Love At First White

I remember the first time I fell in love with a white kitchen.  It was in a movie theater and Jack Nicholson was standing in his boxers being threatened by Diane Keaton in a glorious white kitchen.  Despite the drama unfolding onscreen, I could focus on nothing but the simple white cabinets, the rows of white tiles, and the flowy white curtains.  This was followed by a pang of envy.  If I could have cheated on my kitchen (yellow at the time, French Country in appearance and quite lovely itself) I most certainly would have.  I vowed then and there that someday I would have a white kitchen of my own.  It only took me seven years and dozens of visits to web sites like http://www.hookedonhouses.net/ and http://www.traditionalhome.com/ for inspiration.  I have been the contented owner of a white kitchen for nine months now, and I enjoy it every day.

Cooking, bill paying and homework helping seem like lighter tasks in my brighter kitchen.  On a dismal rainy day, I love to put on some background music and forget about what is going on outside.  And though I’m no whiz in the kitchen, it’s easy to pretend I’m the Barefoot Contessa when I’m copying a recipe.  (She has the second white kitchen I fell in love with.)

Contrary to what it may seem, white is not my favorite color.  I just happen to think it frames things beautifully.  I recently visited a friend who completed her white kitchen a few months after mine.  It is stunning and is highlighted with sunlight streaming in from a massive bay window she had installed at the sink so she can watch her kids play in the backyard.  She had bought handsome brown leather counter stools, and since I was in the market for some, I asked her where she got them – Target.  I couldn’t believe it.  I would have thought Grandin Road, Lillian August, Ethan Allen.  Nope, they were $130/pair at Target.  She let me borrow one to try in my kitchen but it wasn’t the right size.  It did, however, show me that anything would look like a million bucks in my white kitchen.

The first day I cooked in my newly renovated kitchen, the dry cleaning deliveryman walked in the front door and said, “Wow, Mrs. Stickel, something smells delicious.”  I knew that my white kitchen, which had inspired the chicken roasting in the oven with lemon and thyme, had paid off.

Things (in my opinion) that make a white kitchen better:

• Music, like the soundtracks of Something’s Gotta Give or Julie & Julia, French music, jazz
• Sponges dish rags, paper towels and soapy water for sticky finger prints
• Cutting boards (I buy either clear or white – I have marble counter tops and learned the hard way that they easily show marks)
• Barefoot Contessa cookbooks
• Colorful accents, especially fresh fruit and vegetables in bowls
• Cabinets with glass doors
• A deep sink to hide dirty dishes if you are dashing your kids off to school before you get to them
• Fun lights
• Dark wood floors (I hope to stain mine dark someday!)