A Country French Kitchen for a Rancho Santa Fe, California Home

Jan 20

I have made many French furniture pieces over the years but as a country French kitchen this kitchen is quite unique. The home in Rancho Santa Fe, CA, has country French architecture along with country French interior furnishings making it a good candidate for the authentic detailing I used in this kitchen. Country French kitchens have little built-in cabinet work. Instead they are composed of individual well-made free-standing furniture pieces, inherited or custom made.

I wanted my design to follow the lines of individual pieces of free-standing furniture, with the kitchen built around them. To get this effect, there must be diversity between the cabinets themselves.

These cabinets are made of solid pecan with variations in moulding details and different carved details that I hand carved into each piece (not applied as most cabinet makers do today). The finish is an aniline dye, it's then glazed for an aged look, with a hand-rubbed finish to complete the look. The hardware is made of iron and is all from France produced from original antique pieces.

This kitchen, like it's predecessors, will one day become antiques because of the solid wood, the hand carving, the finishing techniques, the hardware, and the craftsmanship that went into designing and building this beautiful cabinetry.