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DEL.ICIO.USDoes the kitchen make the cook?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This weekend I happened to check out a couple of the houses on a local “home tour.” (Druid Hills tour)These sprawling residences always have one thing in common. The kitchen is the crown jewel. It’s always in pristine condition with acres of countertops and a pile of artistically arranged cookbooks. I have to admit, I always wonder. Does anyone actually cook in these kitchens or are they just a designer’s dream? They make me want to sneak a peek in the fridge to see if there is any real food inside.
When I first started catering, decades ago, I did most of the work out of a kitchen that was the size of these mansion’s powder rooms. Yet, it worked perfectly for me. Everything was right where it should be and with an adjoining table I cooked effortlessly for scores of people. Years later I had a kitchen three times the size that just did not work. The appliances weren’t in the right places. Even though there was decent counterpace, it never worked with the flow of action. Luckily, now I am in a house with a great kitchen. While not huge, the space works together perfectly whether I am cooking up a meal for 2 or 20.
RELATED links: Photo Gallery: What’s Cooking in Kitchen Design; Upcoming home tours
What do you think? Does size matter? Did getting a bigger kitchen change the way you cook? What makes your kitchen work (or not work) for you?
Comments
By Mechi
April 21, 2008 3:35 PM | Link to this
Usually most social functions I attend, people always congregrate in the kitchen, for that reason I would like a big kitchen. But to actually cook, I would like a midsized U shaped kitchen with maybe an island center (which I’m missing in my current kitchen), with the gadgets (cutting board, knives, basic utensils, etc) I use most often in reach.
By Together for 12
April 22, 2008 7:49 AM | Link to this
Growing up, my mother always cooked meals every day, and she was quite an avid cook. She would exeperiment in the kitchen all the time even though we were a family of just 4, and she swore by her double ovens! :)
About 10 years ago, they bought a new house that’s far bigger than the one I grew up in with a huge kitchen, those beloved double ovens, and all sorts of room and a terrific island. Guess how much cooking she does now? Pretty much next to none. They always go out to eat. Why have a huge, fancy kitchen that you have to keep clean (hey, even if you don’t use it, it gets dusty, floors get dirty, etc.) if you’re not going to cook anything? It seems very common - the larger the kitchen, the less it’s cooked in.
By monteal
April 22, 2008 8:22 AM | Link to this
my mom had a kitchen the size of a commercial kitchen about 20x25 and she cooked everything from bread to rolling out her own pasta to butchering a side of mutton we lived in there. I loved it and its always been my ideal I want that kitchen in my house I love to cook all day. but I know my family is the exception not the rule
I clean houses and the biggest most functional and beautiful kitchen I just dust and wipe the fingerprints off the stainless steel appliances