Inside a New Multigenerational Home in Joondalup with Two Separate Kitchens
A new residence in Joondalup has been designed around a familiar Australian family arrangement: several generations living close together while retaining a meaningful degree of independence. Instead of treating the brief as a standard large home, the project establishes two domestic territories within one carefully connected address.
The result is a house that balances shared rituals with private routines. A primary kitchen supports everyday family life, while a second kitchen gives an adjoining household the autonomy to cook, host and organise its own schedule. Between them, the architecture creates a sequence of thresholds rather than a rigid division.
This approach reflects a wider shift in residential design across Perth. As land values, care requirements and extended-family structures influence new builds, flexibility is becoming as important as appearance. The Joondalup home responds with a plan that can accommodate changing relationships over time without losing its sense of warmth.
A Home Planned Around Family Rhythms
The central idea is simple: proximity should not require constant interaction. The home allows grandparents, parents and children to share a property while maintaining distinct zones for sleeping, working, relaxing and entertaining. Shared areas are generous, though they do not dominate the entire plan.
A connected living and dining space forms the social heart of the residence. It is positioned to support family meals, celebrations and informal gatherings, with clear sightlines across the main circulation areas. Bedrooms and quieter rooms sit further from this activity, giving different occupants the ability to retreat when the house is busy.
The arrangement also supports a range of care needs. A ground-level bedroom and bathroom can be used by older family members or guests, while younger occupants have access to more private rooms. Wide circulation paths and minimal level changes make the home easier to navigate now and adaptable in the future.
Privacy Without Separation
Rather than creating two completely detached dwellings, the design uses layered boundaries. Changes in ceiling height, wall alignment, joinery and lighting help residents understand where shared life ends and private life begins. These subtle transitions are important in a multigenerational home, where privacy often depends on atmosphere as much as on doors.
The secondary living zone has its own relationship with the garden and outdoor areas. This gives the adjoining household a place to spend time away from the main living room, while still keeping the two parts of the house visually connected. Internal windows and carefully placed openings provide awareness without forcing every movement into view.
The idea recalls the adaptive thinking found in family homes from a church, where a shared architectural structure can support distinct domestic lives. In Joondalup, that principle is expressed through new construction, with separation achieved through planning rather than heavy enclosure.
Two Kitchens, One Domestic Framework
The two-kitchen arrangement is the most distinctive feature of the home. The main kitchen is conceived as a generous family workspace, with a substantial island, integrated storage and a direct connection to dining and outdoor entertaining. It is open enough to remain part of daily conversation while providing the capacity for large meals and shared occasions.
The second kitchen is more compact but fully functional. It includes cooking appliances, preparation surfaces, pantry storage and room for independent food storage. This allows another household to prepare meals according to its own habits, reducing the friction that can arise when several generations rely on one cooking area.
The separation also improves the visual order of the main living space. A scullery or service zone keeps preparation, appliances and cleaning activity away from the principal entertaining area. When the house is hosting a gathering, the main kitchen can remain presentable while the supporting work happens behind it.
| Design element | Shared household zone | Independent household zone |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen use | Family meals, entertaining and large-scale preparation | Daily cooking and personal routines |
| Living areas | Central social space connected to dining | Quieter retreat with garden access |
| Storage | Integrated pantry and concealed utility storage | Dedicated cupboards and food storage |
| Privacy | Open connection through circulation and sightlines | Greater control over movement and noise |
| Future use | Flexible gathering and care space | Potential semi-independent accommodation |
This arrangement is practical as well as symbolic. Food often shapes family life, and providing two kitchens acknowledges that different generations may have different diets, timetables and cultural habits. The result is a home that supports togetherness without assuming that every meal needs to be prepared or eaten collectively.
Responding To Joondalup’s Climate
The house is grounded in the environmental conditions of Perth’s northern suburbs. Strong sunlight, hot summer afternoons and the need for winter warmth all influence the placement of windows, covered outdoor areas and solid internal walls. The design uses orientation and shading as first responses before relying on mechanical systems.
