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Food Network Kitchens

NulloModo

By NulloModo
in Food Media & Arts

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NulloModo

NulloModo

Posted
Posted

Hiya,

I thought it might be fun for us to talk about and rate the kitchens used in the foodnetwork television programs. Are you a fan of Alton Brown's huge tracts of space, or do you like the kitchy and cosy atmosphere of Rachael Ray's digs. Does Mario's classic italian cooking show motif do it for you, or do you like the glitz of the live band that accompanies Emeril on his show? Feel free to say why you like certain kitchens, or just talk about elements of certain ones you like, as well as trash others that you feel are awful.

Just to keep this sane let's limit this to kitchens used in actual cooking shows, so the Iron Chef Kitchen Stadium, and kitchens in famous restaurants visited in the 'travel food' shows are off limits.

My personal favorites are probably Rachael Ray's and Alton Brown's. I love Rachael's because there is lots of functionality (two ranges, a gas broiler, big sinks, nice work area) as well as a cute decor. I don't think one could help but be happy cooking in that kitchen. Alton's is awesome simply because of the sheer functionality and room to spread out. What I wouldn't give for the space he has in that kitchen.... (that cooky offset burner range is nifty too).

As far as bottom of the heap goes for me, I'd have to give it to the kitchen from 'Everyday Italian'. Maybe it is just the camerawork, but that kitchen always looks so unbelievably cold and uninviting to me.

So, now that I have chimed in, what do you all think?

He don't mix meat and dairy,

He don't eat humble pie,

So sing a miserere

And hang the bastard high!

- Richard Wilbur and John LaTouche from Candide

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hjshorter

hjshorter

Posted
Posted
given the option, i'd move into Michael Chiarello's kitchen/house/family room/backyard. although he might be on PBS, if that counts.

Nope, he's on Food Network now. And I agree that he has a nice space.

I love the design of Rachel Ray's kitchen - especially her stove.

Heather Johnson

In Good Thyme

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memesuze

memesuze

Posted
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Do you mean the Chambers range? I have one in robin's egg blue that I keep threatening to sell to get a big oven - but it reminds me of home, where I grew up with a gray one....

I'd love Alton's drawers full of every cooking toy imaginable, even the ones that came from the hardware store....

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hillvalley

hillvalley

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I want Alton's kitchen too. If only I had a different occupation :hmmm:

I also love Bobbie Fly's rooftop in Boy Meet Grill. It is a great space with an excellent view and gorgeous grill.

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

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NulloModo

NulloModo

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I want Alton's kitchen too. If only I had a different occupation :hmmm:

I also love Bobbie Fly's rooftop in Boy Meet Grill. It is a great space with an excellent view and gorgeous grill.

Oh, I had completely forgotten about the bobby flay place. Yes, that kitchen that opens onto the balcony is wonderful. I wonder if that is his actual place, or a set that is just rented out by the FN....

He don't mix meat and dairy,

He don't eat humble pie,

So sing a miserere

And hang the bastard high!

- Richard Wilbur and John LaTouche from Candide

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fifi

fifi

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I'd love Alton's drawers full of every cooking toy imaginable, even the ones that came from the hardware store....

It was Alton's kitchen with the drawers of goodies that opened my eyes to the use of drawers instead of the traditional base cabinets that you have to get down on your hands and knees to grovel into the back. The new kitchen will have all drawers. That was an AH HA! moment.

Emeril's kitchen on his "other show" is really classy.

My all time favorite is Martha Stewart's new studio kitchen. She did a show (shows?) on it that I found very informative. I got a lot of ideas for my kitchen from that. (However, I am still not going to spring for the soapstone. :sad: )

The kitchen on the old show "How to Boil Water" was pretty pathetic. (So was the show, actually.)

In the early days of FTV, it seems that they were really limited by not being able to have gas burners in the sets because of some zoning problem or something. Does anyone know how their studios are equipped now?

