Spiral Cellars

I don't know if you guys use Stumble Upon, but it's a fantastic way to kill a few hours, so don't do it unless you have some time! Anyway, things about spiral wine cellars always come up in my stumbles, and these ones from Spiral Cellars in the UK are just so incredible, I had to share!

{Images from Spiral Cellars}

Besides the complete intrigue of having a real live hidden staircase "secret passageway" in your house, it oddly makes me think forward to a distant future where a new civilization will find these remnants of our lives and this very wine cellar will be the equivalent to the discovery of King Tutenkhamun's tomb...Oh how extravagant these modern day Brits are!

Dreamy Hamptons Kitchen

This beautiful seaside kitchen is awe-inspiring. I love when white elements are paired with dark, rustic wood. The balance is perfectly achieved. And I am a big fan of subway tile backsplashes, but combining the larger blue tile with smaller areas of the tiny white tiles creates even more visual interest. All in all, a fantastic family-friendly kitchen! 

{Photos from The Kitchen Designer}

What's Cookin?

As I may have posted, it's been a busy year. I have completed a thesis, graduated, and am now job searching and moving! My last day in my apartment will be September 9th...the only hitch is that I do not know where I will actually be moving! But a girl can dream, and I have been giving a lot of thought to what my kitchen will look like when I get there. Thanks to a lot of Martha by Macy's products, some of which I have managed to buy before they were discontinued, I have a pretty clear direction.

Anthropologie magnetic kitchen timer

6-piece Multicolored prep bowl set {Mixer discontinued}

Cuisinart Classic Toaster

Yellow kitchen towels Red 5 quart collander

Utensil Print pot mit

6-piece Melamine mixing bowl set {blender discontinued}

{recipe card holder discontinued}

Thank goodness I have managed to collect all of the discontinued items. The rest are on my wish list at this point...My mother and I managed to find the blender in the right color at 3:00 in the morning during an existential kitchen crisis. Whew!

Teal, Vintage Kitchen

I know it's ridiculously late to be blogging at all, let alone looking at more vintage kitchens on flikr. But honestly, dear readers, I simply can't go to bed until I share this with you. It's just that good. Trust me. In fact, dare I say it may be the kitchen of my mid-century modern fantasies?

{Photos from 50sPam's photostream}

I honestly love looking at retro kitchen redesigns so much that it feels like I'm doing something dirty. Especially at 3:00 am.

Mint, Vintage Kitchen

I fell in love with this incredibly quaint kitchen while browsing through flikr this morning. It is featured in the owner's gallery. There are no words to describe how much I love their stove and the mint green wall color, but then they went and added a pristine white subway tile backsplash and vintage green and white decorative elements to their shelves and wall-mounted curio. A girl could just die!

{Photos from flikr}

Smeg

This week's episode of 9 by Design featured a Smeg refrigerator, and of course I was in love with it's retro charm. Here are some more photos I've found here and there. Depending on the pricing, it might even replace Big Chill on my wish list. It's a tight race!

{1. Stewart Kirby Design, 2. This is Bristol, 3. Alkemie}

Country Kitchen

I have been very into the idea of built-ins lately. Mudrooms, Hallway benches, bookcases, corner cabinets, linen closets, breakfast nooks...anything that gives a home character. I found this kitchen redesign, with the most charming breakfast nook on a post from Southern Living. I would love to call this place home.

{Photos by Laurey W. Glenn, from Southern Living}

Retro Modern Kitchen

I am absolutely in love with this kitchen on Apartment Therapy. It is so clean, and there is obviously a place for everything, including different types of cocktail glasses. It's so tough to find a place for the things you love and need, but don't use every day! Plus the narrow counter-high drawers for spices and oils is genius. What do you think of the color? 

Dinner with the Family

I grew up in an Italian family, which can only mean two things: We love to eat, and we love to cook. Especially pasta! When I was visiting home a few weeks ago, we had quite the homemade feast. My parents, my new brother Nathan and I made homemade angel-hair noodles and homemade sauce from tomatoes. Here is a little digital tour through the process of noodle and sauce making from our kitchen to yours...

