Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

The Kitchen is Coming

Kitchen-water-spout

Two walls painted and two more to go… photos soon to follow.

I am a happy camper in our, practical, user friendly, not as charming, new kitchen.

One of the lick-able features that I am smitten about is the water spout above the stove top. It beats having to carry pots of water from the sink to the stove. My only regret in the kitchen is that I did not put the water spout off to the side of the stove top. The reason being that when I am cooking with several pots at a time the steam goes up and tends to coat the spout, making cleaning it a daily activity.

What is one of your favorite features in your kitchen?

Note:
My friend Ellen and her husband Frank were featured in the New York Times last Thursday! Ellen is an architect living in North Carolina. You can see her ultra contemporary home here and here. I am so proud of my friends, BRAVO Ellen and Frank!!

Comments

33 responses to “The Kitchen is Coming”

  1. Julie Ann Evins

    Thats a great idea and lets not forget your “pop up” sockets whilst we are about it. I am struggling to be positive about my kitchen as it is too small with inadequate storage and thus a daily frustration. However.. I love that it has double doors to the garden. I love that it has a range with 8 rings and I love looking up at my Grandads stone mead pots that sit on the shelf (taking up space that could be more usefully employed !) Bon Weekend, Jx

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  2. Deirdre

    What a great idea! I’m thinking about my heavy canning pots and how much easier it would be to fill them on the stove.

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  3. TACE

    My most favorite feature in my kitchen is the freezer section of our fridge because ice cream lurks in there just waiting to be eaten… 😉 we rent here but that doesn’t stop me from appreciating the wall of floor to ceiling cupboards, BRILLIANT design, the more shelves the better!!!!! Everything’s better with more shelves!

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  4. Rhonda

    What I can see of your kitchen it looks great and I love the water spout above the stove top. We have a very new kitchen and I just love everything about it. The pantry has now doubled in size and all the bench tops are also a lot bigger also my fridge now has its own built in space. I now don’t have to go into the dining room to get anything from the fridge. I can’t really pick a favorite thing in the kitchen, I love it all.

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  5. Rex

    My favourite feature in our kitchen is the granite island bar with different levels. The highest level and furthest from the stove is where people can eat and have a vantage point as to what’s going on in the kitchen. Guests can be in the kitchen and not get in your way while cooking. The second level of the island bar is the general purpose counter. The third and lowest level is opposite to the stove, where I prepare most of the “mise en place”. Although when you place the wooden cutting block here, it’s at the same level as the middle level. Underneath the lowest level is a storage area where I keep my pots, pans, bowls and other baking equipment. It’s a beautiful island and very practical. Only drawback is the island does not have any power outlets. So if I need to use the mixer or any other electrical equipment, I would go off to the side to plug in. Oh well. I did not design the house so I would have to renovate like what you did, in order to get exactly what I want. I love your water spout! Always wanted one. I do agree with you with the location and if you are cooking other things on the stove while having to fill up, you have to reach across hot pots/pans in order to operate the spout. But I love it none the less. I wish I had one.

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  6. Julie

    I have the same kettle. Maybe I can pretend I really live in the south of france and that is my kitchen!

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  7. Paulita

    My favorite thing about my kitchen is that every lower cabinet has shelves that pull out so I don’t have to reach back in the recesses. I also love the very deep sinks. I hate the dishwasher – Italian made, cleans awful, as a matter of fact, cleans is an exagerration.

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  8. Vicki

    My favorite is my farmsink that is made from stone. It is so large…I just love to wash dishes in it. The countertop matches!!! I also love my plaster walls!!!
    It makes the kitchen feel warm and old!

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  9. Evelyn Jackson

    I visited your friends’ Cassillhaus site…OMG, what a house! I love their artist-in-residence project. Your kitchen is going to be so lovely. Can’t wait to see it all finished and painted. My favorite thing in my kitchen is it’s big and easy to cook in. Even though my house isn’t fancy, new, exciting…I love it for the big kitchen with lots of cupboards, lots of counterspace, lots of ways to organize the space for cooking.

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  10. Evelyn Jackson

    PS…you mentioned La Louisiane in your question/answer post a few days ago I booked a room there for 3 nights in Sept. I’ll let you know how it goes!! Thanks for the tip.

