American Kitchen Stories

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Franz_house042

When I think back on my childhood, then to my college years, and now to my adult life (I use the term adult loosely), many of my happiest and most vivid memories took place in a kitchen.  When I think of family gatherings, I’m always transported to a kitchen.  When I was a teenager, we had a phone with a long white cord in our kitchen – and I spent many nights laying on my kitchen floor talking to my now husband.

On Sundays, all of my siblings gather at my parents’ house for dinner.  The first thing I do when I walk into their house is saunter into the kitchen to check out what Mom is making for dinner. In my own home, our kitchen is the center of everything.  We eat, do homework, talk about our day, and even this blog is written right on my kitchen island, several times a week. My point?  My kitchen is the center of my home.  We spend so much time there, live so much of our lives there, that the kitchen has become a very special place for me.  

Even on days when my sink is full of dishes, when my newest recipe has flopped, and my daughter is fighting homework with every ounce of her being, my kitchen is the center of our day-to-day being.  We have hard conversations there.  We laugh there.  We eat delicious food there, and we celebrate there.  The American Kitchen is so much more than a functional room for food preparation.  It really is the heart of our home.

Stoneware_fridge GE Appliances have been in American homes since 1905. For a hundred and ten years, GE has been a part of the changing ways people live, play, cook, celebrate, and shape family life at home in America.  My friends over at GE have developed a series of documentaries called Our American Kitchen. Every kitchen has story – I’m sure yours does – and these documentaries explore how real GE appliance owners, as genuine representatives of Americans and the American experience, are living their lives in their kitchens. Monogram_FD_Shelving_Design_Close_Up These documentaries have really touched me – the human experience is vastly different for every single one of us, but there are also so many things that tie us together.  Something as normal as our kitchens and the moments lived IN our kitchens are part of our foundation and for me, comprise the bulk of my happiest memories.
The kitchen in my first apartment, back when I could barely afford rent, was stocked full of noodle packets and boxed macaroni and cheese, but reminds me of a time when I was fearless.  It reminds me of a time when I was figuring out what I was going to do with my life, how I was going to handle the grown-up thing. Kitchens are a bit magical like that.  Think back to all of the kitchens in your life.  What memories do they conjure up? ZET1FHSS _lifestyle I’d love to hear some of your kitchen stories – and while you’re at it, head over to GEAppliances.com and check them out.  Stay tuned for an upcoming post with more information about the Our American Kitchen documentary series.  It would be fun to see some your kitchen pictures too – send them to me on Twitter or Instagram, and use #OurAmericanKitchen! Share a kitchen memory of your own in the comments below to enter for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card! Entry Instructions: No duplicate comments. You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

          1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

 

 

        • Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

 

 

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        This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older (or nineteen (19) years of age or older in Alabama and Nebraska). Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 2 business days to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected. The Official Rules are available here. This sweepstakes runs from 4/1/15 – 6/30/15. Be sure to visit the G.E. Appliances brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!

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91 Comments

  • Elena

    April 1, 2015 at 12:25 pm Reply

    I remember learning how to cook on my grandma’s kitchen. I loved her old cast iron pans and pots
    elena150980 at yahoo dot com

  • kelly

    April 1, 2015 at 2:18 pm Reply

    I always helped my dad prep family meals by helping to peal the garlic, shrimp or anything else he needed to have done.
    kellywcu8888ATgmailDOTcom

  • mami2jcn

    April 1, 2015 at 8:19 pm Reply

    I remember baking cookies in the 7th grade as part of a business class to see how many cookies I could sell. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen.

    mami2jcn at gmail dot com

  • Julie Wood

    April 2, 2015 at 10:13 am Reply

    My kitchen memories about me and my daughter cooking new recipes for our family, and it is a place where we have fun talking and eating during the week and getting to know about one another’s day!

    my email jewelwood55(at)gmail(dot)com

  • Leigh Anne Borders

    April 2, 2015 at 8:03 pm Reply

    I have fond memories of spending time in the kitchen with my grandmother who passed away several years ago. She loved to cook and taught me quite a few family recipes!

  • nicole dziedzic

    April 3, 2015 at 11:19 pm Reply

    My kitchen memory is from a few years back when we had the entire family together, I mean the whole family, and that can be a hard thing to accomplish, but everyone was there for Christmas Day for the BIG meal we had, and everyone helped in the making of it, is was the best dinner I have ever had, since then a few have passed away, so it was nice to celebrate and create a everlasting memory.
    Nicole.ddziedzic at gmail dot com

  • CHIRT143

    April 4, 2015 at 8:13 pm Reply

    One of my favorite kitchen memories is helping my grandma make rootbeer egg nog on Christmas and her famous strudel. Even when I was quite young, she would let me hop on a stool and help her out.

