“The way you use your kitchen is very personal,” designer and builder Anthony Carrino told The Standard Life.
In fact, he says there is no right or wrong way in designing a kitchen – save for a few layout rules – or in choosing what goes in it, as it all depends on the family or the individual using it.
“A kitchen can be a sink and a cook top. If you go food shopping everyday and you don’t need to store food in a refrigerator [then you can do away with it],” says Carrino.
He asserts that the things many think a kitchen must have in order for it to be considered as complete and functional are not definite because “the way you use your kitchen is very personal, just like the colors that you like and the design that you want.”
“[For instance] John has two dishwashers,” says Carrino, referring to his cousin John Colaneri.
“I entertain a lot,” admits Colaneri.
Cousins Carrino and Colaneri are both builders and designers who rescue desperate homeowners in need of a major kitchen overhaul in their show America’s Most Desperate Kitchens on HGTV.
Their building experience – Carrino and Colaneri used to work together in the construction company co-founded by the former – and undeniably good looks have earned them the chance to save countless homes across the US through their previous shows Kitchen Cousins, Cousins On Call, and Cousins Undercover.
Being witness to some of the most shocking kitchen situation, The Cousins sure know what makes a kitchen good, bad and desperate.
“The first thing that we need to take note in designing a good kitchen is space planning,” says Colaneri. “It has to work for the family – whether they are a big family, they entertain, they have parties.”
The design, he says, must function depending on how the household uses their kitchen.
But what if a home can only accommodate a small space for a cookery?
Carrino doesn’t think it’s a problem at all. “Everybody has a space that they have, we just have to design within it.”
“It’s really about space planning and about being able to put certain elements in your kitchen that can be multi-functional,” avers Colaneri.
In their previous shows, The Cousins made kitchen islands that folded out into a large table and island that had a removable wine cart inside.
“It’s all about thinking outside the box and trying to do things a little different,” explains Colaneri.
The Cousins also encourage everyone not to be deterred by colors that are not considered “kitchen friendly.”
“There’s no best color for a kitchen; in fact, there is no bad color either. But you can use any color in a bad way that would make the design not pleasing to the eye,” shares Carrino.
He adds, “Color for color’s sake is not always a good thing. When color is used properly, it can be fantastic. And whether that color is red, green, blue, yellow, gray, black, or white doesn’t matter.”
“You should never be afraid of color. [If] you definitely want to do something, you just got to navigate through it,” seconds Colaneri
While design is subjective to every household, The Cousins identify the “objective things in design,” which mostly are layout rules.
“For example, between an island and the galley run of the kitchen, you need at least 36 inches of space so that you can create flow where people can move. There’s also the kitchen work triangle which is a specific layout of appliances (cook top, sink and refrigerator) that make them very efficient to move between,” explains Carrino.
Doing America’s Most Desperate Kitchens and their previous shows, the two have definitely seen the worst, most desperate spaces.
“All of the projects we did were all hard!” exclaims Colaneri. “There was not one that stood out because every one of them was bad.”
Some of the bad kitchens had spacing problem, outdated appliances and dysfunctional layout, while the “horrible kitchens” The Cousins had to overhaul had no cabinets, no countertops, no proper lighting and had broken appliances. Some even had walls only built halfway.
“They’re really bad, and the fact that we have three days to finish them really pushes us to our limits to get it done as fast as possible,” shares Colaneri.
“The name of the show tells you the whole story. The most desperate spaces,” adds Carrino.
But at the end of every episode, the two always come up with kitchen spaces that are perfect for every family they’re helping.
When asked if all their previous clients were happy with the kitchen they renovated, Carrino and Colaneri said “Yes!” in chorus.
“Everyone’s been happy, and been very appreciative. I mean, they don’t know we’re coming and everything is free, so for us to show up at their door, it’s a very good day,” says Colaneri.
In the Philippines, HGTV is available on SkyCable Ch. 88 (SD) and Ch. 246 (HD), Destiny Cable Ch. 88 and Cignal Ch. 101. For more information on HGTV, visit www.hgtv.asia.