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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I like Ina Garten's kitchen and also the herb garden.

Rachel's kitchen is cute but too small for me.

I wouldn't trade any for my own kitchen.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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tommy

tommy

Posted
Posted (edited)
In the early days of FTV, it seems that they were really limited by not being able to have gas burners in the sets because of some zoning problem or something. Does anyone know how their studios are equipped now?

they've certainly had gas in the studio for some time now. i assume it's gas as i've seen flames as long as i can remember. did david r. have gas? i'm trying to remember back that far.

Edited by tommy (log)
tommy:eats.com
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NulloModo

NulloModo

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I like Ina Garten's kitchen and also the herb garden.

Rachel's kitchen is cute but too small for me.

I wouldn't trade any for my own kitchen.

Please, grace us all with some pictures of your kitchen (if you get the opportunity). I have heard you mention it before, and frankly, it sounds absolutely wonderful (especially the meat hook in the pantry).

He don't mix meat and dairy,

He don't eat humble pie,

So sing a miserere

And hang the bastard high!

- Richard Wilbur and John LaTouche from Candide

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patti

patti

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Has anyone else noticed that a bunch of the Food Network chefs use the exact same kind of clear glass mixing bowl? I've seen that Ina Garten, Sara Moulton, Giada De Laurentiis, and one or two others all use the same clear glass bowls. Maybe Emeril, too.

I'm with andiesenji, I like Ina's kitchen.

Dear Food: I hate myself for loving you.

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RSincere

RSincere

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I love Alton's kitchen. That bastard has everything. And Rachael Ray's stovetop is cool, and especially her broiler. It definitely cooks more evenly than mine does.

But what I'd really like to do is raid Sandra Lee's kitchen. She doesn't use anything in it anyway--I could give her stuff a good home. She has a Kitchen Aid mixer in every color, but she only ever uses her Sunbeam hand mixer. I would definitely take one of those Kitchen Aid mixers. She has a lot of fancy pots she doesn't use, either. On one episode she used one pot to cover the other pot when simmering instead of using a lid. I'll leave her the can opener, microwave, and blender, and she'll be okay. I'll even trade her my hodgepodge thrift store reject pans so she's not left bare.

Rachel Sincere
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PoetsGirl

PoetsGirl

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If you like Alton Brown's kitchen, it is for sale now: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW

Wonder what this means for future production of Good Eats...

The buzz on the Good Eats fan page is that the kitchen has been recreated in a studio, and has been in use since last fall. Not even the die-hard AB fans noticed the switch. Everybody just went...oooh, he got a new stove. He went with GE appliances instead of Viking in the new kitchen.

Here's the discussion: http://goodeats.dyns.net:/viewtopic.php?t=6041

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dumplin

dumplin

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I love Ina's kitchen. It has a lot of natural light and a great floor plan. I also love Alton's kitchen that is now for sale. The Everyday Italian kitchen was very cold looking.

it just makes me want to sit down and eat a bag of sugar chased down by a bag of flour.

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picaman

picaman

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I love the design of Rachel Ray's kitchen - especially her stove.

The old stove in the left-hand corner? It rocks. I love the pop-up in-stove warmer--so completely logical.

:smile:

Jamie

See! Antony, that revels long o' nights,

Is notwithstanding up.

Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene ii

bio • website

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irodguy

irodguy

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If you like Alton Brown's kitchen, it is for sale now: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW

Wonder what this means for future production of Good Eats...

The buzz on the Good Eats fan page is that the kitchen has been recreated in a studio, and has been in use since last fall. Not even the die-hard AB fans noticed the switch. Everybody just went...oooh, he got a new stove. He went with GE appliances instead of Viking in the new kitchen.

Here's the discussion: http://goodeats.dyns.net:/viewtopic.php?t=6041

Last fall at a Central Market class Alton told us that the show had to move to a studio due to neighborhood complaints about traffic.

