Reality TV cooking shows are helping to shape the contemporary kitchen in many Australian homes.

Shows like My Kitchen Rules and Masterchef are inspiring home owners to turn their kitchens into veritable restaurants, major home builders have found.

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Not only are kitchens being transformed with high-gloss cabinetry, eye-catching stone benchtops and gleaming stainless steel appliances, more and more kitchens in recent years have expanded to include the quaintly named butler’s pantry.

Once regarded as just a place to store food and cooking utensils, they too have undergone a luxury metamorphis, becoming a second cooking zone with sinks, ovens, fridges and food preparation benches.

Orbit Homes director Paul Millson says the butler’s pantry has become one of the must-have items in new homes for 2015.

“For some reason everyone wants one,’’ says Mr Millson, whose company builds homes in Victoria and Queensland.

“Obviously, people are being influenced (to include them in a home) by reality TV cooking shows, which encourage people to cook gourmet-style meals. And a butler’s pantry allows people to cook out of sight of guests. So you have the main part of the kitchen for laying out the food and the pantry area for cooking it.’’

Metricon’s design director Adrian Popple agrees, saying: “hip cooking shows like Masterchef and My Kitchen Rules have given the trend towards customised kitchens more momentum and have also fuelled the desire for this
 convenient kitchen feature (butler’s pantry)’’.

Mr Popple says the home builder’s customers have shown more interest in installing a butler’s pantry since Metricon started including them in its larger homes several years ago.

“It has now become a standard feature of most of our homes regardless of their size,’’ says the designer, whose company builds homes in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia.

“The main purpose of butler’s pantry is to not just to provide storage for our food but to serve as a food preparation and clean-up area. You don’t have to have a butler to enjoy having a butler’s pantry.

For those who like to entertain but have an aversion to cooking and making a mess in front of guests, the butler’s pantry is incredibly practical and fast growing in popularity.

“Originally used as an area where household servants made final food preparations, we have found the butler’s pantry has made resurgence, due to its practical convenience and prestigious reputation.’’

Mr Popple explained that TV shows and European design influences have helped drive the concept of the kitchen as a showpiece and the need for a second cooking area.

“Homeowners can have their pristine showpiece kitchen on display, always gleaming, while behind the doors is the working day-to-day kitchen that hides the dishes and contains the smells,” he says.

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