Star Kitchen: Aarti Sequeira
Aarti Sequeira shows us around her colorful Raleigh kitchen.
Photograph by Dhanraj Emanuel.
When Aarti Sequeira moved from Los Angeles to Raleigh, NC, last year with her family, her new kitchen had to be camera-ready. “I didn’t want people to scroll past my cooking videos on Instagram,” says the Guy’s Grocery Games judge. She found just the thing to grab everyone’s attention: an emerald tile backsplash. “The color just totally captured my heart.” She designed the rest of the space with filming in mind: She installed a wall oven plus a KitchenAid range in the island so she never disappears from the camera’s view. She also picked stain-proof quartz counters (she cooks with a lot of turmeric) and filled shelves with objects that inspire her, like a photo of her mom, Rose. Aarti’s favorite thing about the kitchen, though, is that it sits in the middle of the house so she can hang out with her husband Brendan and daughters Eliyah, 7, and Moses, 5, while she cooks. “The kitchen is the center of our lives,” she says.
Spices on Hand: Aarti’s masala dabba contains some of her most used spices like turmeric, paprika, cumin seeds, cumin powder, black mustard seeds and garam masala. She turns to it often when she’s making dishes like kheema and roasted vegetables.
Extra-Wide Fridge: This KitchenAid double fridge is wider than it is deep, so Aarti can easily grab what she needs. “I’m very aware of where everything is at all times,” she says.
Floating Shelves: Aarti picked open shelving to showcase more of the tile backsplash. She displays some of her prized possessions here, like her milk-glass vase collection.
A Good Sign: Aarti’s friends Ashley and Ross Steeves created this sign for the launch party of her cookbook Aarti Paarti in 2014. The letters light up!
Credits:
All text written by Audrey Morgan for Food Network Magazine.
Photograph by Dhanraj Emanuel.
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