TWO PROFESSIONAL KITCHEN DESIGNERS — A HUSBAND AND WIFE DUO — BUILD THEIR ARCHITECTURAL DREAM HOME.
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hen Atarah Humphreys and Felipe Prado met in Italy, she was attending design school; she was from Canada and he was from Mexico. After graduation, Prado, an industrial designer, brought Humphreys to Mexico, where they opened up a kitchen design studio together. After their move to Vancouver Island — where they set down roots and started a family — Humphreys continued to share her expertise as a designer at Urbana Kitchens. When their expanding young family outgrew their house, the husband and wife design-duo decided to put their artistry to use and custom-build an architectural home of their own. While they had the design portion mastered, finding the right build team who could match their appetite for meaningful design was a challenge — until they met Ryan Goodman and Matthew Jardine of Aryze Developments. “Like us, they truly appreciate high-quality design,” says Jardine, partner at Aryze. “It connected us instantly.”
FUNCTION FIRST Being designers, the homeowners knew exactly what they wanted going into this. “The kitchen had to be designed first,” says Humphreys. “The rest of the house was just going to have to fit around that!” From their experience in the industry, functionality was placed at the top of the priority list. From creating an effective work-triangle in the preparation area to storage for the kids’ lunch bags, Humphreys thought of it all. Having their young children in mind, Humphreys wanted to keep the materials in this kitchen trendy yet transparent. Durable quartz countertops with waterfall edges allow for easy cleanup from the kids’ messes. Staying away from grout lines or textured materials, a solid panel of back-painted glass was used on the backsplash for simple upkeep. The slab-style cabinets are medium-density fibreboard (MDF) with integrated aluminum channels as the handles on the lower half to prevent snags and as a precaution while the kids play. To cultivate a festive Mexican influence into the space, the duo custom-designed angular shelving units in the island and coffee area using a perforated metal. These units act as effective storage while adding playful additions that
SPRUCE | SPRING 2020
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