  • NikiJohnson

    April 5, 2015 at 1:32 pm Reply

    A wonderful memory I have is when I was first invited to make tamales with a friends family. Such a great time, and so nice to be a part of their family tradition. I wish my family had something similar. Thinking I need to start one with my kids.

  • JessieC

    April 5, 2015 at 11:08 pm Reply

    Baking pumpkin pies and sugar cookies with my mom and kids are my favorite kitchen memories.

    tcarolinep at gmail dot com

  • Madeline

    April 6, 2015 at 6:54 am Reply

    One time when my brother and I were young teens we cooked a gourmet
    anniversary meal for our parents, even though we’d never cooked meat or
    Baked Alaska before in our lives! It all came out fine (nobody was sick after!).
    madelinebrubaker {at} gmail [dot] com

  • onefrugalgirl

    April 6, 2015 at 9:19 am Reply

    I once cooked baked potatoes in the oven and accidentally left them in over night. I completely forgot they were in there.

    onefrugalgirl AT gmail DOT com

  • Connie

    April 6, 2015 at 5:53 pm Reply

    I would make French fries for both of my brothers and shake them in a brown paper bag with salt. My oldest brother owns a restaurant now but I was the best French fry maker back in high school.:)

  • cezovski

    April 9, 2015 at 7:04 pm Reply

    I remember the first birthday cake I baked for my husband in our new house (and new kitche). It was a dismal failure, but still fun!
    Carolsue
    Digicats {at} Sbcglobal {dot} Net

  • Kristen

    April 16, 2015 at 3:08 pm Reply

    I remember one Thanksgiving I tried to bake a pumpkin pie in a friend’s kitchen and it would NOT set! I didn’t know that her oven did not reach its full temp when the indicator light went off….alas in was sweet pumpkin soup 🙁

  • rachel

    April 21, 2015 at 8:27 am Reply

    As a recent college graduate, I started experimenting in the kitchen, learning how to cook. I remember making some exotic meals for my parents, who gamely ate them even though I’m sure they weren’t that great. It gave me the chance to try out my wings in the kitchen!

  • Stephanie Phelps

    April 21, 2015 at 10:43 pm Reply

    Some of my favorite moments is dancing around one another and cooking for our four kids! We love to bake with the kids and it can get messy! I remember one time my son dropped a whole bag of flour and it went everywhere it looked like a ghost lol!
    my4boysand1@gmail.com

  • Elle

    April 27, 2015 at 8:27 am Reply

    I have many memories baking with my grandma in her kitchen when I was a child with my siblings.
    prettyinhotpink6 at gmail dot com

  • Patricia Brousseau Caradonna

    April 29, 2015 at 6:11 am Reply

    During Thanksgiving, my mother and aunt gin and Uncle Charlie would gather at Uncle Charlies gorgeous kitchen and create a magical feast. Turkey, ham, roast beef. You name it they cooked it.

  • Lauren E.

    May 2, 2015 at 9:40 am Reply

    One great story was after a small gathering we did here I ran the dishwasher. Our dishwasher is about 30+ years old, and it just began overflowing EVERYWHERE. No rhyme or reason, its worked fine since.

  • Sharon

    May 10, 2015 at 5:58 pm Reply

    When I was growing up the kitchen was the heart of our home. The house was built in the late 1800s so there was a closed kitchen. No open concept architecture back then.

  • Wild Orchid

    May 18, 2015 at 9:35 am Reply

    i baked cookies for the first time with my son in my kitchen.

    Thanks for the chance to win!

    wildorchid985 AT gmail DOT com

  • Amy Tong

    May 19, 2015 at 12:22 am Reply

    My kitchen memory is that I always hang out and help my parents cook while they prepare dinner. I am their little helper since I was little. Now, my kids help me out when I cook too. 🙂

    amy [at] utry [dot] it

  • sazzyfrazz

    May 29, 2015 at 12:42 am Reply

    I loved helping my parents cook when I was growing up. At holiday dinners, we still cook together.
    sazzyfrazz at gmail dot com

  • Kristine Spencer-Lachut

    June 23, 2015 at 12:30 pm Reply

    I was raised on a dairy farm by my grandma near Lake Ontario in New York. She prepared meals breakfast, dinner, supper. Notice no lunch word mentioned. Everything I learned about cooking I learned from her. One Christmas I recall Santa bringing me my own little yellow refrigerator lined with styrofoam, an oven, mixing bowls, etc., I was the luckiest little girl.