Deep eaves and sheltered verandah spaces temper the western and northern edges, creating outdoor rooms that can be occupied for much of the year. These areas extend the living spaces while protecting glazing from direct summer sun. Large openings are balanced with appropriately placed walls, allowing daylight into the home without turning every room into a heat trap.
Cross-ventilation is supported by aligned openings through the living spaces and private zones. Operable windows allow evening breezes to move through the house, while ceiling fans assist during warmer periods. Thermal mass in selected floors and walls helps moderate temperature changes, especially when combined with overnight ventilation.
The environmental strategy connects with the broader discussion around green roofs in Leederville. While this Joondalup residence takes a different approach, both projects demonstrate how contemporary Perth architecture is examining passive performance, landscape and long-term comfort as part of the design process.
Material Warmth In A Generous Plan
A large floor area can easily feel impersonal, particularly when it is expected to serve several households. Here, material selection helps establish a domestic scale. Warm timber joinery, tactile stone and muted surfaces give the interiors a calm base, while changes in texture distinguish the kitchen, living, circulation and bedroom areas.
The main kitchen is treated as furniture within the room rather than a purely functional installation. Timber-faced cabinetry softens the island, while a durable stone worktop provides a robust surface for preparation and entertaining. In the second kitchen, a more restrained palette keeps the space efficient and visually quiet.
At the threshold between inside and outside, robust finishes respond to the demands of family life. Slip-resistant paving, easy-clean surfaces and built-in storage support everyday use without making the interiors feel overly utilitarian. The architecture aims for longevity through materials that can be repaired, refinished or adapted rather than quickly replaced.
There is a deliberate balance between refinement and resilience. A multigenerational residence needs to accommodate children, pets, visitors, meals and periods of intense use. The best details are those that look composed on completion and continue to perform as the family changes.
Entertaining Across Generations
The home’s social spaces are arranged to make gatherings feel easy. Dining sits between the primary kitchen and outdoor living area, allowing meals to move between preparation, serving and conversation. A secondary sitting area gives older and younger family members the option to participate at a different pace.
Outdoor entertaining is similarly divided into connected settings rather than a single oversized patio. One area supports a long shared table, while another offers a quieter place for morning coffee or evening conversation. Planting provides privacy from neighbours and gives the garden a more established, residential character.
This layered approach is relevant to the wider Australian design culture, where the home increasingly needs to support work, care, hospitality and retreat. The same spatial flexibility can be seen in commercial interiors that use atmosphere and material to define different experiences. A related example is a Crawley wine bar, where distinct zones create variety within a compact hospitality setting.
The Joondalup residence translates that idea into a family setting. Instead of assigning every room a single permanent purpose, it offers a range of environments that can change with the time of day and the needs of its occupants.
Practical Decisions For Long-Term Living
Multigenerational architecture succeeds when its planning is as thoughtful as its finishes. The following decisions give this home greater flexibility and reduce pressure on shared spaces:
- Provide at least one accessible bedroom and bathroom on the entry level.
- Give each household dedicated storage, food preparation and laundry capacity where possible.
- Use acoustic separation between bedrooms, living zones and service areas.
- Create multiple outdoor settings so residents can gather or withdraw.
- Plan circulation generously enough to support mobility aids, furniture changes and future adaptations.
These measures are easy to overlook when a project is judged primarily through photographs. Yet they determine whether a home remains comfortable after the first years of occupation. Clear circulation, good acoustic control and carefully located services can make a larger difference to daily life than an impressive entrance or oversized entertaining room.
The two kitchens are especially valuable because they offer independence without severing family connection. They can operate separately when required and support one larger household when circumstances change. That capacity gives the residence a longer useful life, making the original brief less about a fixed family structure and more about resilience.
For Contemporary readers, the project offers a clear view of where residential design is heading in Western Australia: toward homes that respond to real patterns of living, local climate and changing family expectations. Explore more architecture, interiors and makers shaping the region through Contemporary, and follow the platform’s coverage of the people and projects defining Australian design.
