Design Doesn't Travel. It Just Pretends To.
My Italian mother cooks from a window sill of scattered herb pots. My mother-in-law cooks from a spice box built for arm's reach. Twenty years in design taught me that culture doesn't just shape how people eat — it shapes how a kitchen has to work.
The Toddler Trike Test
After twenty years designing other people's kitchens, my own island failed the only test that actually mattered: a two-year-old on a trike. Here's what that taught me about designing for the life that hasn't happened yet.
Designed to Be Photographed, Not Lived In
Twenty years in luxury kitchen design taught me the difference between a room built to be photographed and one built to be lived in — and how rarely they're the same room. This is the industry habit I spent two decades helping build, and why I stopped.