Everything and the Kitchen Sink

BPA-designed kitchens: top, Old Field, NY; bottom, Captree, NY

The history of the kitchen is one of my favorite topics.  Perhaps no other room speaks so directly to cultural, technological, and social changes in human lifestyle.  Whether we gather around the open pit hearth or the granite kitchen island, kitchens offer a duality between the work of preparing food and the hopes for a convivial, communal experience.  Today's kitchen, laid out to maximize prep surfaces and efficiency, offers a myriad of cooking opportunities while remaining centrally located as not to miss all the action.  It is a space full of aspirations of the life we wish we could lead-- the Viking oven installed for the apply pie you might bake someday instead of the takeout food you reheat regularly.  Traditional or modern, the kitchen is certainly the heart of a house, turning it into a home.

And the Winner...

Eames-esque and mid-century-- both for $150. Now that I've got the stools, I just need the bar!

Child's Play

It was My Life In France that did it-- it made me a Julia Child fan. Sure I had grown up with her show on PBS, but then it was the background noise of my childhood. Her memoirs changed that. Transported to Julia Child's apartment in 1940s Paris, I experienced the lushness of the landscape and the cuisine, discovering them through Child's words. Though I'm not one for recipes myself, Child's fastidious and scientific approach to showing Americans how to create French meals revealed a woman whose intelligence and sophistication I grew to admire. And she did it all with a palpable joy and a glass of wine.
So it was with great anticipation that I went to see her kitchen at the Smithsonian. Despite the crowds and the plexiglass, it was a welcoming and intimate kitchen, functional and friendly. It surprised me. While kitchens today are grand marble affairs with center islands and subzero refrigerators, Child's pans on peg boards, knives exposed, cupboards without doors offer insight into her process. I easily envisioned her flowing from one workspace to another, reaching for a spatula, turning on the mixer. Her bookshelf, another marvel, offered even more insight. I've frequently considered the topic of bookshelves, so I relished the chance to see what was here. Audubon's field guilde, Bullfinch's' Mythology, well-worn cookbooks intermingled with an unfussy, unpretentious, utilitarian air. I wanted to plop down at the kitchen table and flip through them while Julia whipped up a simple meal for us. I emerged from my fantasy satisfied, wonderfully transported and surprisingly refreshed, not unlike a great dining experience.

Efficient Ideas

I am not a fan of buying new in the name of the environment especially if I can repair it or buy it pre-owned, aka used. But lately James and I have been upgrading our eco-profile with a few key purchases. What makes them key is their frequency of use. First came the car. As those who know us know-- James and I have been through an incredible array of vehicles, looking for the perfect configuration for our use. With my daily round-trip commute of seventy miles and two kids, my choice in cars had to meet approximately 75 different needs, now with a 30 mpg minimum. And there she is, my new GTI. Swift, comfortable, with every bell and whistle, and 33 mpg on the highway. T'was worth ditching the Mercedes.
As for the Breville Smart Oven, James is a big proponent of conseriving energy by using convection or toaster ovens instead of heating up our large wall oven. This one replaces ten years of subpar toaster ovens now residing in landfills; one had a temp control handle snap in two, another sparked and caught on fire. The Breville is a beauty-- and though it cost more than the others, it still costs less than the four of them combined. Ask me how it roasts, c'mon, ask me! Pure, energy efficient joy.
The last upgrade was LED bulbs. Pulling less energy than even a CFL, and far less than incandescent bulbs, they even direct light downward, causing less light pollution when used outside. For more on lightbulbs, check out modernemama's take on them.
So despite my quest to reduce my consumption, these ideas were simply too efficient to bypass.

Old Field: Kitchen 'n Bath

Kitchens and bathrooms are their own genre of interior design. Investments into these spaces always come back in spades. Not only do you get to enjoy your spiffy digs, it's great for resale. This Bouler Architecture project in Old Field has the most amazing kitchen. Under a barrel-vault overlooking the Long Island Sound, this kitchen is definintely the heart of the home. Can't you just imagine the meals being enjoyed there? As for the bathroom, the buttery marble and warm wall color create a space that is both inviting and tranquil.

If You Can't Stand the Heat

I like to think of kitchens as aspirational spaces. We ascribe to them our domestic desires, fantasizing about the meals and the conversations that will take place in our ideal world. Of course reality can be far from our dreams, as those with professional Viking ovens now used to reheat their take-out can attest, but today's kitchen is a vast improvement from the past. The 18th C. finally brought an end to the walk-in fireplaces, where hoop skirts often made for dangerous situations, while the 19th C. relegated food preparation to the least sociable areas of the home. The 20th C. gave us refrigerators, microwaves, and TV dinners. Amenities not withstanding, the modern kitchen, now a public realm, often sets the tone for the entire house. Is it cozy or spacious, cluttered or sleek? Living Etc, the British decor magazine, got me thinking about the Oak Beach kitchen. The top kitchen struck me as a perfect mix of textures and functions, without being fussy, perfect for a beach house lifestyle. The one below, however, serves as my aspirational kitchen-- bohemian, comfortable, colorful. In my mind, I'm sitting at the table having a cup of tea with a Russian novel.

