Jeanine and Jack of the food blog Love & Lemons, fell in love and then developed together a love affair with food — savoring not only its many tastes and flavors, but also its colors, shapes, and textures. Eating is a celebration. Experiences with food culture — from Spain and Italy to the neighborhood food trucks and culinary spots in their hometown of Austin, Texas — have taught them how keeping things simple and fresh can help create a transcendent meal. Jeanine and Jack decided to share their passion and recipes online through their blog.
Today we go behind the scenes and take a tour of their pristine cottage-modern kitchen where all their lovely food and photography are produced.
The first thing you may notice when looking at the Love & Lemons food blog is the bright colors and light. It just so happens that those are also the first elements you notice when stepping into their kitchen. Radiant light beams through large glass windows — illuminating a backdrop of white ceramic tile. Like the food that gets plated on their white marble countertops, it's simple yet elegant.
Jeanine is a graphic designer and Jack is a video game programmer. After a couple years of marriage they wanted to work on a new project together and the food blog is what resulted. Jeanine does most of the cooking and arrangement for the pictures, and Jack does the food photography with a tripod-mounted DSLR tethered to his laptop.
Looking at their appetizing photographs, you can see a lovely marriage of styling, typography, and technical precision.
When planning the kitchen, Jeanine fell in love with their Thermador range with its analog dial and baby blue LED lights. It was just the right mix of vintage and modern, a look and feel that Jeanine wanted her kitchen space to embody. It's all beautifully executed, and you'll find yourself wanting to grab a seat, enjoy a cold brew coffee, and bask in its calm expanse. We're so glad Jack and Jeanine decided to share their creative vision on their blog, giving each of us a chance to escape and become inspired by their culinary creations.
10 Questions for Jeanine and Jack
1. What inspires your kitchen and your cooking?
The space is open, airy, and flooded with light...the kitchen is my favorite room in our house and I feel happy just being in it. It's all very white and fresh feeling...which I think is the perfect backdrop to the colorful, veggie-focused food I like to cook.
I'm a visual person, so much of the time my approach to food is similar to the way I think about decor and design: interesting neutrals with pops of color. I'm always thinking about shape, color, contrast and texture...whether I'm shopping for vintage kitchenware or picking up vegetables at the farmers market.
2. What is your favorite kitchen tool or element?
It's perhaps a toss-up between my Microplane zester, the Vitamix (which was kind of a game-changer) or the glass of wine that's almost always nearby while I'm cooking. I believe cooking and eating should always feel like a celebration.
3. What's the most memorable meal you've ever cooked in this kitchen?
For Jack's birthday last year I got him a pasta maker. He's a gadget guy and I thought learning to make pasta together would be more fun than going out to a fancy dinner. We spent hours late into the night rolling out dough and stringing pasta strands all over the kitchen. The night could have very well ended in ordering a pizza, so we were excited that it not only worked out, but it was super delicious. We were very impressed with ourselves and Jack vowed that we'd never cook [store-bought] dried pasta again (which of course we have).
4. The biggest challenge for cooking in your kitchen:
Not spilling things on the marble. It's not the easiest surface to have as a kitchen countertop, so I've had to become more organized and orderly about the way I prep and cook. And when we have people over, I pretty much become the coaster-cop.
5. Is there anything you wish you had done differently?
A separate closet for the photo equipment. While planning the kitchen, we had no idea we'd be doing food photography. We have this really nice large walk-in pantry, yet I trip over tripods and lighting equipment while trying to reach my canned goods.
6. Biggest indulgence or splurge in the kitchen:
Probably the kitchen (and the house) itself. We're grateful for the opportunity we had to build our own custom house, but that came with the pressure of creating a space that we will love for years and years to come. We didn't cut many corners because we knew we'd be living here for quite a long time.
7. Is there anything you hope to add or improve in your kitchen?
It's so new and it's still such a blank slate. I think home decor is always a work in progress. As we grow into the kitchen I think it'll start to reflect us and who we are more and more. Whether that means layering on vintage finds or collected items from our travels — only time will tell.
8. How would you describe your cooking style?
I like to cook with beautiful seasonal ingredients and fresh herbs. We take a lot of inspiration from our travels so I love cooking with interesting seasonings from different parts of the world. And I think (most) things should be finished with a bright squeeze of lemon.
9. Best cooking advice or tip you ever received:
I first learned about cooking with lemons years ago while watching Giada DeLaurentiis on TV. And through our many travels to Italy since, I've learned to try to keep things simple, fresh and flavorful. Less is really more.
10. What are you cooking this week?
As this post goes up, we will be on a flight back from Spain. We've spent the past few weeks in Europe eating ourselves silly, so I'm looking forward to cooking meals that are healthy and simple when I get home. Whenever we come back from Italy or Spain, we usually crave healing Asian foods. Heck, even when we come back from Asia, we crave healing Asian foods.
