Q and A with Marla Nazzicone

grey and natural wood kitchen with marble clad island

Recently, I caught up with Marla Nazzicone, who focuses on luxury residential design. As an integrative designer, she combines interior design, fine arts and fashion to create unique solutions for her clients.

1 | The warm wood in this kitchen is stunning! This may be my favourite kitchen this year. What was your design concept?

A large influence was the differing styles and preferences of the home owners. One preferred traditional and opulent, while the other tended towards the simplicity of modern, Scandinavian design. This positive friction ultimately resulted in the unique art deco-modern style that the kitchen inherited. This was achieved using luxurious materials such as walnut and brass cabinets in sleek, modern profiles.

2 | I love that you mixed the book-matched backsplash with the granite on the island. Do you often mix materials? What inspires you to do this?

The island stone is a leathered Belvedere granite and the backsplash and kitchen perimeter is a honed Arebescato Corchia. Mixing materials is a great way to create contrast and emphasis in any space, especially with both materials having such characteristic texture and veining in contrasting colours.

3 | The millwork in the kitchen is beautiful. What is your process for designing custom cabinetry?

Designing custom cabinetry is like creating a painting. It begins with inspiration and goes through multiple variations and revisions until the composition and design is just right.

luxury shoe closet

4 | This is a dream closet. What inspired this design?

This closet (pictured above) was designed so that my client’s bedroom and closet could merge as one. We made an entire wall of the primary bedroom into a closet and vanity and it works harmoniously with the young homeowner’s lifestyle. OD

Samantha Sannella
Samantha Sannella
"SAMANTHA SANNELLA, BFA ID, M ARCH, is a designer, educator and principal at Urban Retreat Homes. She is an expert in the field of design and construction and is a columnist for several HOMES Publishing Group publications."
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