Kitchen of the Week: Embracing the Old with Quintana Partners
Photography courtesy of Quintana Partners. Quintana Partners do plenty to the kitchens they remodel, but you’d never know it. When it comes to kitchen remodels rather than taking the familiar remove and replace clinical approach the three... ...partners Escat Benito Diaz his son Benito Escat Velez and Pol Castells believe in leaving next to no trace “Se Calma means calming place or House of Calm,” says Pol, of the townhouse in the island’s capital, Mahón. The tiles and terrazzo floor are original as is the laundry sink which was given a new use and pride of... ...place New appliances include a Smeg 5os Style Refrigerator Smeg 30 Inch Gas Range Smeg Victoria Ventilation Hood and Corberó dishwasher The marble-topped wooden counter and other furnishings are all vintage finds repurposed by the designers. The pot rack is a traditional Menorcan clothes rail. The designers outfitted a top-floor guest apartment in the house with an industrial kitchenette built using copper piping and modular steel shelving. Quintana Partners travel for their finds: the kitchen’s vintage enamelware utensil rack and clamp light came from a flea market in the South of France. In a formerly kitchenless structure that Benito and Pol renovated for themselves, they hung an Ikea Grundtal Rail as a utensil rack over the chopping board. High/low pairings are another Quintana Partners specialty. Benito and Pol currently live in a historic house in the center of Mahón that they named after Telmo, an explorer they dreamed up, who “had traveled everywhere until discovering the island of Menorca.” The medicine cabinet—used to hold vitamins and meds—traveled with Benito and Pol to their new house. “The kitchen was painted white, but when we started scratching, we found beautiful hidden layers. We loved it and decided to keep it as is,” says Pol. The designers converted an abandoned garden center into a summerhouse. New additions include stainless steel appliances, a stone sink, and solar panels to supply electricity. A covered patio serves as a gathering place for “eating, living, and chilling.”