Jaden Hair, professional recipe developer, television chef and author of the blog Steamy Kitchen recently decided it was time for a kitchen makeover for her Florida home. She enlisted the help of designer Susan Serra to help her create the perfect kitchen that’s fit for a hard working chef, as well as a busy family of four. Jaden only had two requests, a wide open space that would accommodate both family activities and still maintain a large enough area for prepping and cooking, her second request- no laminate!
We interviewed Jaden to hear her thoughts on her beautiful new kitchen and see how Top Knobs was able to assist in bringing the design to life.
Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen
Q: What’s the recipe to working with a designer to bring your vision to life?
I’m such a DIY gal, that I briefly considered designing this kitchen on my own. But within an hour of doing research and sketching out a design on paper, I realized that we’d be putting ourselves at risk if we didn’t hire a professional designer. Susan flew to our home in Florida from NYC and flew home the same day. We spent about 3 hours measuring, re-measuring the kitchen and discussing ideas.
For example, we talked about our love for gardening, where the kids do their homework (which led to the large center island) and the serene mood we wanted to evoke in the space (which led to the Top Knobs Chareau collection).
Q: We saw your one requirement was “no laminate!” Did you face any other design challenges during the remodel?
We wanted a kitchen design that was timeless: modern but not trendy. This kitchen should fit our tastes and lifestyle – but also future homeowners as well. My specialty is Asian cooking, but we didn’t want the kitchen design to be too Asian inspired. We ended up adding the Asian touches with a Happy Buddha statue carved from a piece of bamboo that my parents hand-carried from China (sits on top of the cabinet) and a Chinese hand-painted silk piece that we framed and hung on the wall. The rest of the kitchen is clean, simple, yet elegant and refined.
“The classic, beautiful design of the Top Knobs handles finished the look of our kitchen,” exclaims Jaden Hair.
Q: As a chef, I’m sure you have specific needs to create the perfect kitchen environment. How did Top Knobs help create that?
The classic, beautiful design of the Top Knobs handles finished the look of our kitchen. It was also one of the very last items to be installed and it really did give the space its final “ta-da!”
Each knob and handle is so sturdy and solid. Top Knobs has taken such great care in craftsmanship and I expect their product to last a lifetime!
Q: What is your favorite part of your new kitchen?
That’s such a hard question! The gardener in me says, “the compost!” but the girly girl in me says, “the kitchen jewelry!”
Hear from the kitchen designer, Susan Serra’s perspective in part one of this blog post.
