The Country Kitchen

by Carol A. Guasti (Editor)

Family Circle, great book called the Country Kitchen. The country kitchen is a welcoming place, guided by respect for common sense and practicality, the kitchen is the gathering point in any country home. work spaces, inspiring overviews from vintage Victorian to relaxed southwest country. Identifies the country elements and looks closer at sensible use of existing space.

249 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1990

Reviews

[Katee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly, this is a 3.5! I appreciate the genuinely-practical half of the book that teaches about canning, fiber crafts, simple carpentry, and vegetable and flower gardening. I’m also a sucker for clever kitchen design, of which there’s a small amount in this book.

I kept a running list of characteristics that Family Circle considers “country” to see if “being in the countryside” was one of them. It wasn’t. This book is a 1990 guide for folks who want to cosplay as a Colonial/frontier American laborer’s wife (or a French farmer?), superstitions and all.

Everything is supposed to look either DIY or hand-me-down old, including the recommended display of vintage “utilitarian objects” that apparently everyone has space for in their kitchens. Never mind the photos with Tiffany lamps and all-copper cookware. You’re a country homemaker! You’re frugal! You save your soap scraps! But you NEED a china cabinet and lots of Majolica, Meissen, and Royal Copenhagen pieces, or a collection of vintage tin signs, or old candy molds, or Colonial pewter, or baskets. Clutter is cozy, according to Family Circle. Also, gut a melon and turn it into a basket. Cut your muffins open and fill them with eggs and bacon. Leave food sitting out in bowls everywhere. Tell people’s fortunes by looking at their fingernails. It’s country!