In contrast to the usual stainless ranges, I also found a couple of really interesting British range ovens. The first one, Leisure Range 90, has the most functional interior, with many short racks along one side and a larger space on the other. This enamel range has a 1930's modern feel to it that also appeals to me. The other one, a Range Master Classic 90, was similar, but provided more options in color-- from green to black to blue to red, and could serve as an incredible accent to an all-neutral kitchen. Both remind me of an enamel oven James and I saw in a house for sale in upstate NY. It was all I could do not to bid on the house simply for the fantasy of cooking on that range. Fortunately I came to my senses right about the time the firehouse across the street set off the 12 o'clock whistle, which I had not included in my reverie.

Going Home Again

Who says you can't go home again? Sometimes it's better the second time around. Having grown up in Northport, LI, I developed a cynical teenaged attitude against the little town of ice cream and antiques. Later, before focusing only on architecture, Bouler Design Group opened a gallery and shop named Artfolio on Main Street next to the movie theater. The years have passed and now I take my children to Northport to walk around, and yes, get an ice cream cone.

On yesterday's trip, I was pleased to find a charming shop down an alleyway called The Dishmonger, a mix of new and vintage kitchenware. Everything was so perfectly selected and displayed that it was hard to focus on just one item. From the artichoke tureen (can't stop thinking about it) and the vintage Corningware that may have been straight from my grandmother's kitchen, I had a hard time narrowing down a purchase. Fortunately I'll be in the area tomorrow and might just have to pick up that tureen-- oh and that dutch oven-- and maybe the oilcloth for the kitchen table. Unless, of course, you get there first!

And the Kitchen Sink

One of the greatest house fantasies has to be a dream kitchen. You know it-- lots of counter space, roomy cabinets, a place for guests to congregate for parties, not to mention that Wolf eight burner you've been eyeing. In this fantasy of domestic life, you're a chopping and dicing maven, making soups from scratch, offering homebaked treats to neighborhood children. And then you wake up from the dream, too busy to cook, using your oven for little more than keeping the takeout warm. It's a modern conundrum, the desire to nest and not having the time to do so. No place offers this dichotomy more acutely than the kitchen. Unlike the master bedroom, a private oasis, the kitchen is a public space. What was once a spot for servants, tucked away out of view from the master, has become the center of today's home. Its long and interesting history stems from its balance between form and function-- its plan has to work in terms of efficiency, storage, and circulation, and each kitchen must suit the needs of its owner. My dear friend Janine, an amazing cook who entertains often, needs two ovens in her kitchen, whereas another friend Joanne needs little more than a bowl and a spoon. Some of these needs are strictly personal, but many are cultural. A book which chronicles this transformation of the kitchen is House Thinking where Winifred Gallagher details the historical and cultural impact of events such as the Revolutionary War and the Industrial Evolution on the kitchen. In fact, it has been said that one can track the status of women based on the development of kitchen design. Today, in our post-Martha Stewart era, the kitchen now reveals domesticity as both a status symbol and a form of relaxation.
The importance of today's kitchen is evident in just about every residential project that comes into our firm and requires expertise; a mistake in kitchen design can be both costly and a daily source of aggravation. So what are your suggestions, I ask James. In most traditional kitchen renovations, he creates the work triangle wherever possible, but when starting from scratch, he advocates a C-shaped design, allowing a cook to move from work station to work station with a pivot or a swivel. Meanwhile on Dwell Magazine's website, they've got a slide show called "A Closer Look at Kitchens." It's a great mix of modern, funky, minimal, and playful interiors.
As for me, the kitchens I love tend to have quirky histories. One great kitchen was in Greenport in an old clamming shack called the Poop Deck. It had enough room for one, maybe two if you really were close. With minimal counter space and low ceilings covered in pots and pans, it felt more like a closet than a room. When I'd cook there with my friend Pamela, we'd chop on the enclosed porch, moving into the kitchen as needed. Even cooking was an outdoor affair on the grill. My own kitchen, as seen in these pictures, also had a previous life. The breakfast nook was once a beauty salon, the owner cutting hair where my kitchen table now sits. We renovated in stages (first the floor, now the lights, maybe next year we'll do the counters) until we updated all we needed. It is the center of our house, a place for cooking and eating, of homework and entertaining, of late night snacks and early morning coffee. Sure there are new kitchens with restaurant-quality appliances, but it's the meals and conversation shared with friends and family which makes a kitchen practically a member of the family.