Favorite Movie or TV Kitchen

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jakeseacrest

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Hands down my favorite is Kathleen Turner's in The War of the Roses. 1990 Jenn Air appliances, tons of counter space, reverse rack dishwasher. Love it!
 
Rita's

This will come as no surprise to one member, but my dream kitchen belongs to Rita in the movie 'Letter to Three Wives'. From the Guardian Service cookware to the Thor Automagic washer, it's a room to make me swoon. The fact that she's married to the young Kirk Douglas doesn't hurt, either.
 
I think my all-time favourite would have to be the farmhouse kitchen in 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'. The scene where the mother ship comes to snatch the little boy who kept playing the call signal remains fresh in my memory.
There was a 40 inch electric range and older round-top refrigerator among the appliances that started going haywire as the alien ship's drive systems set up some weird interference. I remember the panels of a water heater blowing off but most of all I remember very clearly a top-load roto-rack style dishwasher and a Dormeyer mixer (possibly a PowerChef) starting up on their own.
 
the whole thing was one big Energy Star...

...Alice Kramden's kitchen, basic & no frills and a real energy saver. One episode quoted their gas bill at 83 cents.

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My favorite movie kitchen can be seen in the original "The Parent Trap" with Hayley Mills. I thought it was awsome right down to its butcher block and Whirlpool telephone dial dishwasher.
 
The appliances were nothing special, but I always loved the open design of the Brady Bunch kitchen. And the orange color is iconic imo. In fact I loved the design of the entire house.

The Bewitched kitchen was also great imo. This was probably posted here back in '09, but in case you haven't seen it:

 
Neat Kitchen!

I liked the one in Father Knows Best,if you have ever seen it in real color,its actually quite attractive,also the one in Ozzie and Harriet! That set was actually made to look the floor plan of the house they lived in.
 
You'll Think I'm Nuts, But.....

....This one from Rosemary's Baby is my all-time favorite. It has a Dixie gas range and a Frigidaire fridge in yellow, and some other goodies like a neat GE toaster and an avocado Lincoln Beautyware breadbox.

In the film, we first see it as the outdated, shabby kitchen of an old lady who has died; the young couple played by Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes are looking to rent the apartment it's in. Later, Rosemary brings in the new appliances and treats the old space to a makeover, making it the ultimate in mid-'60s young urban chic.

If you're familiar with the movie, you know that the makeover doesn't quite conceal the apartment's age; there are still cracked tiles and scarred woodwork, that sort of thing. The surprise is that all of it was a set, built to order at Paramount and expertly distressed by production designer Richard Sylbert. What looks old and neglected and then made-over was actually brand spanking new all along.

What I love about it is that it reminds me of a time when people could be happy with freshening something old with new paint and wallpaper - they didn't have to do a gut-level remodel with the most expensive of everything.

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"Letter to Three Wives" Kitchen:

This is the kitchen Keith is talking about; it's one of my favorites too. The film is from 1949, and the kitchen is full of GE appliances - an electric sink, an Airliner range and refrigerator. However, Thor was the choice for a washer. As Keith points out, there are all kinds of other goodies present, like St. Charles cabinets, a Zenith Consoltone radio, a Sunbeam coffeemaker (I think a C-30), Mixmaster (a Model 7) and toaster (a T-9), an Automatic Electric A50I wall telephone in white and Guardian Service cookware.

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Another film from that same time that came to my mind is All About Eve.. Especially the scene where Bette Davis is fixing a bicarbonate of soda for someone.. I have no idea why but the kitchen is crystal clear in my memory.
 
Mine?

Fairly obscure.... Kate Lawrence's (Sada Thompson) in Family.

Runner up, the one Meryl's character had in Hope Springs

Least favorite- the one in Mary's first apartment on Mary Tyler Moore.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
Favorite?  I don't know, but I will know when I see it -- again.

 

For now I'll second Lawrence's list-topper.  The kitchen in Family was one I noticed and wanted the first time I saw it.  I could relate to that entire house and neighborhood better than any other I've seen on TV before or since. 
 
Family and Kate Lawrence

Oh, I forgot that one! I think that house appealed because it wasn't just a set, it was a real house. Yes, I can relate to that one, as well. Still, Truman-era has my heart.

Thanks for illustrating for me Sandy, you know how inept I am at such things.
 
All About Eve Kitchen:

That was evidently some early product placement, because it's all Kelvinator, including the steel cabinets with sliding ribbed-glass doors on the wall cabinets.

The Family kitchen was memorable for me personally because it had the same '58 GE bottom-freezer Combination I grew up with.

Keith: You're welcome. One of the things that's tough about the Letter to Three Wives kitchen is that there is no shot in the entire film that shows the whole thing, you see only small portions at a time. I keep hoping that one day, I'll run across a test still of the set; test stills were still photos taken to make sure a set looked good to the camera before shooting commenced. If there was a problem, it could be taken care of while it was still inexpensive to do so - making changes during shooting is astronomically expensive, because you have the salaries of actors and crew to pay while they wait around for the changes to be made. So, most movies have test stills out there somewhere. [this post was last edited: 12/9/2012-05:57]
 
I always like George and Weezy's kitchen on, The Jeffersons. The harvest gold was so cheery and bright. It was quite roomy for an apartment kitchen and I liked the layout. The side by side fridge was my favourite.
The breakfast bar with the sliding shutters was pretty funky. It would be great to have a breakfast buffet with the stove so handy on the other side for cooking omelettes.
The GE dishwasher was nice, of course Mother Jefferson said that was why George was sick, cause Weezy used an electric dishwasher. Weezy should scour her pots and pans by hand, the way Mother Jefferson did. Of course Weezy was right when she said, "I think the dishwasher does a better job"
I Googled Isobel Sanford, and she was featured on the show, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. In her Atlanta mansion, she would use the elevator to go upstairs, but use the grand staircase to come down, to make an entrance. She had the original table and chairs from the show in her kitchen. I liked them too.
R.I.P, George and Weezy, you are my favourites.
 

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