The Block 2026: Kitchen Reveals
Kitchen Week is always a big one on The Block, and this year the teams had some seriously impressive spaces to reveal. Huge islands, plenty of natural stone and some clever lighting choices gave the judges a lot to talk about.
We saw Adam and Jolene have a little fun with adjustable pendants, Lisa and Rosco skip the traditional island pendant altogether, and Rick and Tayla discover just how effective lighting the stone itself can be.
But there was one reveal we were particularly excited to see. Courtney and Sev unveiled a pendant designed specifically for their kitchen, created by Sev in collaboration with our own product designer, David Kruse. More on that one shortly.
House 1 | Adam and Jolene
The judges loved Adam and Jolene’s kitchen, with Marty calling it one of the best he’d seen in nearly 20 years in the industry. The layout, colour and connection with the adjoining living and dining areas all received plenty of praise.
The Lighting
There’s a lot happening in this open-plan space, so Adam and Jolene used clever lighting in a simple silhouette - Ison rise and fall pendants over the island. Scott Cam called their adjustable design a “neat trick”, with the judges impressed at the versatility of the lights.
Beyond the novelty, it’s a useful feature. The pendants can be lowered to bring focused light closer to the benchtop or raised when you want a clearer view through the room. Their slim cylindrical shape also keeps things relatively uncluttered above such a large island.
House 2 | Chantel and Wyatt
Symmetry was the big story when the judges entered House 2, with Marty immediately commenting on how well the kitchen would photograph. Shaynna was particularly taken with the illuminated splashback and stone selection.
The Lighting
Rather than hanging pendants over the island, Chantel and Wyatt shifted the decorative lighting onto the splashback.
Two Arket wall brackets in aged brass with white alabaster sit either side of the rangehood, drawing your eye into the recessed section of the kitchen. The natural variation in the alabaster works particularly well alongside the veining of the surrounding stone, while the aged brass picks up on the metallic details elsewhere in the kitchen.
Overhead, white Ison surface mounted downlights handle the more functional lighting. Their simple cylindrical profile keeps the ceiling relatively quiet and leaves the Arket wall lights and stone to do the talking.
House 3 | Lisa and Rosco
Lisa and Rosco also left their island free of pendant lighting, and Shaynna was a fan. She loved the simple travertine downlights and even joked that without a pendant in the way, the island could double as a dance floor after a few drinks!
The Lighting
The Traviato surface mount downlights bring genuine travertine onto the ceiling, making the functional lighting part of the material palette rather than trying to hide it.
Two Made by Mayfair Osten wall brackets in Spanish alabaster sit either side of the rangehood. Their rounded shape gives the eye a break from the long lines of the cabinetry and island, while illumination brings out the individual pattern within the natural stone.
Integrated lighting through the bar nook and beneath the cabinetry adds light closer to the work surfaces, giving the kitchen plenty of layers without filling the ceiling with fittings.
House 4 | Courtney and Sev
Now for the one we’ve been waiting to see. Courtney and Sev revealed the new Repeat linear pendant, designed specifically for their kitchen by Sev in collaboration with Beacon Lighting product designer David Kruse.
The judges were impressed too, unanimously calling the custom pendant stunning.
The Lighting
Drawing on Sev’s interior design background and David’s product design expertise, the pendant was developed in response to the scale, materials and architecture of the room. Its brushed nickel finish references the metallic elements throughout the kitchen, while latte marble introduces a subtle natural stone detail. And at three metres long, it holds its own above that enormous island. The installation is actually made up of two 1.5 metre Repeat pendants, connected using a coordinating latte marble joiner. This allows the light to stretch across the work surface while its slim profile keeps views through the open-plan space clear. There’s plenty happening inside the fitting too. Integrated LED provides a choice of 3000K, 4000K or 5000K colour temperatures, along with dimming to adjust the light for different times and uses. What we love most, though, is the process behind it. Repeat wasn’t chosen once the kitchen was finished. The pendant and interior were developed together to become part of Sev and Courtney’s original design.
House 5 | Rick and Tayla
After a difficult judging the previous week, Rick and Tayla came back with a kitchen that took the judges by surprise. The backlit stone splashback immediately became the star, with Shaynna pointing out that at night it could provide the room’s mood lighting all on its own.
The Lighting
Rick and Tayla’s kitchen uses Nevada spotlights, while the backlit splashback introduces a completely different layer of light and puts the natural pattern of the stone on display.
They carried natural materials into the adjoining spaces too, with a Traviato Up/Down Wall Bracket in travertine and a Ravine Round Pendant in the powder room
Lighting the Kitchen differently
One of the interesting things about this week’s reveals was just how differently the teams approached their kitchen lighting. A large island doesn’t automatically mean a row of pendants. We saw wall lights, surface-mounted downlights, adjustable task lighting, integrated illumination and, in Courtney and Sev’s case, a fitting developed specifically around the architecture of the room.
And after watching Repeat come together behind the scenes, seeing that three-metre pendant finally sitting above Courtney and Sev’s island was a pretty special Block moment.