I haven’t purchased an iPad (yet), but if/when I do, the little dear will definitely be spending lots of time in the kitchen with me.

But would I actually carve up my cabinets to make a cozy little home for this device?  Would you?

Given the opportunity (darling husband out of the house and unable to stop me) and a couple glasses of Sauvignon Blanc, I’m guessing I’d make a go of it.

Should that day come, this video will help provide me with inspiration:

Until that time, I would love to hear from anyone who has used some old-fashioned ingenuity to integrate the iPad into the kitchen. Better yet, come by and help me. I’ll pour you a glass of wine. ;-)

If a road trip this summer takes you  anywhere close to New England, consider a tour of America’s Kitchens, an exhibition of Historic New England.

(See HGTV.com for more info on this lovable kitchen.)

“Where We Cook” interview with Chris Perrin

Your kitchen style?
Organized chaos.  It starts organized.  It ends in chaos.

Kitchen style inspiration?
Emeril Lagasse.  I don’t know that he ever said the words “mise en place” but after a few episodes of Emeril Live, I realized that he had all his ingredients in little bowls and because he did, everything cooked so quickly.  It was like a light came on and now I do most of my cooking by first prepping my mise en place and then turning on the stove.  The one time I can’t start with mise en place is when I have a screaming, starving child at which point things just start getting tossed in the skillet.  Technique be darned!

What do you enjoy most about your kitchen?
What it lets me do.  My kitchen is my creative workshop.  In it, I get to make beautiful things, food that makes people happy, and dishes that make me happy.  Even better, cooking transports me away from all of my problems, no matter how bad my day has been, and puts me square in a world where I can do anything as long as I have a sharp knife and the right ingredients.

Kitchen indulgence?
My collection of Asian sauces.  I love opening my Dim Sum cookbook or my crazy Sichuan cookbook and having the sauces I need.  On any given day, I’m pretty sure I don’t have prepared mustard, but I wouldn’t be caught without fermented black bean paste.  Pretty sure that qualifies me for counseling.

One thing you would change?
I need more counter space.  The people who owned my house before me took about 5 feet of kitchen space and made it into a bathroom.  I want that 5 feet back.  My wife won’t give up the bathroom, though.

Three most frequent kitchen aromas?
Garlic, onions, basil

How many cookbooks in the kitchen?
One…the one I am cooking from.  I am all about dirtying up a cookbook as I am using it.  After that, I put it away where it won’t get splashed, splattered, or burnt.  Nor chewed on by the mutts.  My bookshelf, though, has probably one hundred and my bedroom ten more.  None have my name on the cover unless I wrote it on the inside.  For now.

Most unusual thing in the kitchen?
My giant pepper mill.  It’s also Emeril inspired and I bring out when I want to be silly.  And possibly to threaten people who don’t like my food were such people to exist.  (They don’t.)

Warmest childhood memory involving a kitchen?
Wow, that kitchen in my memory looks huge.  I had to stand on a chair to even use the stove.  It had wooden counters and a big red oven.  On top of the stove was a small glass bowl with bacon grease and biscuits.  Grease to cook and biscuits for making croutons or bread crumbs.  Probably totally unsanitary, but my dad didn’t waste a lot. That kitchen also had my dad in it.  I have always enjoyed cooking with him.  He taught me how and for that I owe him.

Favorite kitchen to visit?
Jasper Mirabile’s.  Jasper is a fantastic chef and a better human being.  I can’t help but get excited when I walk into it.

Did you have a “play kitchen” as a child?
Never.  I secretly wanted to have an easy bake oven, but I figured the other boys would laugh at me.  So instead, my parents let me use their kitchen (supervised, of course) with varying success.

In the kitchen with you?
My son.  He loves to “cook.” Cooking for him usually means one of two things: standing over the skillet I am using and dumping things into it when I am not looking or standing over his own mixing bowl and dumping in his spices.  We buy him 99 cent spices from a local grocery store and just him dump them in, add a little soy sauce, and whisk to his heart’s content. The dogs also clean the floor for me.  I am less than enthused by this since I trip over them.  But it does speak to my greater laziness.

Kitchen play list?
I listen to O.A.R.’s Live in Madison Square Garden.  That’s it.

Julia Child’s kitchen is now in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
Where would you like your kitchen to be displayed one day, and why?
Mars.  I’m a big geek and if my kitchen was a “relic of Old Earth” some day, then my kitchen would be the ultimate combination of geek icon and culinary icon.  Again, therapy is probably in order.

Chris Perrin
Merriam, KS
Blog: www.blogwelldone.com
Twitter @blogwelldone
Contributor to SheKnows.com, TotallyHer.com, and BigBlendMagazine.com.

Icebox blocks by (Electrolux Design Lab) stack up to keep the peace in shared kitchens.

Art meets appliance in the LG collection.

Juicy jelly beans by Smeg.

Pastel dinner mints by Big Chill.

Forget the kitchen. This furniture-quality piece by Meneghini demands to sit in the dining room. Let’s swoon, shall we?

But first … join us now as we step into the “SteamyKitchen” of the sweet, sassy, and always entertaining Jaden Hair.

Enjoy!

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Where We Cook interview with Jaden Hair

Kitchen style?

Chaotically organized.

Kitchen inspiration?

I’m a spontaneous cook and shopper…I’ve got ingredients and gadgets from all over the world…but not enough space to store them in! It drives my husband crazy.

Best thing about your kitchen?

