8 of Our Favorite TV Kitchens
October 17, 2016 by Big Chill
Fictional kitchens throughout television history have provided important backgrounds for our favorite characters, where their carefully curated lives are viewable night-after-night, all from the comfort of our own homes.
Watching TV became a full-time American pastime in the 1950’s, with households equipping their living rooms with black and white monitors, until color television was introduced in the mid-1960’s. Americans could look forward to the predictability of cozying down in front of the tube every night, escaping from reality with larger-than-life TV personalities like Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez. When we observe characters night-after-night in their own homes, we become attached to their surroundings, oddly falling in love with their household decorations as we fall in love with them.
The kitchen acts as mission control of the house, guaranteed to bring the entire household together at some time or another. We create memories in our own kitchens; celebrating holidays, engaging in banter, and meeting for midnight snacks, while also sharing memories with our favorite TV personalities in theirs. So which TV kitchens do we hold closest to our hearts? These modern Big Chill appliances are what we imagine some of our favorite TV characters having in their kitchens today.
Friends
Monica was a caterer, and was constantly busying herself in the kitchen cooking for her group of ahem, friends. The kitchen in Monica’s Friends apartment had a big influence on the shabby chic movement, with mismatched dining chairs, turquoise cabinets, and open shelves brimming with cookware and ingredients. Monica wasn’t afraid to make bold decisions in her kitchen decorations, providing a warm and colorful background for the group to create countless memories in. The Friends kitchen was infamous for it’s large, white Retro refrigerator.
Big Chill Retro Original Refrigerator in Classic White
The Jeffersons
The Jeffersons TV kitchen personified the warm tones of the 1970’s and 80’s, with wooden cabinets and cream colored appliances. The kitchen was a focal point of the house, with family members gathering regularly for lively conversation and laughs. For the upgraded kitchen of the Jefferson home today, we envision a large stove with flashy metallic accents to match the cozy atmosphere.
Big Chill Classic 48″ Stove in Custom Color with Brushed Copper Trim
Seinfeld
For a bachelor pad, Jerry Seinfeld’s apartment kitchen wasn’t half bad. Sticking with a monochromatic palette, his all-gray cabinetry provided a surprisingly smooth aesthetic for a cramped kitchen that wasn’t even a separate room. This provided the perfect open background for when Kramer would inevitably barge in the apartment, complete with cabinets overflowing with an abundance of cereal boxes. While Seinfeld has a traditional 1990’s refrigerator in his apartment, we envision him now with a more modern style of refrigerator in a bachelor friendly color like Grey Blue 5008.
Big Chill Pro Refrigerator in Grey Blue 5008
The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch kitchen was a gracious and refined space, showcasing the best of the bright yet muted color schemes the 1960’s and 70’s are known for. With molded mint kitchen chairs and burnt orange countertops, the Brady Bunch kitchen was groovy personified. Alice Nelson ruled the domestic territory of the kitchen, providing sound advice to every member of the family day-after-day and night-after-night.
Big Chill Pro Refrigerator in Custom Colors
Golden Girls
Set in Florida, the kitchen of the Golden Girls provided a cozy space for the girls to get together, whether it be in the event of a nighttime tropical storm or a morning coffee ritual. The Golden Girls are a solid example of loyalty and dedication amongst friends, and their kitchen reflects that with warm yellow and cream tones.
Big Chill Retro Original Refrigerator in Buttercup Yellow
I Love Lucy
The kitchen of I Love Lucy was the perfect backdrop for the slapstick comedy routine that was Lucy and Ricky Ricardo’s domestic life. I Love Lucy ran from 1951-1957, and showcases a kitchen that personifies nearly every trait of a perfect 1950’s household.
Big Chill Retro Original Refrigerator in Turquoise
Big Chill Retro 30″ Stove in Classic White
Mad Men
The kitchen from Don and Betty’s modest midcentury home is bursting with rustic decor, complete with plaid wallpaper and knotty pine cabinets. The countertops were a muted blue, providing the perfect surface to mix a post-work martini on.
Big Chill Retro Studio Refrigerator in Classic White
Big Chill Retro 30″ Electric Wall Oven in Premium Black
Leave It To Beaver
June Cleaver is a cherished remnant of the female world order in the 1950’s, where television typically portrayed a woman hard at work baking and cooking in her kitchen. The kitchen of Leave It To Beaver personifies an ideal 1950’s household, complete with a quaint dining room table adorned with a classic gingham tablecloth.
Big Chill Retro Original Refrigerator in Jadite Green
Frasier
In the sitcom Frasier, both Frasier Crane and his brother Niles were always participating in activities that were against the traditional gender roles of television. The two of them frequently puttered around their sophisticated urban kitchen, establishing a sense of fussiness that was so beloved in the individual characters. This 1990’s kitchen was Daphne Moon’s domain, providing the perfect background for Niles to fall head over heels for her matronly ways. We picture them with Classic Appliances in something timeless like Stainless Steel.
Big Chill Classic Refrigerator in Stainless Steel with Chrome Trim
Big Chill Classic 48″ Stove in Stainless Steel with Chrome Trim