Kitchen & Bath Business - April 2020 - 49

RIGHT Through a faux window
atop a kitchen-like workstation, visitors glimpse the live
tree growing in the center of
the studio.
BELOW More space for design

work can be found upstairs
in the loft.

able to ascertain what the client truly wants than
they would be by showing them around some
displays.This honors the team's proven process of
interviewing clients then providing visual presentations in digital format.
Another positive about steering away from vignettes is that they age quickly, and changing them
can be a financial burden,according to Bustamante.
Overall, the setting in the studio has all the elements necessary to create a top-performing kitchen, it just does not look like a kitchen in a home.
SPATIAL IDENTITIES

Although eschewing the traditional vignettes and
displays of a showroom, the design studio offers a
variety of options for interacting with and imagining applications for products. Upon entry, a caged
reception area offers a clear starting point. To the
left, an architectural-looking Spevka wood cube
shows off ash wood with a white oil finish.

Beyond the wood cube,the active kitchen presents
a somewhat deconstructed version of a cutting-edge
cooking space. A side-by-side paneled refrigerator
and wine tower are connected at the lower-drawer
compartment. An extended Galley workstation
is flanked by modern cooking modules on a central island that incorporates a steel faux window
overlooking a live fiddle-leaf fig tree. A mirrored
dishwasher reflects its Cove logo, which has been
embossed on the floor. The kitchen area includes a
second cube - this one in stone holds hardware in
jewelry-store drawers - and a custom-painted table
that serves as the initial client meeting center.
Beyond the kitchen, black glass doors lead to
a conference room, designed in this elegantly
moody aesthetic to keep the focus on client projects. This is where presentations take place. The
tufted green bench provides the one pop of color
in the space. Through a second set of black glass
doors, the materials room contains products

that the team uses in planning and designing.
Bustamante's office is located in the upstairs loft,
which also accommodates a flex break space and
design workstations.
The industrial studio maintains the integrity of
the original building, including the open-framing
structure of the ceiling. It celebrates a Chicagostyle warehouse and uses color sparingly - except
for the bold, original artwork by local artist Raphael Delgado. One more surprise - the large,
black-framed windows running along the upper
wall behind the reception, raised work area and
loft are actually mirrors that only appear to offer a
glimpse into another warehouse beyond.
The next-level style of the design studio earned
Nar Design Group Best Overall Showroom and
Best Independent Showroom-Medium awards
in the National Kitchen & Bath Association's
Innovative Showroom Awards, which were announced at KBIS 2020.


SOURCES
DESIGNERS: Nar Design
Group; PHOTOGRAPHER:
Fred Donham of
PhotographerLink

BRANDS REPRESENTED
Cosentino:
Dekton & Silestone
Crystal Cabinetry
The Galley Brands
Poggenpohl
Spekva (Crown
Custom Imports)
Sub-Zero, Wolf
and Cove

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Kitchen & Bath Business - April 2020

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