A Kitchen With Flow
By Christa Terry
Love her or hate her, Julia Child exerted a great deal of influence over the evolution of American cooking — a book I love, Something From the Oven, touches briefly on just how much. But that sort of history is best left to authors of food tomes and cookery bloggers. What I’m interested in is her kitchen. Want to see it? There’s an amazing reproduction of Julia Child’s kitchen in an exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. I’d post a picture here, but I’m unsure about the legality of doing so, which means you’ll have to be satisfied with the link above.
Isn’t that a beautiful kitchen? Julia Child’s kitchen was not particularly pretty in the sense that a staged kitchen in House Beautiful is pretty. Rather, it’s a lived in kitchen… a worked in kitchen… a kitchen that is beautiful in its perfect usefulness. The knives, the colanders, the parts for the KitchenAid are all accessible. I somehow imagine that I could walk right into Julia Child’s kitchen and start whipping something up without much trouble. I doubt anyone could say the same for my kitchen, since not much beyond my cast iron pan and my teapot is accessible without digging around in cabinets and drawers. Could someone say the same for your kitchen?
December 9th, 2009 at 7:09 am
The only thing I really hate about my kitchen is the stupid corner cabinet. I can’t see what’s in there and I can’t reach it either.
Other than that, we’ve changed it around a fair bit – added Ikea cabinets, a hanging pot rack and a couple of magnetic knife bars. Granted, the quantity of knives makes us look like maniacs, but dammit, they’re quality knives and that’s all we really care about!
Of course, the big Christmas change-around is coming next weekend, where all non-essential work-surface will be cleared of e.g. the bread bin, microwave, toaster in order to allow the maximum possible prep/dishing up space.
In short, I love my kitchen. Especially when it’s clean!
December 9th, 2009 at 8:14 am
We have the same issue with our corner cabinet, Margaret. There’s this horrible dark recess where things get lost. When we replace our cabinets, my plan is to only have that cabinet go as far back as one can see since that’s as far as we fill it anyway. The dark recesses are already nothing more than wasted space.
December 9th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Those are called blind cabinets for a reason! If you remodel, go for an easy reach unit or a “Magic Corner”. Accessible and practical.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Thanks for the tip, Jennie! I’ll definitely be looking into those.
December 10th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
I love my kitchen. My father-in-law built all of our cabinets to my specifications (maple, Shaker-style with a tung oil finish), so while it might not be perfect for everybody, it’s perfect for me. Instead of lower cabinets, I mostly have drawers, so that I don’t have to crouch down and rummage around for things. At the very end of the kitchen, I have a narrow broom closet, so that if I need to sweep up crumbs, a broom is handy. Our cupboard for glasses has a glass insert in the door, so that if company’s over, they can easily find the drinking glasses. I have lots of cupboard space and a good work triangle. And this winter, he’ll be finishing off the piece de resistance, a floor-to-ceiling pantry with pull-out trays. Eventually, we might put in a work cart or movable island, but haven’t fully decided yet.
December 11th, 2009 at 12:52 am
The kitchen is the most busiest part of the house,so it is wiser to have furniture that fits your needs. You don’t need to have that cabinet if it only distracts and mess up your things. Sure she has a good kitchen at home, but it is better to be more organized.
March 13th, 2010 at 9:51 am
Thanks for sharing this one!
May 20th, 2010 at 8:05 am
Gah seems like i am not really having much luck today, first of all i woke up and stepped on my dogs foot.. Now i typed a comment and it goes to a white web page! Ehh i knew i really should of copied it to my clipboard thingo just before i clicked submit as it completely disappeared. A day in the life of Glenda G lol, anyhow very wonderful blog dude/dudette!
Glenda B. G
July 30th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Love this loads. How cool to see in such a famous lady’s kitchen!