Our Designers:
Donald Courtney | Owner

Donald Courtney.
Photo by Mamta Popat

Becoming the owner of Southwest Kitchen & Bath has woven together many different threads of my life so far. Growing up in New Hampshire, I was deeply interested in fine arts, using up all my elective credits on art classes. After high school, I hitchhiked across the country with my best friend. We worked in commercial fishing in Alaska and served tables at fine-dining restaurants between fishing seasons. I took a Cabinetmaking and Fine Woodworking course in Seattle and found my passion and career—a trade that spoke to me and satisfied my creative impulses. I moved back east to Massachusetts to work with my brother at a frame-to-finish building firm and started my carpentry career in earnest.

After a few years, I moved to Tucson and started my own cabinet installation business. Bob and Mel Elkins, the founders of Southwest Kitchen & Bath, were among my first customers and, over the next decade, became my largest customer, with my company doing most of their reface and new-cabinetry projects. When they put their business up for sale, I did not hesitate to purchase one of Tucson’s most trusted kitchen retailers and a company already closely tied to my own.

And this is where all those different threads come together. Fine arts nourished my creativity. Traveling taught me independence. The factory work in Alaska taught me efficiency and organization. Restaurant work taught me how to relate to customers in a refined, respectful way. And decades of carpentry work equipped me to address most any technical challenge. All of which bolsters my confidence that I can do right by the company Bob and Mel founded—and by the projects close to my clients’ hearts.

The kitchen is the heart of the home. In no other room is the right balance of utility and aesthetic—the practical and the beautiful—so important. A kitchen project can be an extremely emotional experience for a homeowner. My job is to make the experience a positive one by always keeping the customer informed, being available through the entire project, and streamlining the process through good planning and using only the most adept and trusted subcontractors. My reward is a customer who is happy not just with the kitchen of their dreams, but with the people and process that made it happen.

It’s a long way from the fisheries in Alaska to the Sonoran Desert, but I’m grateful for every step in the journey. And I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with you on your most important home projects.

View my Work +
Isaiah Carlisle

Bio coming soon!

View my Work +
Maria Jean

My passion is bringing the most innovative design ideas to the table. From color and texture to function I have immersed myself in interior design for 15 years. Because of this, I feel I can relate with my clients. I look forward to building a relationship at the start of each new design process and learning about your vision. I find it most rewarding to step back and view the difference we created in your home. There is no vision we can not achieve together!

View my Work +
Zoe Wristen

Bio coming soon!

View my Work +

Our Project Management Team

After the designers lock in your new and improved project design, we expect you will want to know the next step. That’s where we come in! As the project management team we will guide you through each stage of the process. We start by creating a personalized calendar specific to your project to keep all trades on schedule. Knowing your project can be overwhelming at times we empathize with that and will do what we can to make the process as painless as possible from start to finish.