By Lindsay Field Penticuff
Caren Rideau shares that she grew up in a very modest household, so interior design wasn’t exactly top of mind when she started thinking about careers as a kid.
“I was one of those who liked to switch around my room a lot, but I don’t think I really realized [interior design] was in me,” says Rideau, founder of Kitchen Design Group in Santa Monica, California, and author of “Caren Rideau: Kitchen Designer, Vintner, Entertaining at Home.” “It was accidentally on purpose. I landed in interior design because it interested me. I really resonated with interior design.”
She was born in Los Angeles but raised in Arizona, where she attended Arizona State University and studied at the College of Architecture.
“I landed in interior design kind of by accident,” she recalls. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do and I’m a first-generation college graduate.”
She originally studied business in college, because that’s what everyone told her to do. But during her second semester, she had an opportunity to take interior design course and loved it, eventually changing her major to architecture.
“As I was getting close to graduation, my colleagues were figuring out what they wanted to do and I had no idea,” Rideau says. “I was looking through magazines trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and I kept landing on kitchens.”
She had an opportunity to move to L.A. for an internship in the kitchen design space and, 35 years later, she’s still doing what she loves—kitchen design.
“Kitchens weren’t glamorous at the time, but today, and especially after COVID-19, they have so much more prestige and people want to be a part of them,” she says. “I absolutely love it today like I did then, and definitely more!”
She opened Kitchen Design Group 32 years ago. However, tragedy struck the area in January when a wildfire destroyed businesses and homes in Pacific Palisades, including Rideau’s showroom.
“Within the first week after the fire, I had about 10 clients tell me that I better not get out of this business,” Rideau says. “They were depending on me to rebuild. I knew I mattered.”
About two weeks later, she decided to rebuild, and in September, Rideau and her team reopened their showroom in Santa Monica, about 5 miles from her previous location in Pacific Palisades.
“It’s smaller, but that was intentional,” she says. “I wanted to be more practical [with the new location], so it’s a smaller space. There is one showroom in this location, and it’s an operational kitchen. I want this new showroom and ‘Chapter 2.0’ to reflect more of the things I love, and it kind of encompasses my last book, entertaining, kitchen design and wine.”
She would like to bring in local chefs, who can host small workshops in the new space and show visitors how to make great salsa or tortillas, giving guests an exceptional culinary experience. The space also features a small conference room to where they can meet with clients, and at night the space can be converted into a dining space to accommodate the kitchen showroom.
“The new move is an opportunity to reflect back on the way we did things before, how we did things before and what can I do that’s different,” she says. “I get to do all the things that I love and share them with the world. It’s entertaining, the love of cooking and the love of designing a great kitchen. It’s all of those things that I now get to do. I’m not concerned about failure. Looking ahead, I get to be me, and I get to share it, and I’m looking forward to it!”
To learn more about Rideau and why she chose kitchen design, as well as her book and her collaboration with Gorky Pottery, be sure to watch the full interview!
