Gentle reader,
It’s been a while. As mentioned in the last post, your correspondent has moved kitchens (and other rooms as well) from the city to the suburbs. The change has been exhilarating but exhausting as well. Between packing and unpacking, renovating and repairing and generally re-ordering our lives, it’s been a hectic few weeks, with precious little time for R&R—or blogging. Experts say that moving house is one of the most stressful life experiences and, if this move is typical, I’d say they’re right!
But, when all is said and done, it’s been well worthwhile. The new kitchen is bigger, brighter and, in just about every way, better than the old one. And while I try to keep the focus here at Memorie di Angelina on the food, not on me, I couldn’t resist the temptation to share this new space with you. After all, this is where the cooking actually happens. So, without further ado, here’s a brief tour of the new digs:
First, the kitchen island, my “Command Central” where the prep work happens. It has plenty of room for chopping and slicing, with room to spare for all my ingredients and an open cookbook:
Against the windows there’s the cooktop—finally, I’m cooking with gas again!—and room for keeping all (or most of) my utensils at the ready, plus assorted oils and sauces, plus some extra work space on both sides. Notice the daylight streaming into the room. And, on the left, my trusty stand mixer:
One of the great things about this kitchen are the shelves. I can now keep most of my cookbooks right in the kitchen!
I love our new KitchenAid refrigerator, with a huge center drawer for produce:
On the far side of the kitchen, a double wall oven:
And now perhaps my favorite corner of the kitchen, with more counter space for appliances, plus shelving above for canisters of dry ingredients, my terracotta pots and, yes, more cookbooks. At the moment I have my toaster oven and trusty rice cooker out on the counter. Below the counter I’ve stashed away my deep fryer, blender, fondue pots, vacuum sealer, spice grinder and other goodies. (Stuff I used to keep down in my basement, requiring a special trip to retrieve.)
On the right side of the sink is the coffee station. This might be the most important part of the kitchen; where would I be without my morning cup of cappuccino?
Right off the kitchen, there is a pantry with generous storage space and (out of sight) an extra fridge and a ‘spillover’ closet for serving pieces, oversized cookware and other stuff that I don’t use every day:
And did I mention lots of drawers and cabinets to keep pots and pans and dishes and all sorts of the gadgets, and special purpose drawers for cutting boards and baking trays? Folks, I finally have a kitchen where I can keep, at the ready, all of the stuff that I’ve accumulated over a lifetime of food obsession.
Of course, what you cook has got to be eaten. Off the kitchen, we have two areas for enjoying the fruits of my labors, an indoor breakfast area which, truth be told, is where we have lunches and dinners more often than breakfast:
And, right outside the kitchen door, we’ve set up a space for dining al fresco:
Ready for our Labor Day cookout…And, for formal occasions, the dining room:
Yes, this new place is a wonder. It certainly makes for a real change from our city galley kitchen! And it makes an even bigger difference from the kitchen where Angelina prepared her wonderful dishes:
When I think that she turned out exquisite multi-course meals for ten (or more) people at a time…which only goes to prove that you don’t need a ‘gourmet’ kitchen to prepare wonderful food. But, I can say, it does make cooking a lot more fun. Now that we’re settled into the new digs, I’m looking forward to getting back to presenting you, dear reader, with more recipes from Angelina’s repertoire and beyond, just in time for the dreaded but inevitable rientro (return to work after the summer holidays). Until then, happy cooking!
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28 Comments on “Angelina’s New Digs”
Cozinha linda, mas o jardim é o local ideal para partilhar uma refeiçao numa bela noite de verão.
Frank, I'm so pleased to see you make your best culinary dreams come true! Amazing space and perfect design. I moved from my old adobe with the huge Wolf Range and every pot, gadget, appliance one can imagine to a tiny cottage up in the hills. The kitchen is like a galley and it is a challenge to become inspired. Enjoy your fabulous place and bring forth with some great new Fall & Winter recipes. Best from Montecito, s
Thanks again for your wonderful comments and good wishes. And thanks for stopping by!
