Food for Thought: Mentors and Kitchens

I don't know how Alice Waters became someone that so many people have such violent opinions about.  She's a tiny little woman.  In my humble opinion, her recipes are great, and I agree with her philosophy.  She might even have been the one that got me thinking about locavorism.  Like most of us, Ms. Waters is just doing what she can to preserve our planet, while eating good food at the same time.  I have always thought of her as a pretty classy lady, and I think that we could do a lot worse than following her lead.

And after all, my one meal at Chez Panisse was possibly the best meal of my life.

That might be why I am so fond of Alice Waters.

Anyways, Vanity Fair just posted a snapshot of Waters's kitchen in Berkeley, CA.

Oh, what I would do with a kitchen like that.  And it opens out into her garden??  Swoon.

By the way, this is my kitchen:

Sure, I could use a little more counter space, but obviously I do just fine with what I've got.  That said, I definitely do my fair share of daydreaming about my dream kitchen.  What I would give for a normal sized fridge and freezer, a sprawling island, or some fancy tiled backsplash.  Sigh.

Speaking of kitchens, the MoMA just opened an exhibit called Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen (check out the link to see a picture of the Frankfurt Kitchen, by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky).  It seems like a really interesting exhibit, addressing how women contributed to the change in kitchen design, and even how these changes affect the way we think about food.  I'm definitely planning on checking it out in the near future.

So tell me, dear readers, who is your food mentor?  And what would your dream kitchen look like?