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  11. Kim

    Corey, I can’t wait to see your kitchen when it is finished! I wish I had put a spout above my stove so bravo to you. I also love your pop-up outlets!
    I simply adore my kitchen. I posted a photo of it here:
    http://mimicharmante.blogspot.com/2009/04/lens-love.html
    I love my incredibly huge island, my pull out shelves in my storage container cabinet, the panels on my fridge, my marble countertops, oh, the list could go on and on. Our house was built in 1928 and the kitchen looks right at home. It was a lot of work and there were a lot of hiccups throughout the process, but in the end, it is my favorite room in the house. I certainly spend enough time there~
    Have a lovely weekend my friend and I will wait patiently for those photos…
    xo

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  12. Heather

    I have heat lamps with drop down shelves at the back of my stove top. I can’t believe I ever lived without these!

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  13. Sally

    Thanks so much for telling us what the piping was in your photo Corey – I saw it and wondered what the heck is that?! 😉 I’m loving your attention to detail and I told my husband all about your hidden electrical connections – I’d so love that!
    Oh gosh. I’m so envious, everyone has such lovely kitchens and my itsy bitsy narrow 1949 stucco box original kitchen is embarrassed by it’s lack of style and modernity. WAH! I keep thinking, some day, some day, I will be able to have a kitchen the dog doesn’t take up the entire floorspace of!!! She loves to loll smack dab in the middle of the floor (the middle being, the “whole”, there isn’t a hairs breadth around her to squeeze by teehee) when one or both of us is in the kitchen. 🙂
    A couple of years ago we were inspired by a kitchen in Martha Stewart and repainted it a lovely vintage green and that would currently be my favorite thing about our kitchen. And one of the original features I love are the corner windows over the sink where I get to watch the world go by as I wash the dishes.

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  14. Marilyn

    I thoroughly enjoyed seeing your friend, Ellen’s, home.
    My kitchen is a 1950’s soft yellow and turquoise delight. What I enjoy the most is walking into it each morning and being greeted by the morning sun shining through the windows.

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  15. Penelope

    I can’t wait, Corey, to see what your finished kitchen looks like.
    We renovated our kitchen nearly 4.5 years ago, making 2 rooms into an eat-in kitchen which we’ve never had before. We reused most of the old cupboards & my husband made the new cupboards that we needed, but I’m still waiting for the little finishing touches that need completing. In my new kitchen, my favorite thing has to be my Schott CERAN cooktop that I also use for kneading dough on when I make pizza & bread. It is such a breeze to clean. I learnt to cook on a gas stove, but have cooked on electric stoves since I’ve been married. Our trash bin is located in a tall drawer near the sink & I hang a hand towel on the handle. And I also like our small dishwasher which can be programed to run at night when the electricity rates are cheaper. And I’d be absolutely lost without my microwave oven which has its own shelf at head height near the stove. My pantry cupboard was constructed 2 years ago & has 2 deep drawers at the bottom for my Tupperware canisters & containers, then 2 cupboards for foodstuffs, then another cupboard just below the ceiling for things that get used infrequently. And I love having a bookcase in the kitchen for all my cookbooks that I’ve collected over the past 25+ years.

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  16. georgie

    That faucet souunds very handy. Favorite things in my kitchen? When my fella comes over and makes dinner (but not when I have to clean the 40,000 dishes he dirtied in the process) and the cast iron skillets Mom just gave me. She inherited them from Nana, who was a fabulous cook. I’m learning a lot about how to use cast iron for cooking. The kitchen is just very basic, no fancy gizmos or features. Do wish there was room for a dishwasher some times though.

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  17. Jacqueline

    I’m sure that that little faux- pas won’t be a major issue, although, any extra cleaning is not something that any of us want !!!!
    My favourite feature in my kitchen hasn’t got anything to do with kitchen matters. It’s the original, Victorian, painted , stained glass window.
    Can’t wait to see your finished kitchen, XXXX

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  18. Cathy Smallwood

    Corey, thanks for introducing us to your friend and her fabulous house, which, btw, is the next town over from where I live!!! A very small world after all. The RTP is certainly a world-class location. As for the favorite part of my kitchen, the paint color! I was a red/white person until I bought a lovely Limoge pitcher with soft soft blue violets painted on it….changed my world I can tell you. Now, soft blue, almost grey is the theme color of our whole house. Still have my bright red KitchenAid stand mixer tho….

