Well thank you!
I was totally amazed by all the wonderful and generous comments that you left here yesterday, not to mention all the emails I received. I am sorry that I cannot reply to each and every one of you, but please know how much I appreciate your words of wisdom.
I thought that a fun follow up to my quest for advice would be to show you some real French kitchens that I know and love here in Normandy.
These are the real deal – not staged for a magazine or perfectly styled by professionals… These kitchens feed families, host long chats, and create memorable holiday meals. They are the hubs of the home, and I love their style.
I love hearing from you and seeing how you have gone about styling your own homes, so I was thrilled to receive the kitchen photos that some of you were kind enough to send to me. I have included them in a gallery below, so everyone can be inspired… my readers have very stylish homes!
If you would like to send me in a photo of your own kitchen, I will gladly add it to the gallery. Thank you again for your generous feedback!
20 comments
There really are some beautiful kitchens here.
I see that the main colour seems to be white, I’ve always liked white kitchens.
WOW, it is so fun to see how beautiful and functional these kitchens are. I love to imagine cooking and visiting in them all but especially #1! OH so FRENCH!
Thank You for sharing Sharon,
Mary Ellen
I have been so busy + did not see your post yesterday + love the kitchens. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com
Sharon these kitchens are so wonderful; I can feel the warmth and love they exude!
xoxo
Karena
The Arts from Karena
These are wonderful kitchens Sharon. I would take a pic of mine, however, I’m packing for a trip & off to the airport very soon.
Sharon – I love, love love the French kitchens. Each one looks so neat and tidy and lived in. I can practically smell the bread baking from here. I love that they are the hub of the house – everyone likes to gather in the kitchen. Thanks for sharing!
Every one of these is so gorgeous and what I love most is how original they are…some of the kitchens today look like cookie cutters of one another and that can be boring. These are wonderful!
I love French kitchens! I adore those weathered tile floors and rustic patina… Lovely styles in the pics, the first pic is my favourite, and oh so French and lovely. In our own kitchen I have been thinking whether to get kitchen island or not. We have dining room where we could eat “properly” and eat breakfast etc. in front of the island, but I just don’t know. Besides I love our kitchen and our current old kitchen table and the chairs, they were made by my father long long time ago, when he was a young lad. They mean so much to me and I couldn’t put them away. I would send you a couple of beautiful pics of our kitchen, but I don’t know where to send them? I have made a blog post of our kitchen a couple of years ago if you want to see a colourful kitchen: https://www.mollamari.blogspot.fi/2012/10/keittiossa-in-kitchen.html
Love the kitchen pics. I have gotten so many ideas. Thanks!
I am a native Californian currently living in the UK and miss miss my kitchen island. It was always the natural gathering place when family and friends were over, either standing around it or sitting on stools while cooking was in progress. We also often used it to serve buffet style for larger gatherings. We did not have a stovetop built into the island, but debated doing so. The orientation of our island to how you enter the room meant a built in stove top would be super visual and we weren’t sure how we would like that. I have friends who have a 2 level island with a built in stove which works well as the stove mess is more hidden from where you walk into the room. Not sure if that makes sense? I would also recommend that you have an overhang for the stools to fit under, making sure the overhang is high enough to sit comfortably without banging your knees. Having backless stools that tuck under keep things more visually clutter free-ours didn’t and this is the one change I would make. Hope this helps?
Such lovely kitchens! The warmest place in the house, especially at this time of year!
Perfect timing, thank you. Because of damage to my house (not of my doing) I am having to think about new things, so the many ideas to explore here are most helpful.
I remember when you first posted the second picture, I was so taken with the tile countertop I started looking for similar materials.
Hi, and thanks for this post. I wondered what real French kitchens looked like, and not those staged and stylized ones. I love every single one here, they are all simply gorgeous. I see they all have some solid wood whether it be in beams or cabinetry or tables, and the color white….but I cannot distinguish what it is that makes them uniquely “French” except that they are all gorgeous?!?
Beautiful.
Sharon
I love those kitchens. They are so lovely and the kind of room that it woud be enjoyable being in. Whether we like it or not the kitchen is a room where we do spend a lot of time, so it should be as beautiful as we can possibly make it.
Debbie
Hello new friend. I would be happy cooking in any of these kitchens. Especially the first one with the open window. It just speaks to my heart. Full of romance and nostalgia. It would be a dream to sit at that lovely table to enjoy that magnificent view.
Thank you for sharing.
Janet
I so loveeeee the french kitchen style! Thanks for sharing these images here Sharon! I can use this as my inspiration. I’m planning to design our own kitchen at north park residences condo and I am excited to see what will be the outcome.
Some are very beautiful, some are too dark, but I like the concept, and some are too busy, again the concept is nice. Love French country.
These kitchens bring back wonderful memories of the kitchen which was in the fun farm house where I grew up. There were always delicious odors emanating through the whole house when I arrived home from school each day. It was the source of “love” which I first met each day followed by Mom’s smiling face and the time she spent with my brother and myself reading us our favorite stories from the Big Story Book. Then the rest of our extended family showed up from a hard day at work. Wow! What memories!
Hi Sharon,
I love your taste. I want to find some glass pendants similar to the ones in photo 6 of 14. Do you have any leads for me? We’re building a house in Sonoma, CA. Thanks!!