Julia Child's Kitchen Had A Secret Modification

The In-N-Out loving Julia Child was one of the most influential celebrity chefs of all time, so it's not exactly surprising that her kitchen is on display in the Smithsonian Museum of American History. The kitchen's claim to fame goes beyond its TV career as the set for three of Child's cooking shows. This is a kitchen built for cooking, and cooking well.

Child used the kitchen in her house in Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1961 to 2001. With the help of her husband Paul Child, it was customized perfectly to suit her needs. Like the great chef herself, it's both practical and incredibly cool.

One of the most interesting features of Julia Child's kitchen appears, on the surface, rather boring: the height of her counters. Child stood around six feet, two inches, some ten inches above the average height for women in the United States and five inches taller than the average American man. Unsurprisingly, she often found standard-sized kitchens uncomfortably short. The maple countertops were designed to be two inches higher than normal so that Child wouldn't have to hunch over while chopping onions or whipping up a quick chicken liver mousse.

The height of your kitchen counters is probably not something you routinely think about -– unless, that is, your counters are the wrong height for you. The standard kitchen counter height is typically around 36" in the U.S., which works well enough for most people. However, if you're substantially taller, you might find yourself uncomfortably hunched over while chopping your vegetables. 

Of course, not everyone has a handy and perceptive husband to design the perfect home kitchen for them. Moreover, most of us aren't celebrity chefs whose kitchens will one day be displayed in a museum. As such, the cost and commitment of raising all the kitchen counters by a few inches isn't practical or realistic for many home chefs. Luckily, there is a much easier way to make cooking more ergonomic for taller folks –- use a raised or extra-thick cutting board. Just an extra inch or two of thickness can make a big difference, and you'll feel very Julia Child-esque while doing your mincing and dicing.