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  19. le petit cabinet de curiosites

    Love that idea. One day, You should help me for my own house

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  20. Marilyn

    That’s one of my pet peeves, having to carry huge pots of water from the sink to stove. Your solution is brilliant, plus it looks very stylish.
    My kitchen faces east, so every morning I’m greeted by the morning light. I sit at our kitchen table, which is adjacent to a large window, and apply my makeup watching the sunrise. The kitchen windows overlook the backyard and my flower beds. It really is a pleasant way to start the day!
    Marilyn (in Dallas)

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  21. Franca Bollo

    Congratulations to Ellen and Frank! I could live in that house … but only in San Francisco.

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  22. TERI REES WANG

    In my kitchen, I love all my open upper shelves. Everyone is able to grab a glass, a bowl, a mug, and fill it with anything they see, without much help from me.

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  23. Ed in Willows

    I hate our kitchen. It’s too small and has less counter space than yours. I would love to remodel but it would cost a fortune.

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  24. Jill Flory

    Hi Corey,
    I think pot fillers are one of the best inventions ever! If I ever completely remodel my kitchen or build a new one I WILL have a pot filler!! I’ll have to remember that it is better to put them to the side of the stove and not right above it though!
    Can’t wait to see the pictures of the finished product!
    Jill

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  25. julie – eab designs

    I am spoiled by our large double ovens. Quite often I have both going with wonderful smells filling the kitchen. I also could not live without our very large and deep sink. So easy to accomodate large stock pots and platters. Looking forward to seeing your kitchen photos!

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  26. Mary

    I’ve wanted a pot-filler since I first saw one some years ago – such a brilliant idea if one is a cook! Unfortunately I have no plumbing on that side of the kitchen so I’ll continue lugging those heavy pots across when it’s pasta and soup making time!
    I love many things in my kitchen – the useful island, the Corian counters with all-in-one deep double sinks (so easy to clean!), the smooth top stove (again, easy to keep clean). Cabinets are the original ones from the ’80’s but are OK, and I had some doors replaced with glass so I can see my white French Countryside china.
    I love the big window looking out into the back garden with the deck and gazebo, and the one over the sink where my window box is full of tumbling purple petunias, gold lantana and variegated ivy……and in Spring always the nesting wrens!
    Corey, so looking forward to seeing your completed kitchen…….after the paint dries! Lucky Linda – she told me she visited – you don’t know how I wished I was able to join you gals!
    Hope Sacha’s journey went smoothly – know your family are thrilled to have him back.

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  27. if jane

    love the water-spout! cannot wait to see the kitchen…;))
    new york times..wow! am impressed!!! and they have an amaaaaaazing home…(note to self: in my next life i will be an architect!)
    xx

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  28. Merisi

    Good morning, France! 🙂
    I am a day late – too many apricot dumplings to roll yesterday!
    First thing I noticed was, what else, the water spout! Yes, yes, I can feel your hard-working back letting out a sigh of relief! Now I can’t wait to see the rest of your new fabulously practical kitchen.
    Btw, a friend of mine has been researching new kitchen furniture and come down, with the recommendation and help of her carpenter, to go with IKEA!
    A wonderful Sunday to you all!

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  29. Merisi

    REX!!!!
    You write so enthusiastically about your kitchen counters at three levels: Pleeeease, let me have a peek, I am burning with curiousity!

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  30. Isa

    Looking good! I love the water spout over the stove. I wish i had one 🙂
    My favorite thing about my kitchen is that it is about to be redone!
    xo Isa

    Reply
  31. Ardi

    I love having the countertops just the absolutely right height for me – my uncle and husband made my cabinets so they are perfect. I also like my double window (makes you want to open it and start singing “the hills are alive with the sound…” that opens out and overlooks the woods behind the house.

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  32. shannon in oregon

    i love my flying pigs chandelier!

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  33. KindaSassy

    I live in a small rented apartment in Ottawa and missMissMISS having a decent sized kitchen. Mum and I often talk about when I love back home we are going to build a house near the sea and there is going to be a HUGE kitchen in there for me, as I just adore to cook. I do think I will require a tap over the sink, but will learn from your issues and put if off to the side!
    I made my first ever carrot cake the other day and Bronwen loved stirring the ingredients… simple peasures.

    Reply

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