Featured Resources
• Stove: Thermador
• Fridge: GE
• Flooring: White Oak
• Paint color: Sherman Williams, Crumb Cookie
• Countertop material: Carrera Marble
• Dishwasher: Fisher Paykel Dish Drawers
• Kitchen Table & Fabric Chairs: Anthropologie
• Architect: Nana Kim - 9 Square Studio
• Builder: Brent Alison - Lake Travis Builders
→ Visit Jack & Jeanine's blog: Love & Lemons
→ Get a recipe: Miso-Maple Sweet Potato Tacos
Share your own kitchen renovation or improvement!
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(Images: Chris Perez)
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Love the understated luxury of the kitchen. Gorgeous shiba inu.
I'm making a mental list of what I'd be willing to do to have that kitchen! Gorgeous doesn't begin to describe it and exceptionally functional seems too drab an adjective. Lovely, thanks for sharing!
They're not necessarily "rich" --- the post says that they both work for a living PLUS they have the blog. I'd call them "working folks," in my opinion. Working folks with a bright kitchen!
Awesome--when I saw the previous post about the tacos, my eye was on the kitchen. I had not noticed photos of their kitchen on the blog, so I was even going to write them asking for more! Now I can file these for my dream renovation.
Some people just prioritize travel and putting their money into a rockin kitchen. I once had a friend accuse me living my life like a "constant honeymoon," the reality is it's amazing how it can stretch if you're DINKs :)
Fantastic kitchen and the dog is eat up with precious.
Just the range hood I've been looking for...what kind is is plz?
It's pretty and bright, and so not me. If this were mine I would be using it as a blank canvas for more color (rugs!) and what I think of as room jewelry. The subway tile is a great choice for amplifying the light, though. I was trying to nail down what was different about this design, and it occurred to me...no pendant lights over the island! Are the downlights really adequate?
I love this so much! Personally, I like white kitchens. I know they're not for everyone but I love white kitchens (and white plates!) because I feel like they make an amazing backdrop for the beautiful colors and textures of food. It just seems like a great canvas that you add color to with actual cooking. My kitchen is similarly white, but when thing are in full swing, spinach, lemons, peppers, tomatoes and various spices all over the place, it's a color explosion. And yet, it's easy to take care of and looks neat when not in use.
@rural and rueful, I can't speak for the owners of this kitchen, but we don't have pendant lights over our island and the downlights do a great job of lighting everything up. I think it depends on where you place them, though. We had the chance to put in lights when we remodeled, so we put them strategically over the island. I love the variety of pendants out there, but I'm glad we left it more open.
LOVE. Beautiful, bright, great layout, simple, open shelving....the only thing I am not a fan of are the seats pulled up to the counter.
Hi Sharon, the hood is a brand called Roma, the model # is ZRO-E36AS
Hello Rural & Rueful and Fromage... yep, I still have a ways to go with adding some color (which actually became a bit more apparent to me after seeing these photos).
We don't have pendant lights over the island because we're going to do a more colorful and dramatic fixture over the table and we didn't want both sets of fixtures to compete. The catch is that choosing the perfect dramatic fixture is really hard (at least for me)... I have yet to find just the right one!
There are lights over the island, they're just smaller flush mounts... and then there are about a million recessed cans in the ceiling, and sconces on the walls next to the sliders so we can make the room pretty bright.
Thx mucho!!!
DON'T WANT TO BE A PAIN BUT WHEN I GOOGLE THAT THE HOOD THAT COMES UP IS NOTHING LIKE YOURS. IS IT A ZEPHYR?
Sorry about the multiple posts of the same thing. Not quite sure what happened there. I may have found one by Vent-Axia, a Roma that looks like your hood. Do you love yours? Do you recommend it ?
Very cool! I love these white inset cabinets - they always remind me of the movie Something's Gotta Give. These guys are doing a great job with this same exact look www.kuche-cucina.com - look under Projects or Portfolio, there are several of them.
Hi Sharon, yes... sorry, the brand is Zephyr, and actually it's not the Roma, it's more similar to this one, the Venezia: http://www.us-appliance.com/zvee36bs.html
Although, I didn't pay that much for it, it must have increased in price since about 3 years ago when I was picking it out. Or perhaps someone else sells it cheaper than the store on that link. Yes, I do like it.
This remind me of my previous home so much...love it!
Very nice kitchen. However, all that prep work just for tacos?!?!
Very nice kitchen - I love the light. If I may post one observation and my two cents. The pleasure of reading these home-grown blogs are the crumbs of daily life that shine in between, sometimes warts and all. I had the opportunity to peruse Love and Lemons, and although it is a truly stunning blog, with evident hard work put in, my honest feedback is to hold back on some of the airbrushing and over-choreography. It makes two real people seem like cartboard cutouts in a magazine. That may be the objective, but it sometimes alienates, not engages. Cheers from Canada.
Your blog is like a reflection of your kitchen! When I saw the clean, fresh, white theme in the first photo, I thought, "This reminds me of that Love and Lemons blog..." And lo and behold!