Georgia Country Kitchens
French Country Kitchens...Southern Style!
Monday, February 06, 2012
  Search

  • Custom Built French Country Kitchens

    There has always been something unique about southern country kitchens. Perhaps its that they look like they just "happened," that your grandmother composed her kitchen's design over the course of a lifetime; that the warmth of her hospitality radiated from her kitchen; that you could feel biscuits baking, Sunday dinner cooking, her hand guiding yours across a faded recipe. Even in our "big" cities, Atlanta, Nashville, Birmingham, Columbia, Raleigh or Jackson, Grandmother's kitchen had the scent of spring blooms and the light of open fields, bright, breezy, comfortable.

    And character, they had character. Filled with cook books, cooking art, pots and pans, tools and gadgets, bowls and measuring cups, grandmother kept abreast of popular trends and technological progress.

    Next Next
    sceenshot

  • In kitchens framed with exposed beams, draped with bead board walls, you'd find ice boxes, kelvinators, wood stoves and gas ranges, biscuit boards and kitchen aids, and in time, all electric GE and Westinghouse appliances. Grey or white washed walls turned blossom colorful, windows framed our southern light, and always, always, folks gathered in the kitchen to help prepare the food we know as distinctly southern. The food of our forefathers, the staple of our culture.

    Next Next
    sceenshot

  • Southern Style Country...

    Southern country kitchens reflect the wedding between the traditional and modernity; the melding of function and design into a unique style that combines the agrarian heritage of our culture with our embrace of all things new. Space and sunlight merge, our palette is soft and fresh like the jonquil's late winter blooms; clay and slate are our earth tones, bright whites like lofty morning clouds and ivory shades like boiling afternoon thunder peaks dominate; and no matter how compact the space, we stretch it toward the light, toward the sun, toward the yard or field.

    Next Next
    sceenshot

  • ...French Country Kitchens

    Southern Country Kitchens have one more distinct trait, a certain Gallic "Joie de vivre" that pulls into our kitchens elements of our everyday life as well as remembrances of things past. We fill shelves with books and vases and framed pictures of long forgotten relatives and post cards, and our children's faces; we hang favorite images and beaten copper mixing bowls, and delft platters and church calendars on our walls. We feel the light streaming through windows and see our backyard gardens as Monet saw Giverny, and we beamingly invite all comers to watch us cook the evening's meal.

    Next Next
    sceenshot

  • And We Cook...

    That's really why we care at all about our kitchens. We cook, we feed, we clean. Each element has its place and its needs. A French Country Kitchen Southern Style embodies modern technologies that allow us to more efficiently accomplish all three tasks, while we enjoy doing them. It's really that simple. We work together to create a sanctuary where success is not merely measured by gastronomical achievement but by comfort and fulfillment and simply the feeling of being surrounded by all that pleases you and the knowledge that this is the center of your universe, this is "home."

Some thoughts on what we think important in kitchen design... 
 

A galley design, closed or open is pleasing to the eye and very efficient for any great chef!   Even the smallest space can allow enjoyable food preparation if the design is well thought. Of course, large open spaces make the best and most "entertaining" kitchens.

A ceiling vault is very dramatic, ceiling color and finish is so critical to lighting and mood. A tray ceiling lifts up the spirits, indirect lighting brightens the room, and all can be controlled by a switch or remote "dimmer."  The point is to use the space to create the mood, and in doing so, create the enjoyable use of the space

Windows should be adorned and accented so as to soften natural light and appeal to the eye at night as well as day.

A real southern style french country kitchen has purposeful, well designed spaces for clutter...Cookbooks, Fine Art and decorative touches that say "I live in this room, it's my domain."

Deep Double and Single Sinks are an absolute necessity. They may be installed on counter-tops or an island, but they must be in the work triangle for them to have value when preparing meals. 

If one deep sink , at least 12" deep, or one  double sink, at least 8" deep is good, both are even better!   The art of fine cooking is found in ingredients, careful preparation, and profesional grade pots and pans. No one can easily clean a 12" cast iron Lodge skillet, or Le Creuset's 131/4 quart french oven or Chef's 12 quart multicooker or your favorite old dented pasta cooker ot that crusty sauce pan that was left on a hot eye for a little too long.

Do you really want to prep veggies or your Thanksgiving turkey in the same sink you clean your hairbrush, or rinse the mop?

If it is at all possible to fit one into a design, a second single deep sink makes it so easy to be the great chef you always wanted to be, and  even enjoy the worst part of cooking, cleaning up!  I'm in favor of a third "bar sink" if we can find a place for it...add a water cooler and hot water dispenser along with a small commercial ice maker and you have aready to use "self serve" beverage center. Now that's entertainment!
GeorgiaCountryKitchens.Com PO Box 549 Jasper, Georgia 30143