Scottsdale, since 2011
We only know one room. That is the whole idea.
Lumen designs and builds kitchens. Not bathrooms, not additions, not whole-home remodels. The narrowness is not modesty, it is how we keep dates and avoid the mistakes that generalists make in a room full of services.
Credentials and record
- 214Scottsdale kitchens delivered
- 4.9Average from 186 reviews
- 91%Finished on the contract date
- 14Years, kitchens only
- AZ ROC licensed#000000, sample placeholder
- $2M general liabilityCertificate on request
- NKBA member studioSample credential
- EPA Lead-Safe certifiedRequired pre-1978 homes
- 5 year workmanship warrantySample term
- 30 day realignment visitOn every project
01
How the studio got here
A drawing practice that learned to build, not a builder that learned to draw
Most kitchen remodels fail at the plan, not at the install. A cabinet set perfectly level in the wrong position is still in the wrong position. We started as a drawing practice because that is where the damage is done, and we took on the building later because watching other people misread our elevations became intolerable.
That order matters. The plan set comes first here, always: a measured survey to the eighth of an inch, a plan, four elevations, an electrical layout and a stone shop drawing. By the time a crew arrives, every decision that could stop them has already been made and written down.
It also means we say no a lot. We will tell you that your 11 foot room cannot hold an island, that the quartz you love will scorch, and that moving the sink six feet across a slab-on-grade floor is a trench, an inspection and a real number. None of that is what people want to hear at a first meeting. All of it is cheaper to hear then.
- 2011
Mireille Okonjo leaves a Phoenix design-build firm and opens a one-person kitchen drawing practice above a paint shop on Marshall Way.
- 2014
Aaron Whitcomb joins to run sites. The studio stops subcontracting project management and starts holding its own schedule.
- 2017
The Camelback Road studio opens with a full materials library: door samples at full size and stone offcuts you are allowed to put a hot pan on.
- 2021
Lighting design is brought in-house after one too many projects where a beautiful kitchen was lit by an electrician's default layout.
- 2024
Rendered walkthroughs become standard at Signature level, after a year of tracking how many change orders they removed.
- 2026
214 Scottsdale-area kitchens delivered (sample figure). Still kitchens only, still one room.
02
Four rules we do not bend
What we actually do differently
One room, on purpose
We turn down bathrooms, additions and whole-home work every week. Fourteen years inside a single room is why our drawings are faster and our surprises are fewer.
Selections close before demolition
Every finish, every appliance model number, every hardware pull signed off before a single cabinet comes out. It is the least glamorous rule we have and it is the one that protects the date.
We publish what went wrong
Every case study on this site names the problem we hit and what it cost. A portfolio with no problems in it is a portfolio that has been edited.
Numbers, not adjectives
Foot-candles, aisle widths, waste factors and lead times. If we cannot put a figure on a claim, we do not make the claim.
03
Five people, one room
The studio, and the designer whose name is on your drawings
Trades rotate through a project. These five do not. You meet your designer and your supervisor before the first day on site.
Mireille Okonjo
Principal designer
19 years in kitchens
Draws every plan set in the studio. Will measure your existing kitchen twice and your ceiling height three times.
Aaron Whitcomb
Project director
22 years in kitchens
Holds the schedule. The person who calls you on a Friday whether the news is good or not.
Sofia Renteria
Materials and specification
11 years in kitchens
Runs the slab yard visits and the sample library. Knows which quartz scorches and which fabricator to trust with porcelain.
Idris Haddad
Lighting and systems
14 years in kitchens
Bench-tests every dimmer and driver pair before it is specified. Owns the foot-candle targets.
Lena Brotherton
Site supervisor
16 years in kitchens
Sets the zip wall on day one and closes the punch list on the last. Cabinetry level within 1/16 in over the run or it comes off.
04
7025 E Camelback Road
The materials library is the whole sales pitch
Full-size doors, not 4 inch chips. Stone offcuts you are invited to put a hot pan on, a lemon slice on and a marker pen on. Every hardware finish in the hand, including the unlacquered brass that has been on the bench since 2019 so you can see what a living finish actually becomes.
We light the library at 2700K with CRI 95, because that is what your kitchen will be lit at, and a sample chosen under 4000K showroom light is a sample chosen wrong.
Come and argue with us about your layout.
Bring a photo, a rough measurement and the thing that annoys you most about the kitchen you have.
Design fee credited against your project. Consultations booking 3 to 4 weeks out.