Never trust a skinny chef

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FistFullaRoux

FistFullaRoux

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I think cooking in the old Galloping Gourmet kitchen would be a blast, but I'd update the appliances. I really like the layout with the double ovens, though.

The first Jamie Oliver kitchen was nice as well. I would get lost in Emeril Live's, I'm way too tall to be caught in Rachel Ray's kitchen, and the Hot Off The Grill set is just set up all wrong. He must be a lefty.

Screw it. It's a Butterball.
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jgarner53

jgarner53

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I love the Alton Brown kitchen. I dream of acres of soapstone and more drawers than I know what to do with (I currently have three), double ovens, and a top-mount fridge.

I also dig Rachel Ray's because of the retro-ized yellow fridge and vintage Chambers range. It seems like an awkward layout, though.

You could also set me up in Julia Child's kitchen (OK, not Food Network, but how could we leave her out?) in her house in Mass. Maybe I could move into the Smithsonian. All those lovely copper pots, a whole bunch of rolling pins, and her eclectic collection of stuff.

And, as much as I am ambivalent about Martha, her kitchen with the jadeite collection, glass fronted white cabinets, and soapstone counters is really just about my dream kitchen.

"I just hate health food"--Julia Child

Jennifer Garner

buttercream pastries

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Devilkitty

Devilkitty

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I like Jamie O's kitchen on Oliver's Twist. Small, but the layout is great.

The Good Eats kitchen (the second one) is pretty, but it's waaay too big for me - kitchen junk invariably expands to fill the available space!

The kitchen on Good Food Fast (do they even still run that?) hurts my eyes.

However...

Any of 'em would be better than the twelve square feet (in four uneven sections) of counter space, less-than-standard-depth wall cabinets (dinner plates don't fit), and one drawer (of three) big enough to store more than a turkey baster that I deal with now.

Charlie

Walled Lake, Michigan

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sequim

sequim

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Hand's down, Jamie O's kitchen - it looks like someone really lives there and it looks so much like London outside that round window. I like that it's messy with an old fridge and magnates on it, hanging jars full of spices and herbs, the hole cut in the counter to the garbage...just all these personal touches. In that vein, Julia's kitchen would be the greatest - it is so lived in looking, in fact it was! I hate these high tech, everything perfect kitchens with acres of space. It's just not homey or inviting.

Secondly I like Ina's place, especially her garden!

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PoetsGirl

PoetsGirl

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Hand's down, Jamie O's kitchen - it looks like someone really lives there and it looks so much like London outside that round window. I like that it's messy with an old fridge and magnates on it, hanging jars full of spices and herbs, the hole cut in the counter to the garbage...just all these personal touches. In that vein, Julia's kitchen would be the greatest - it is so lived in looking, in fact it was! I hate these high tech, everything perfect kitchens with acres of space. It's just not homey or inviting.

Secondly I like Ina's place, especially her garden!

I totally dig the hole in the counter thing. When I get a real kitchen, I want one of those.

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bilrus

bilrus

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I would love to cook in the Emeril Live kitchen. I like having everything in front of me and having the sink on the same counter as the stove. And I would enjoy having the built in grill and deep fryer too.

I could do without Doc Gibbs and the fawning audience though.

Bill Russell

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bobdavis

bobdavis

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If you want a Chambers range, I know where a couple are here in San Antonio that are for sale. They'd need a little restoration (or a lot) but they're mostly complete.

I have to look up the name, but it's an architectural salvage place on Cherry st. in SA. Very cool place if you ever get the chance to stick your head in. There are/were some fantastic houses in San Antonio that are now living on in their salvaged bits - doors, entry ways, windows, floors, stairways, cielings, etc. Even old ranges.

Look around where you live, and you might find just such a place!

If you like the look, but also like the lessons learned in stove design since those vintage stoves were made, you can check out Elmira Stove Works.

bob

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