I love that my kitchen spills into the family room – so I’m right there in the same room as everyone else when I’m cooking.

Kitchen indulgence?

Well, technically it’s not IN my kitchen, it’s in the lanai – but the Big Green Egg. Love the thing. It does magic to meats.

Would love to have…

A sunroof! I need more natural light into the kitchen!

Top three aromas that permeate your kitchen?

Garlic, ginger, steak.

Cookbooks?

Probably close to 300 cookbooks, which is nothing compared to my Mom’s 2000! My own book doesn’t come out until October.

You have what in your kitchen?

I have over 45 different sea salts. I’m obsessed with sea salts! Smoked, black, flake, Australian, Bali, Hawaiian, French…I think I have the world represented in salt.

Childhood kitchen memories?

I remember going fishing on the weekends and coming home with a cooler full of perch and bass. Fishing was always so much fun for our family – we had a secret spot were we camped out and some days dragging close
to 100 small fish home which made all of us so happy. We caught our own food! Then our whole family would help unload and Mom would be busy scaling the fish in the kitchen sink.

Favorite kitchen to visit today?

Diane and Todd’s of Whiteonricecouple.com!! Because they’re always cookin’ something yummy!

Play kitchen?

No I really didn’t! I didn’t cook much as a little kid – anytime I was in the kitchen while Mom was cooking, I got stuck with the crap jobs like washing dishes!

In the kitchen with you?

My boys, 4 and 6. Always moving the stool close to where I’m at to see
if they can help.

Kitchen playlist?

Big Night soundtrack

Julia Child’s kitchen is now in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Where would you like your kitchen to be displayed one day, and why?

Hmm…I don’t think I would! A kitchen is so personal and warm…having it live outside of a home just doesn’t seem right.

Jaden Hair
Tampa, Fla.
Food writer and television personality
Website: www.steamykitchen.com
Twitter: @steamykitchen

Flow 2 kitchen

Recyler’s dream kitchen. Created by Studio Grom; recently featured on Apartment Therapy. Check it out.

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Where We Cook Interview with Anne Coleman:

Kitchen style?
Hectic, varied and classic all at the same time.

Inspiration?
Seven children, a picky husband and a culinary diploma.

Best thing?
That it’s mine. I shared a kitchen for years with my mother-in-law and although I loved aspects of it, the fact that it was never truly my own space was difficult. Now I’m free to create as I please – and I do.

Your indulgence?
The KitchenAid stand mixer. It was given to me, but I still find that it’s not completely necessary. I spent so many years kneading my own bread and whipping my own egg whites and cream that I sometimes forget that it’s there.

What would you change?
More counter space! That seems to be the boon of every cook I know. We all need more room. Most common aromas? Garlic, olive oil and yeast.

Cookbooks?
I have a collection of nearly 200 cookbooks and I’m not sure how many booklets and magazines. My mother had a collection of over 1,500 at one time; it’s got to be genetic.

Most unusual item?
Not unusual, but very individual is the lamp over our table. It’s a stained glass version that my father-in-law made. We cherish it much as he is no longer with us. It’s like having him at the dinner table each night.

Childhood kitchen memories?
In my family, our togetherness and love was so connected to food that it’s hard to choose just one memory. Up there with the best is my maternal grandmother’s kitchen. Nothing special to look at, she even had the washer and dryer in the corner of the room, but the love there was incomparable. We spent our summers in her kitchen and on warm summer evenings with the smells of corn fields floating in through the open windows and sounds of crickets and katydids chirping, the red-ripe and juicy tomatoes from her garden tasted all the better because of where we were.

Favorite kitchen to visit today?
My mother-in-law’s. My own mom has stopped cooking because of health issues, so my husband’s mom has been the only kitchen we visit – and happily so; she is a wonderful cook who loves to try new things and succeeds well at it.

Childhood play kitchen?
We played in the real kitchen – making things that we shouldn’t and most likely wasting food my mom needed. She never scolded us, though – just let us create and learn. The first thing I ever ‘made’ was a glass of sugarless iced tea when I was all of 3 years old.

In the kitchen with you?
My oldest daughter will stand and watch me cook and chat with me while I get my work done. The smaller children run in and out asking for food and generally getting underfoot.

Kitchen playlist?
I don’t listen to music when I cook simply because I don’t have any radio etc. there. I sang when I was younger and I still do it while I cook – lots of show tunes.

Julia Child’s kitchen is now in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Where would you like your kitchen to be displayed one day?
Maybe in a local museum because by then I’d become a local icon. I doubt it will happen, but you never know.

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About Anne:

Anne Coleman
Lehigh Valley, PA, USA

Website: http://cookingwithanne.com
Blog: http://www.athousandsoups.blogspot.com
On Disney’s Family.com: http://family.go.com/food/pkg-cheap-eats
Twitter: http://twitter.com/anniepooh

]]> http://wherewecook.com/2009/07/21/kitchens-of-the-50s-plug-in-to-innovation/feed/ 1 • AE kitchen http://wherewecook.com/2009/07/20/posted-by-popular-demand-mr-uptons-obituary/ http://wherewecook.com/2009/07/20/posted-by-popular-demand-mr-uptons-obituary/#comments Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:51:46 +0000 • http://wherewecook.com/?p=155 ]]> Why is there an obituary posted on WhereWeCook.com?

Folks want to read the Mr. Upton obituary Christy Jordan has hanging in her kitchen. (Read the story in Christy Jordon’s Kitchen post.)