Kitchen Connection

Designer Caren Rideau’s passion for family, food and wine inspires her kitchen designs at a time when homeowners are rediscovering the space.

/

CAREN RIDEAU SPECIALIZES in reimagining the room whose versatility has become so much more appreciated in recent years: the kitchen.

by roger grody /

to write, “Life rests in our homes, but finds its beat in the kitchen.”

In her new book, Caren Rideau: Kitchen Designer, Vintner, Entertaining at Home, Rideau conveys her emotional connection with the space. Her family’s Mexican and Louisianan heritage, and nostalgic memories of preparing tamales or gumbo with relatives, inspires her

Rideau is a native Angeleno whose Pacific Palisades studio, Kitchen Design Group, is favored by homeowners across the Westside but draws a national clientele.

The passionate home cook also co-founded Tierra y Vino winery in the Santa Ynez Valley with her partner, Andrés Ibarra, a veteran winemaker. Her love of food and wine has consistently informed her threedecade specialization in kitchens.

When initiating client relationships, Rideau says, “I want to get to know them, how their family interacts in the kitchen and how many people are involved in the cooking.” She notes that priorities have changed since the pandemic. “People became more aware of the functionality of appliances, what special equipment they need for entertaining and what space their kids might require for homework.“

As a result, more family members get involved in these decisions.

According to Rideau, she addresses space planning and functionality first, then builds aesthetics upon that foundation; she constantly seeks input from the homeowners.

“I like my clients to get involved, to feel part of the process,” she states, embracing a collaborative approach that makes some designers apprehensive. “Ultimately, I’m going to leave and they’re going to be left with the product.”

Rideau is committed to making her work stand the test of time in a discipline that is usually at the