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A chef’s experience for your custom kitchen

Based in beautiful Bozeman, Montana

With over 25 years of restaurant and private kitchen experience, Amano Kitchen Consulting knows what makes all kinds of kitchens work. From high-end home kitchens to award-winning commercial kitchens, we’ve made cooking and entertaining our main course, and now we want to identify what can make your kitchen click for you, building on your dreams by working with your architects and interior designers to customize your vision.

Founder Hugh Amano’s practical knowledge as a professional chef, cookbook author, and culinary instructor will help you and your team focus in on your culinary and entertaining aspirations to explore all the possibilities you’ve been dreaming of—and even some you haven’t thought of yet.

A professional chef cooking in a professional kitchen that he designed stove pasta kitchen design cooking architecture new home build interior design high end home Bozeman Montana Big Sky Livingston Paradise Valley
Modern kitchen with a marble island, stainless steel appliances, and pendant lights kitchen design cooking architecture new home build interior design high end home Bozeman Montana Big Sky Livingston Paradise Valley

Over 25 years in professional and residential kitchens

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We Listen, Contribute, and Collaborate

We’ve got plenty of ideas for your kitchen, but we want to hear what you want, too. As your architects focus on structural design and your interior designers dial in aesthetics, AKC works to understand your culinary, homemaking, and entertaining desires, serving as liaison between you and your team to develop a fresh, functional, and cohesive vision for your new space.

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We start by meeting with you and your team to explore your vision for your kitchen. Together, we’ll identify your unique goals and develop distinct, creative solutions to meet them.

With your custom vision in hand, we’ll collaborate with your entire project team to review and adjust floor plans, equipment selection, and kitchen layout to ensure your needs are being met.

Then, we’ll discuss the outfitting of your new kitchen with cookware and, if desired, assist in its procurement and placement.

Want to learn more? Book 1-on-1 culinary sessions tailor-made to help you make the most of your new kitchen. After all, we’re not private chefs—we want to teach you to become your own private chef.

Our Process

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A wealth of experience gained over 25 years of working in professional, residential, and resort kitchens—consulting on the design of many of those kitchens—allows us to deeply understand what’s at the core of good cooking, lively entertaining, and gracious hospitality.

Founder Hugh Amano’s experience as a chef, world traveler, pioneer in high-end corporate dining, editor, and cookbook author makes AKC the well-rounded source to consult on your kitchen project. We’ve cooked in a lot of kitchens from Chicago to Bozeman and beyond, but we’re not interested in just another showroom kitchen. We’re driven to help bring your kitchen into the world.

Our Experience

Kitchens

  • 3 Corporate Headquarter Dining Kitchens, Chicago IL

  • James Beard Award-Winning Restaurant, Chicago, IL

  • Private Caterer, Bozeman, MT

  • Luxury Guest Resort, Kamas, UT

  • Bar and Restaurant, Teton Valley, ID

  • Various Residences, Chicago, IL

Culinary Work

  • Private Chef for high-end Chicago commercial real estate firm, cooking solo for 100+ people per day

  • Chef for several restaurants (including a Bon Appetit “Best New Restaurant in America”)

  • Culinary Instructor

Publications

Illustrated cover of a ramen cookbook titled 'Let's Make Ramen!' by Hugh Amano kitchen design cooking architecture new home build interior design high end home Bozeman Montana Big Sky Livingston Paradise Valley
Cover of a culinary journal titled 'Bon Vivant,' pasta' wooden surface. Hugh Amano kitchen design cooking architecture new home build interior design high end home Bozeman Montana Big Sky Livingston Paradise Valley
cookbook 'The New Chinese American Cookbook + East' by Ron Hsu with Hugh AmanoEric Ripert. fried chicken kitchen design cooking architecture new home build interior design high end home Bozeman Montana Big Sky Livingston Paradise Valley

About Hugh

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I love food, and I love cooking, and I've been able to fulfill that passion and hone my craft through my work as a chef and writer over the past 25 years. Now, I want to impart this passion and experience to your kitchen by helping inspire and build the kitchen of your dreams—or even the kitchen you don't even know you are dreaming about yet.

With a couple of decades in the vast food industry of Chicago, 4 cookbooks, and one culinary journal under my belt, plus degrees in Culinary Arts (New England Culinary Institute) and English (The University of Colorado), I’ve found the most joy cooking for friends and family at home. I firmly believe in giving the home kitchen a heartbeat—making it the home’s hearth—and creating a space, big or small, where friends and family can gather to break bread and share one of life’s greatest joys.

We’re in Bozeman, MT — Get In Touch

We’ll be in touch to set up an initial, no obligation discussion.