Yes We Cook! A Concept for a New White House Kitchen

Take a look at this! English designer Johnny Grey and three partners have put some thought into what a new personal kitchen might look like for the White House. Yes, there is a massive professional kitchen that serves the White House and its guests, but the Residence also has a private kitchen, and the designers created three concepts that open up this kitchen for a modern family focused on fresh food.

Johnny Grey and his studio, a group of designers in the UK, say that they think the President needs a sociable kitchen, at the center of family life, where he and his family and friends can enjoy being together. So they created three different concepts that would remodel the Residence's kitchen into a more modern, open space.

They also teamed up with C'est Si Bon, a cooking school in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, which created menus for each space. You can see one above.

Visit the Johnny Grey website for more on these concept kitchens for the White House! They are named Helm and Hearth, The Nest, and The Atmosphere of Being. Which one do you like best?

• "Yes We Cook" - Obama's Kitchen Imagined at Johnny Grey Studios

(Images: Johnny Grey Studios)

Comments (7)

This concept is just plain ugly. The floor might work, but the furnishings are awful, the scale is just off.

Please tell me you're kidding...

...why don't we just sell all the old antique furniture, tear down the draperies and install IKEA crapola?

And while we're at it - since these "Designers" are from the UK - Let's tell the Brits they should renovate Buckingham Palace and make them into Loft Apartments.

I've got to disagree, I think this is a great idea. From what I've read, the current private kitchen at the White House is small, outdated and in an out-of-the-way spot. Yes, the house is the political centre of the US, but it's also a family home, and no family should be forced to make do with an outdated kitchen simply for traditions' sake.

I really like this post. In fact, I "stole" the idea and blogged my favourite design this morning:
http://www.kitchenisms.com/finds/kitchens/cool-kitchen-design-for-the-white-house/323

"no family should be forced to make do with an outdated kitchen simply for traditions' sake."

I didnt' say that the existing kitchen on the 2nd floor shouldn't be updated - but look at the room that these "designers" are proposing to place the kitchen in: The Yellow Oval Reception Room on the 2nd Floor.

Right now the Republicans are screaming about the Obamas spending an evening in NYC to have dinner and see a show - Can you just imagine the political fallout if something like this were to be taken seriously?

I agree that there should be a sense of history, but it's the freaking WHITE HOUSE people. Everything that happens there IS history. Just because it isn't yet, doesn't mean it shouldn't have a place in the future past. Oooer, that was confusing.

I just think that history is not a dead thing. It's not what happened fifty years ago, it's a continuing stream. Yes, respect for the past, and for past aesthetics, is important. And no, I don't think getting too trendy/fashionable is a good idea, especially somewhere like that. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to touch it!

I'm more interested in how they're pictured the people in it. No one is cooking or even eating. In the second one, three people are reading. Awkwardly, without interacting in each other's space. Sure, a good kitchen should have space for more than those things, but, still. I realise they're jsut concept drawing but still...

Anybody else check out the recipes on the attached page? I was especially interested in the mac & cheese with chard, smoked paprika, and garden veggies, but the recipe Makes. No. Sense.

(what panko, butter and cheese mix? why split up 3 T and a stick of butter - yes, it does seem a bit much - but then only call for 2 T to put in the cheese sauce? You expect me to use 1 stick plus 1 T butter to saute veggies/mix with breadcrumbs? and what well-developed recipe instructs you to just 'add all remaining ingredients', especially when you haven't used them in the order listed? ...anyway, it's very puzzling.)

Apparently they were developed by a renowned cooking school... what gives?

loulouie - thanks for pointing about the error in the recipe. the mac 'n cheese recipe only calls for 3 tablespoons of butter, not 1 stick. there were too many editors in the kitchen. the PDF has now been corrected on the site at http://www.johnnygrey.com/obama.html.