Welcome to the September 28th Foodie Friday.
Even when I was a small girl, I was obsessed with kitchen design. I would roam the neighborhood with my friend Susie, boldly ringing doorbells and inviting our ten-year-old selves for home tours. Susie and I were never spurned. Nor did we ever see dishes in the sink or unmade beds. The smells of coffee and lemon furniture polish always wafted in the air. Most homeowners had something delicious bubbling on the stove and baked goods on the counters. Susie and I were offered cake and 7-Up. With our bellies and minds filled with sugar and color schemes, we'd march to the next victim and brazenly ring the bell.
This was the 1960s, a time when food-and-decor was a passion for many homeowners. But neither Susie nor I could have guessed that home tours would be available in a less intrusive manner. Here it is 2012, and home tours are available on food and decor blogs. A girl doesn't have to get out of her fuzzy pink bathrobe to discover the latest paint colors or must-haves for the kitchen (both of which seem to change with the speed of a knife passing through warm butter.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
So today I am inviting you into my kitchen. The coffee is ready, and the cinnamon bars have just been drizzled with icing. Just for you.
This is the Bald Hill Farm kitchen, circa 2005, planned while I was busily writing my fifth book, Mermaids in the Basement (my friend Allison, an editor at Atticmag, graciously allowed me to fictionalize her gorgeous Alabama kitchen).
Now, all these years later, I am writing my eleventh book, and since the book centers around a cook named Teeny, kitchens are very much on my mind.
Even when I was a small girl, I was obsessed with kitchen design. I would roam the neighborhood with my friend Susie, boldly ringing doorbells and inviting our ten-year-old selves for home tours. Susie and I were never spurned. Nor did we ever see dishes in the sink or unmade beds. The smells of coffee and lemon furniture polish always wafted in the air. Most homeowners had something delicious bubbling on the stove and baked goods on the counters. Susie and I were offered cake and 7-Up. With our bellies and minds filled with sugar and color schemes, we'd march to the next victim and brazenly ring the bell.
This was the 1960s, a time when food-and-decor was a passion for many homeowners. But neither Susie nor I could have guessed that home tours would be available in a less intrusive manner. Here it is 2012, and home tours are available on food and decor blogs. A girl doesn't have to get out of her fuzzy pink bathrobe to discover the latest paint colors or must-haves for the kitchen (both of which seem to change with the speed of a knife passing through warm butter.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
So today I am inviting you into my kitchen. The coffee is ready, and the cinnamon bars have just been drizzled with icing. Just for you.
This is the Bald Hill Farm kitchen, circa 2005, planned while I was busily writing my fifth book, Mermaids in the Basement (my friend Allison, an editor at Atticmag, graciously allowed me to fictionalize her gorgeous Alabama kitchen).
Now, all these years later, I am writing my eleventh book, and since the book centers around a cook named Teeny, kitchens are very much on my mind.
My previous kitchen had traditional creamy white cabinets and black granite counters. I was ready for a change. White cabinetry can be a challenge if your coffee pot explodes on a regular basis. Black granite is stunning and striking, but it's high maintenance. Bald Hill's busy granite has hidden our household sins. Would I choose it again? I don't know.
Just like the character in the Teeny Templeton mysteries, I do love copper pots.
The desk area.
So now we will move to the kitchen at Rattlebridge. The early 1990s style kitchen has the same counter space but more cabinets and drawers.
AU-shaped work area is my favorite design.
I'm completely swamped with writing and have put the Rattlebridge project on hold.
This is good because it has given me time to think about what I like in a kitchen. Time has helped me see what is, and isn't, important. I don't care about inset cabinets or overlay--I just want lots of drawers. I don't need bigness; I need function.
The cabinets may or may not be painted. But whatever happens,
this kitchen and I will get along just fine.
What are your must-haves in a kitchen?
Do the trends and dos/don'ts make you dizzy?
What's really important in your kitchen?
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