@Ciao Chow Linda: Not months later, only a few days. And, yes, it would seem we have a lot in common!
Congrats Frank. It is gorgeous, every bit of it.
Wishing you much happiness in your new home (and kitchen).
LL
Frank – For some reason, this post showed up just today on my google reader and I had to comment, even if it's months later. The kitchen is fantastic – I recognize a lot of the same Italian pottery I have – pattern called “Raffaelesco” And you've got the same dining room table I have and the same glass-front cabinet – from Ethan Allen, right? Both of us have great taste, I'd say. Beautiful back yard and pool too. You're so right about Angelina not needing all this to churn out great meals. My relatives never had such amenities either but what a fantastic culinary heritage we both have!
Loved your photos of Kitchen and dining table is splendid….do visit following blog of mine aswell
Click here http://www.bestforchef.com
Congratulations on the new set up. Can't wait to see what you cook up in there!
Thanks, again, guys for all kind comments and good wishes. It'll be fun cooking for you in this new space. Now my work needs to live up to the space…!
@Proud Italian Cook: Sorry about the problems you've been having making comments. Unfortunately, you're not the only one. There seems to be an issue some readers commenting on blogspot blogs. Something about browser compatibility, I think. I may move to WordPress one day when I have the time and energy!
What a beautiful kitchen! (And house!) May God grant you many years to enjoy it my friend! Regards!
Oooh, I want to see the rest of the house and..boy I sure need a “command center”!!
Ciao,
L
Congratulations on your new home, may you only have happiness, success, and good memories, and of course delicious meals from your beautiful new kitchen !!
Welcome back you've been gone too long!
I m totaly jelous, especially about the kitchen..
A stunning kitchen! I am looking forward to seeing all the amazing dishes you make in it!
Welcome back from stress central now you can relax with some nice ingredients an cook to your hearts content….
Welcome back, it's time to go back work!!
What a wonderful kitchen!!! A new big space for new recipes…
looks like you have settled in very nicely and great they are, beautiful kitchen for sure as well as dining room, looks like a perfect spot for cookouts too… thanks for showing us your new digs
I've been having trouble commenting, don't know why, but wanted to say how much I love your kitchen, so worth the wait! Everything at your finger tips. Congrats, can't wait to see what you're inspired to create from there!
Frank, That was worth the wait, but an amazing kitchen you now have. Everything at your finger tips. Love it, looking forward to your inspiring creations coming out of there!
Just gorgeous!
Ni-ice!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! What a beautiful spot to make beautiful meals.
Oh my, I envy your kitchen! It's huge and perfectly equipped! Looking forward to your brand new cooking too… 😉
Thanks, folks, for your great comments! Even if, had I designed this kitchen myself, I would have opted for a more traditional look, this really is a dream kitchen. I feel lucky.
@Greg: We're definitely on the same page re: cookbooks. You can never have too many!
What an amazing space, Frank!! It looks like all the effort and energy was well worth while. I've now got a very bad case of kitchen envy… Ah, well at least our house is finally painted after five years 🙂 Hope you have a great holiday weekend! Kate@kateiscooking
Wow that's gorgeous Frank. You know what is sad, I looked at your book shelf pictures and could identify a lot of the books. It's nice to know someone else has the same obsession about cook books.
Shelves in a kitchen cannot be overestimated! The kitchen sparks cooking-dreams. But the heart of the kitchen – will be you.
Holy cow…I am jealous!!! I would just love to have all that SPACE! And an outdoor eating area. Everything looks great–Enjoy!
“…which only goes to prove that you don't need a 'gourmet' kitchen to prepare wonderful food…” and I agree.
http://casa-giardino.blogspot.com/2010/06/does-5000-stove-make-cook.html
By the way, the kitchen is very nice.
So you are the second person this morning who has given me a bad case of kitchen envy. My kitchen is a little bigger than your spillover closet LOL
Beautiful house, kitchen an garden you must be very pleased