Caren Rideau Has Designed More Than 500 Kitchens—Here Are 4 Things She Always Conceals

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Caren Rideau Has Designed More Than 500 Kitchens—Here Are 4 Things She Always Conceals

Ask interior designer Caren Rideau how many kitchens she’s renovated in her career and you’ll be greeted with a big laugh. “In my lifetime? Oh, my gosh,” she says. “I’ve been doing this for over 30 years.” Her estimate: more than 500. “Everybody comes to me to make magic in the kitchen.” She’s the founder of Los Angeles–based Kitchen Design Group; runs a vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley with winemaker Andrés Ibarra; and just debuted a new book, Caren Rideau: Kitchen Designer, Vintner, Entertaining at Home.

An appliance center is central to many of Rideau’s kitchens. A what? “They look like tall storage with pocket doors,” she explains. When they’re closed, you’d never guess the blender, toaster, or slow cooker are within such easy reach. Yours can also double as a one-stop coffee bar, storing a Nespresso machine, coffee grinder, and the like. If you love to host, the possibilities expand even further; in this space, Rideau installed a warming drawer underneath so dishes can stay hidden—and hot—until their dinnertime debut.

We’ve all been there, awkwardly yanking a cutting board out of a too-full cabinet. Rideau’s solution: integrated versions, either hidden or on display. Option one: “You pull a drawer open to find a cutting board,” she explains. Give it a wash once you’re done chopping, then slide it back into place. Option two: a sink with a built-in lip around the perimeter to hold a cutting board aloft (and a colander, if you add a second ledge). Wash, slice, and go.

Text By Megan McCarty / Photos Courtesy of Meghan Beierle-O’Brien / Read More Here