  • cynthiac

    June 25, 2015 at 5:54 am Reply

    I remember my first attempt at baking when I was about 8 or 9 years old. I didn’t know the difference between baking powder and soda and my cookies turned out inedible. I’ve improved since then LOL!

  • dglitter

    June 25, 2015 at 11:11 am Reply

    A great kitchen memory is at my great aunt’s home, where she cooked on a wood-burning stove! I was fascinated, but I have never cooked on one.

  • Theron Willis

    June 25, 2015 at 4:03 pm Reply

    I remember learning that I could use an empty whiskey bottle as an improvised rolling pin. For me drinking hard liquor and cooking various dishes go hand in hand.

  • Kim Ripley

    June 25, 2015 at 5:50 pm Reply

    I do all of my daughter’s homeschooling at the kitchen table. I am so proud of her for leaning so much! She’s so smart. She also always keeps us entertained during dinner.

  • Stephanie V.

    June 25, 2015 at 6:17 pm Reply

    Childhood memories of my family of 6 preparing and cooking together to create an amazing meal!
    tvollowitz at aol dot com

  • mommyto2girlz

    June 25, 2015 at 8:40 pm Reply

    I remember cooking blackberry dumplings with my grandma every summer. We would pick the blackberries from her yard then go straight in and fix the dumplings. Those were some amazing summer days. I wish my girls had a chance to experience days like those. Thank you!
    crystalfaulkner2000 at yahoo dot com

  • Kim Hilbert

    June 27, 2015 at 5:30 pm Reply

    I don’t have many kitchen memories, I’ve never liked to cook. I do remember that I left the Chocolate Chip Cookies in the oven for over an hour. I was surprised they didn’t catch on fire or smoke much. They looked fossilized.

  • Joni Dolniak

    June 28, 2015 at 12:03 am Reply

    I remember making homemade spaghetti noodles with my mom and hanging them everywhere imaginable in the kitchen to dry.

  • Anastasia

    June 28, 2015 at 2:59 pm Reply

    One of my favorite memories in the kitchen is just hanging out with my mom while she made dinner! We’d just talk about anything and everything and I’d get to help her cook. Lovely memories to have of her 🙂

  • Ellie W

    June 28, 2015 at 8:36 pm Reply

    It hurt at the time, but when I was about 4 my mom was frying chicken in a big chicken fryer. I thought it smelled so good that I put my nose on it and got a good burn. I learned my lesson, but I still love to smell chicken frying.

    eswright18 at gmail dot com

  • Thomas Murphy

    June 28, 2015 at 10:51 pm Reply

    Every year when I was a kid I would bake X-mas cookies with my mom, it was a great tradition.

    rounder9834 @yahoo.com

  • Lisa Voyce

    June 29, 2015 at 5:20 am Reply

    I remember a lot of happy times in the kitchen while growing up and while my daughter grew up. I think of it as the gathering place. Not only a place to gather and eat, we would have game night there and other times, just a place to converse with family and friends.

  • Betty Curran

    June 30, 2015 at 5:32 am Reply

    My brother and I spent many hours in the kitchen while our Mom made dinner. Long after we were both married we would still meet at Mom’s kitchen table to catch up on each other’s lives.

  • msrodeobrat

    June 30, 2015 at 6:24 am Reply

    I used to love baking sweet treats with my mom at Christmas time in the kitchen. We would bake them for all our friends, neighbors and family
    addictedtorodeo at gmail dot com

  • AngelaLilly

    June 30, 2015 at 9:00 am Reply

    One of my fav kitchen memories is making homemade fudge and iced sugar cookies with my mom during the Christmas season when I was a kid. To this day, I tear up when thinking of it. So many happy memories!

    Angie

    14earth at gmail dot com

  • Wanda McHenry

    June 30, 2015 at 9:05 am Reply

    One of my favorite memories is making orange cupcakes with orange icing with my grandmother. To this day they are my favorite!!

  • Denise L

    June 30, 2015 at 1:51 pm Reply

    I have so many memories of baking with my dad. We always made cookies around the Holidays. dmarie824 at aol dot com

  • Tabathia

    June 30, 2015 at 2:39 pm Reply

    At my grandmothers it was a gathering place and we all sat around the kitchen tablet that held desserts and platters and talked about growing up together and what was going on now in our lives

    tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com

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