SFCC student wins kitchen design award

By: Paul Weideman
Published online: Sunday, August 05, 2012
Appeared in: Home, Santa Fe Real Estate Guide
Edition: August 2012 Vol. 15 No. 5

Mathematics is like spinach. Even if you don’t love it, it’s good for you. Math helped Karen Klavuhn win a $1,300 Honorable Mention award in the 2012 National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) and GE Appliances Charette Competition.

Klavuhn participated in the charette at Santa Fe Com- munity College, where she is pursuing an associate degree in interior design, and a kitchen and bath certificate. She learned about this competition from Joanne Burns, her instructor.

Burns, who earned her degree in interior design at Michigan State University, teaches beginning and advanced kitchen and bath classes at SFCC. She also takes students on a field trip to the annual Kitchen and Bath Industry Show, most recently held in Chicago. There they view some 600 vendors of kitchen and bath products and learn about the newest choices in cabinets, countertops, plumbing fixtures, and appliances.

“This charette competition simulates the students’ CKD [certified kitchen designer] exams,” Burns said. “The stu- dents are given three hours. It’s all hand-drafting. They’re given a choice of two appliance packages, a profile of the client [in this case a married couple with a 14-year-old daughter], and the floor space with windows and doors. They have to design a kitchen that would meet their needs.”

More than 390 students from 31 colleges around the U.S. participated in the charette. Klavuhn and two other SFCC students — Ambree Krueger and Kerry McDonald — were among the 81 finalists, each of whom received a $50 award. Klavuhn was one of five Honorable Mention winners in America. She is attending the community college following a career as a math and science teacher. So how did math help her in the design charette, exactly?

“Well, they give you the basic outline of the room and you have to do all the square-foot measurements, then you have to figure out the dimensions and placement of the cabinets and refrigerator and everything else,” she said. Interior design will be a second career.

“I’ve always sort of done this on my own, transforming spaces in remodels for myself and for others. It’s time to get paid for it, I guess.”