How To Recreate Julia Child's Kitchen Slideshow
A Garland Gas Range Stove
A focal point of Child's kitchen is the Garland Gas Range stove that she used to whip up hundreds of her recipes. A collection of skillets, sauté pans, sieves, and white ceramic jars holding spatulas, ladles, and other cooking utensils conveniently hangs above it.
"When [Child] lived here in Washington in the late 1950s, she bought that range and dragged it around with her and loved it," said Green. "In fact, folks in her kitchen were cooking with it the night before she left the house. Julia loved her big, old Garland."
Food Processor
According the exhibition, Child considered the invention of the Cuisinart food processor in the mid-1970s to be the most important culinary innovation since the release of the electric mixer. Child kept her food processor on top of the butcher's block.
Mortar and Pestle
One of the signature fixtures of Child's kitchen is the hefty mortar and pestle that resides underneath a butcher's block. Child and her husband Paul bought the item in 1948 at the famous marché aux puces, a French flea market in Paris.
"There are so many things [Child] was crazy about like the huge mortar and pestle which you see on the floor underneath that big butcher's block," said Green. "She and Paul got it at marché aux puces in Paris when they were first there after the war, and it's huge. I can't even pick it up and carry it, I don't know how Paul ever did."
A Collection of Pots and Pans
An array of copper pots and pans decorate the perimeter of Child's kitchen. According to an exhibition panel, the collections include an aluminum donut hole-punch, a cast-iron heart-shaped trivet, massive copper pots, and American cast-iron pans. Like her paring knives, many of these cooking vessels came from E. Dehillerin in Paris.
Paring Knives
Every chef knows that having a good set of knives in the kitchen is crucial. Child kept a collection of small paring knives stored around her kitchen for cutting, slicing, and chopping. To get a set of knives like Child's, stop by E. Dehillerin, a specialty culinary shop in Paris.
"She was crazy about her little paring knives," said Green.
Cookbooks
Though Child authored more than 15 cookbooks that are considered by some to be culinary bibles, she always kept stacks of cookbooks nearby to reference and learn from while in the kitchen.
Wooden Peg Boards
Child's kitchen may be overflowing with gadgets, but with the help of wooden peg boards the chef was able to keep her kitchen organized. Child attached wooden peg boards to her kitchen walls and used them to hang knives, pots, pans, scissors, and cutting boards.
Child used a marker to outline the shapes of her utensils directly onto the peg boards to keep track of where to keep her items.