It’s no surprise that for Renee Jordan, founder of bicoastal firm PCD Studios, and her son Jordan Ross, principal designer, creative energy is a family trait. It was a lifelong dream come true, then, when Covid slowed time down and provided an opportunity for the duo to work together on a special project—renovating the kitchen in their mid-century home, located in Sacramento’s Fab Forties neighborhood.
“We talked about this kitchen for years, sometimes casually, sometimes like it was a blueprint for the future we were working toward without even realizing it,” Renee explains. “I could feel how much Jordan wanted to do this for us, not just to make something beautiful, but to give us something that felt like home in a new way.”
With themselves as the client, this project became deeply personal, and the duo studied the nuances of their family rhythm for years before setting out to create a design. “My husband, Zeca, moves through the kitchen like it’s a language only he speaks,” Renee offers. “He doesn’t cook, he conducts. There’s a tempo to it. The way he reaches for the salt without looking. The exact step he takes to pivot from stove to sink.”
Taking all of these invisible factors into consideration, the team chose a neutral color palette that equally prioritized form and function. “On its own, white doesn’t say much. But when it’s treated with care, when it’s paired with warmth and contrast and depth, it becomes the thing that ties it all together,” the designer says. “In this kitchen, the white wasn’t the main character. It was the frame, the canvas, the pause between bold decisions. It allowed every texture, every tone, every shadow to have its moment.”
Those moments include a striking Calacatta Viola marble countertop and backsplash, reeded walnut cabinetry and matte black iron-framed doors on worktops. The main players were brought to life through vintage-inspired brass fixtures and faucets, which add patina and tone as well as an aged quality to soften the crisp whites. Glass-front cabinetry and open shelving display the family’s collection of china and glassware, which Renee says is “less about hiding and more about honoring.”
In its completion, the designer views this kitchen as a case study in tailoring a beautiful space to real, everyday life. “Just because a kitchen photographs well or looks polished doesn’t mean it shouldn’t also carry the wear of morning coffee routines, late-night conversations and impromptu dance parties,” she says. “This space was designed with intention, yes, but also with personality, warmth and humanity.”