BlueStar has officially announced the winners of its highly anticipated annual Kitchen Design Contest, a prestigious program dedicated to celebrating the architecture and design community’s creativity, vision, and execution of inspiring residential kitchen spaces centered around BlueStar appliances. This year’s competition highlighted a diverse array of projects that pushed the boundaries of color, practical layout planning, and high-end residential integration.
A distinguished panel of judges selected six standout professionals—comprising one grand prize winner and five regional winners—from a competitive pool of entries. The curated panel brought a wealth of industry expertise to the judging process, featuring notable designers and previous Kitchen Design Contest winners Garry and Suzanne Shumaker, who are also responsible for selecting the upcoming 2026 Color of the Year. They were joined on the judging panel by Jenn Feldman of Jenn Feldman Design and Lindsay Woolf of Woolf Architecture.
The ultimate grand prize for this year’s competition was awarded to Mark Schwebel, a talented designer and builder at Big Art Building Corp based in San Jose, New Mexico. Schwebel earned the top honor for his exceptional work on a project known as Calle Largo Ranch. The striking design immediately captivated the judging panel with the rigorous attention to detail required to successfully execute a minimal, organic design philosophy without sacrificing warmth or functionality.
At the heart of the Calle Largo Ranch kitchen sits a custom Fawn Brown BlueStar 48-inch Dual Fuel Range, serving as the powerful visual and functional anchor of the entire space. The range is seamlessly framed by custom white oak cabinetry and matching white oak floors, creating a cohesive, earthy foundation. To elevate the material palette further, Schwebel incorporated floor-to-ceiling silver travertine sourced and imported from just east of Rome, Italy, paired with Taj Mahal quartzite countertops. The quartzite surfaces were finished with a subtle whitewash treatment specifically designed to prevent long-term yellowing, preserving the pristine, natural aesthetic of the stone.
The project’s meticulous craftsmanship extends upward to the ceiling, which features rustic beams milled from white fir. Notably, Schwebel personally sourced this timber from dead trees left in the wake of the devastating 2021 Caldor Fire near Lake Tahoe, infusing the space with a profound sense of history and environmental stewardship. Meanwhile, the white oak utilized throughout the kitchen was expertly cut by a friend in New York’s Hudson Valley before being carefully shipped across the country to New Mexico.
Rather than opting for traditional upper cabinetry that risked crowding the intentionally compact kitchen layout, Schwebel made the strategic design choice to eliminate wall-mounted cabinets entirely. In their place, he installed a generous window to flood the room with natural light, while cleverly routing extra storage needs into an adjacent, highly functional butler’s pantry.
The design choices resonated deeply with the judges. According to Garry and Suzanne Shumaker of Shumaker Design Associates, two of this year’s competition judges, the space immediately stood out for its honest design approach and its calm, inviting atmosphere. They noted that the BlueStar range is thoughtfully integrated into the layout, establishing a beautiful visual contrast against the surrounding minimalist materials. Every single detail within the kitchen is executed with striking precision, serving as a powerful reminder that achieving the cleanest lines requires the absolute highest level of craftsmanship.
In addition to naming the grand prize winner, BlueStar announced five regional winners whose creative contributions continue to shape the trajectory of modern kitchen architecture and interior design.
Ann Muth, vice president of marketing at BlueStar, reflected on the exceptional talent showcased throughout this year’s submissions and the ongoing importance of the design community to the brand. Each year, Muth noted, the company is deeply honored by the remarkable work that the design community creates with BlueStar in mind. These exceptional projects offer a fascinating look at the dynamic, innovative ways architects and designers utilize color, engineer practical and efficient layouts, and ultimately enrich their clients’ everyday home lives. Furthermore, collaborating with past winners to serve as judges provides the BlueStar team with invaluable insights into emerging industry trends while discovering new avenues to support and recognize the broader design community.
The annual competition has firmly established itself as a coveted honor within the residential design sector, celebrating incredible kitchen projects that successfully incorporate BlueStar’s signature professional-style appliances. These include high-performance ranges, wall ovens, advanced ventilation hoods, and premium refrigeration units engineered specifically for the home. As part of their recognition, the grand prize winner is awarded a selection of BlueStar appliances boasting a retail value of up to $20,000, while each regional winner receives a professional-grade cookware set valued between $400 and $600.
