This kitchen also received the coveted Creative Excellence award.

The Supreme Bathroom award went south to Christchurch’s Detail by Davinia Sutton, another multi-award winning designer. This elegant and simple design of a modern master suite certainly caught the eye of the judges. “This bathroom is beautifully proportioned and balanced, with a bold use of materials. The floating design of the dual-level vanity cabinetry creates a linear horizontal flow that is supported by the wall tiles, together creating a calming, spatial and serene design”

Back up in Auckland, Freemans Bay-based Celia Visser picked up the award for Auckland’s best bathroom and also the runner up to the Supreme Bathroom award. One of five bathrooms she designed for her client’s new home, this winning bathroom was praised for its “stunning use of colour, texture and materials”. The judges also liked the fact that the designer had opted for a built-in bathtub, rather than using the ubiquitous stand-alone variety.

Titirangi designer Natalie Du Bois took out the Resene Colour Excellence category with her inspirational take on a traditional kitchen that featured exceptionally fine detailing and the subtle use of Resene Quarter Foggy Grey on the cabinetry.

Other notable winners were Jordan Dale of Gold Kitchens, Whitford, who walked away with the Classic Kitchen Design award and Kira Gray from Fyfe Kitchens who took out the Lighting Design category.

All in all it was a great night for the Auckland-based designers and a fantastic showcase for New Zealand design, showing that our kitchen and bathroom designs truly are some of the best in the world.