Nathan reads a recipe out of our huge Italian cookbook

We add the ingredients to make the dough

We flatten sections of dough through a press

The flattened dough hangs on a pasta rack

We send the dough through the other side of the pasta machine, which cuts the sheets of dough into long angel-hair noodles

The noodles are waiting to be dropped into the boiling pot

MEANWHILE

Blanched tomatoes are peeled, seeds removed, and they are set to boil on the stove

The sauce is run through our food mill in order to make it smooth

And because that already wasn't enough work, my mom decided to bake the most delicious chocolate chip cookies you will ever eat

Bon Appetit!

The Little Retro Kitchen of My Dreams

I die for this kitchen. It is just amazing. There is so much storage, even for the 1950's. I can't even imagine having all of that space. Apartment living means I have about 1/8th that counter space and 1/16th that cabinet space. 

The entirely monochromatic color palette is maybe a bit much, I will admit. But check out that fridge!! It can be yours if you visit Big Chill.

In my opinion, a kitchen should always have clean lines like this, and minimal knick knacks because isn't it really hard enough to keep your kitchen looking neat and tidy anyway? 

Julie & Julia

Give me any movie with 1950's or 1960's fashion done impeccably well and I am sold. But Julie & Julia definitely rose above my easy-to-please expectations. I honestly can say that I enjoyed the movie from the minute the theatre darkened until the end credits rolled. I loved the concept, loved looking at all the delicious food, and especially loved the empowerment of how the characters were able to do things they had never done before and master them. 

I also loved the Julie storyline about her blogging, as I am new to the blogosphere myself. I thought it was funny that her mom wrote her first and only comment for quite some time...when so far, my mother is the only one who has commented on Jenna Sais Quois so far. But at least I know I have four readers! 

But overall, I found it to be a wonderful movie. And I especially loved the Paul Child character played by Stanley Tucci. Is it possible that such a wonderful man exists in modern times? Julie's husband sure wasn't as wonderful as Julia's. But then again, Julie wasn't as wonderful as Julia either...

What happened to the world where everyone was cool as a cucumber, and nobody flew off the hand or had a meltdown over something as trivial as dropping a goose and having the stuffing and other various innards fly across your kitchen? 

I think my favorite part is the toast, "You are the bread to my butter, and the breath to my life." What an awfully beautiful thing to say to someone. The movie was incredible. 

On another note, I have often thought hanging pots and pans on a pegboard a la Julia Child made the kitchen look a bit cluttered. But I love the idea of painting the area where the cooking items hang a slightly different color, rather than outlining them with marker. I want one someday in Martha Stewart Blue to match my mixer. (And recipe card holder, and teapot, and dish towels and...wow I love that color.)

Another Amazing Kitchen

I have been on quite a kitchen kick this week! And when I stumbled on this, I immediately adored it. You can't go wrong with a subway tile backsplash in that beautiful blue, and a pop of yellow. Fantastic. (I just wish they had a bright yellow mixer instead of the white one!)

Basic Black & White

In my opinion, you can never go wrong with Black and White. All you need to do is change out your accent color, and you've practically redecorated your room. I have been browsing home tours on the Martha Stewart website, and of course they are to die for. The modernized take on the Chicago row house made me giddy. 

I absolutely die for this kitchen. The stark white look of it, and the subway tiles on the backsplash would go perfectly with my retro white kitchen appliances from Big Chill. I am saving this image when it comes time to decorate my own kitchen. 

Dream Come True

I saw this retro kitchen children's playset a year ago at Pottery Barn Kids and I immediately wanted to own it. Although, the fact that I'm 23 and have no baby girls in sight for quite a while stopped me. 

But then, today I found Big Chill and realized sudden

ly that my dreams have come true, because I can have these adorable appliances in adult sizes...and they function! 

These amazingly beautiful appliances can and WILL be mine someday for only slightly more than the cost of new stainless. And my dream of living in the 1950's will come true every time I step into my kitchen! 

And think of how great they will look with my already purchased mixer and other appliances that I am currently saving for!