John Colaneri

John Colaneri (born March 6, 1981) is an American TV personality, real estate developer and home makeover expert. Colaneri previously worked at his family's construction firm, which led him to appearing in a number of US-based TV shows. He is one half of the TV duo often referred to as the kitchen cousins with his real-life cousin, Anthony Carrino.

Since 2011, Colaneri has been a presenter on a number of home makeover shows on the HGTV network, DIY Network and Fine Living (Europe). The first show aired with Anthony Carrino as his co-host and was titled Kitchen Cousins. The show received positive reviews, which led to the release of two more Cousins titled home makeover shows, Cousins on Call and Cousins Undercover. Both series ended in 2015, with Colaneri again teaming up with Carrino for their 2015 show, America’s Most Desperate Kitchens. The Today show is currently in its second season. Colaneri also co-hosted Grand Design, a series made for The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which aired in late 2016.

Colaneri's knowledge of home makeovers has led him to feature regularly on TV shows as a guest. Shows have included Good Morning America, The Today Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Steve Harvey Show and The Rachael Ray Show.

With most of his family involved in construction, it was natural for Colaneri to work as a laborer when he was home from college in the summers. He worked for his uncle's company, Prismatic Development, where he was involved in many aspects of the construction process. With his experience in construction, savvy business skills and an eagerness to learn, he was ready to devote his time to the family construction business, Brunelleschi Construction.

Colaneri attended Don Bosco Preparatory High School (1995-1998) and graduated from Ramapo High School in 1999. In 2003 he graduated from Penn State University with a Bachelor of Science for Labor and Industrial Relations and a minor in business management. After completing his education, he began to work for the Fortune 500 company, Fisher Scientific. After working at Fisher Scientific, Colaneri went onto work with Faital S.P.A. where he worked for a couple of years.

He left his full-time role at Faital S.P.A. to start working for his family business. Colaneri worked at the construction firm from 2007 onwards and spent the majority of that time working as a senior project manager. He also worked at the firm with his cousin Anthony Carrino.

In 2011, Colaneri and his cousin Anthony Carrino were approached by HGTV to present a new home makeover show. The show would be titled Kitchen Cousins, with Colaneri and Carrino managing and designing new kitchens for people who appeared on the show. Each week, the cousins would go to a different home and redevelop the kitchen in the home, before unveiling the work to the owners once it had been completed. The show initially aired for its first season in 2011, but was soon renewed for a second season.

After the first two seasons of his Kitchen Cousins show, it was expanded from working just with kitchens to remodeling entire homes and retitled Cousins on Call, with one example where they remodeled a 5,000-square-foot (460 m²) penthouse duplex in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. According to the Huffington Post interview, the aesthetics of the building were transformed in just five days.

Along with HGTV, Colaneri and Carrino announced that they would be launching a new home makeover show. The show would again focus on kitchens like their original show did and would be aimed at helping Americans who were struggling to afford the renovation costs. The show was titled America’s Most Desperate Kitchens and aired in 2015. The show was renewed for a second season, which aired in summer 2016. Later that year he appeared on Family Feud with his cousin Anthony as part of a HGTV special. Later the same year they also appeared on The Steve Harvey Show, offering advice on kitchen improvements.

In May 2016, John and his cousin Anthony appeared on The Rachel Ray Show. During the show, the spoke about a number of aspects of giving new homes a more rustic feel. This included a tutorial on how to reuse old wood to create unique features within a home.[ During the same year, he worked with Ellen DeGeneres to launch the online series, Grand Design. The show was based on the principle that they would redesign a room in just 24 hours using only $1,000 dollars. He and Carrino returned for a one off holiday special in late 2016. As the way people’s viewing habits start changing more to online streaming forms of media, Colaneri and Anthony Carrino have starred in various online series including, Chill & Grill on ULive.com, AOL's MANuscript.

Other ventures

Colaneri is the co-author of the upcoming book, "What Can you do with a Toolbox?”. The book is said to be launched in Fall 2018.

Colaneri has a close working relationship with his cousin, Anthony Carrino. He and Carrino have worked on television since 2011 and as a duo, they are often referred to as "The Cousins" in the United States.His family home featured regularly on American media after it was constructed. Each of the features focused on a different aspect of the home, including its closet, kitchen, and decor. Colaneri and his wife Jennifer Walker were married in Newport, Rhode Island. Colaneri resides with his wife in in Ramsey, New Jersey.

In 2009 Colaneri and Anthony Carrino recruited local businesses, artists and the Italian-American service organization UNICO to raise funds for victims of the L’Aquila, Italy, earthquake. The event garnered nearly $10,000 for the charity.

Colaneri and his cousin partnered with Ellen DeGeneres in 2012 to originally refurbish a kitchen where one of Ellen's viewers resides. After finding out that the family in question had huge financial issues, Colaneri and Carrino decided to complete refurbish their entire home and not just the kitchen. This was the first of a number of charitable home makeovers by Colaneri and his cousin. Their working relationship with Ellen DeGeneres emerged again later in 2012 when they decided to completely remodel a home that that devastated by Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey. Colaneri then started presenting the third Cousins-based show, which was titled Cousins Undercover. Colaneri is also involved with the Best Buddies program for the New York/New Jersey chapter, which offers One-to-One Friendship and Leadership Development programs - which helps individuals with and without disabilities in the region.

• Kitchen Cousins (2011-2013)
• Cousins on Call (2013)
• Cousins Undercover (2013-2014)
• America's Most Desperate Kitchens (2015–present)
• Grand Design (2016)