Shop the Look: Cookbook Author Caroline Chambers Farmhouse Kitchen
When cookbook author Caroline Chambers took on a century-old Carmel Valley home, she turned to CAFÉ to transform the kitchen into a space that blends farmhouse charm with modern performance. Her latest abode, a 100-year-old home with ties to the Steinbeck era of Carmel Valley in Monterey County, is almost as far from the East coast as you can go in the U.S. But as a North Carolina native, Chambers recognized the East-Coast-feel of the place and wanted to make it her home. One of her first projects was to bring her old kitchen out of the 1990s and into a more classic farmhouse era featuring CAFÉ stainless steel appliances.
The Transformation
Author of the New York Times bestselling cookbook, “What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking,” Chambers loved the quality of CAFÉ appliances in her previous kitchen and was eager to design her new cooking area with the CAFÉ brand. She balanced the home’s farmhouse roots with East Coast charm through natural wood elements and the gleam of CAFÉ stainless appliances with Brushed Stainless hardware.
Chambers included large, wraparound open shelves to hold cookbooks and the plates, platters, pots, and pans she’s collected through her years working in the food world. She chose to go with all-wood, Black Walnut counters and shelves because she felt shiny marble just didn’t feel right in century-old farmhouse.
“I wanted a massive fridge with a built-in look. It has so much space. The coolest part of this refrigerator is the convertible drawer. It can convert from a fridge to a freezer.”
To brighten the mood, she selected a CAFÉ 36” Integrated Bottom Freezer Refrigerator. Said Chambers, “I wanted a massive fridge with a built-in look. It has so much space. The coolest part of this refrigerator is the convertible drawer. It can convert from a fridge to a freezer.” She added a CAFÉ 48" Custom Hood Insert to balance the stainless steel with all the wood in the room.
“I love this range so much. It has six burners and a griddle. There is a full catering oven. I can fit enough food to feed 30 people in here and I often do.”
As mom to four kids, Chambers says her “thing” is making meals “super-fast and super-efficient,” so she fell in love with the CAFÉ 48” Dual-Fuel Commercial-Style Range. She added, “… that is why I love this range so much. It has six burners and a griddle. There is a full catering oven. I can fit enough food to feed 30 people in here and I often do.”
She also made sure to include a huge island in her kitchen with space for four stools so they can all hang out while she cooks. Included in the island is her CAFÉ Built-In Microwave Drawer Oven. “Speaking of speed and efficiency, my CAFÉ microwave drawer is tucked away in the back of my island, and you don’t even know it’s here,” she added.
But the one CAFÉ appliance her kids love is the built-in ice maker. Said Chambers, “The nugget ice maker is probably my children's favorite part of this entire house.” Which isn’t a surprise, because we KNOW everyone loves that crunchy, chewable nugget ice.
Chambers also loves her CAFÉ Energy Star Beverage Center. “…It’s super customizable and you can move shelves around based on what size your bottles are,” said Chambers.
Not to mention, “A whole lot of recipes get cooked in this kitchen which means that there are a lot of dishes,” she added. That’s why she chose the CAFÉ CustomFit ENERGY STAR Stainless Interior Smart Dishwasher with Ultra Wash Top Rack. The top rack adds flexibility to wash utensils, serve ware, and more.
“The best part is that it’s really easy to swap out the knobs [and] the handles”
There’s an even bigger reason she loves her CAFÉ appliances so much, though. Says Chambers, “The best part is that it’s really easy to swap out the knobs [and] the handles,” so if she later wants to add some Brushed Brass or Flat Black to her kitchen, she can just add new hardware to her CAFÉ appliances and have a whole new look. CAFÉ personalization means you can change up your style whenever you want—that’s our favorite part, too.
Caroline’s Kentucky Hot Brown Sliders with Honey Dijonaise
Time ~20 minutes | Makes 12 Slides
As legend has it, in 1926, the chef at Louisville’s legendary Brown Hotel invented the Hot Brown, an open-faced broiled turkey sandwich topped with a rich Mornay sauce, bacon, and tomato, to fill the bellies of late-night partiers. It was an instant hit and is now a culinary staple of Kentucky. These sheet-pan sliders channel the flavors of the Hot Brown, but in a perfectly handheld and snackable style.
Tools
Serrated knife
2 baking sheets
Parchment paper
Box grater, for shredding cheese
Foil
Ingredients
1 large tomato (about 7 to 8 ounces)
Kosher salt 8 slices of bacon
1 package Hawaiian rolls (12 rolls)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 heaping teaspoons Dijon mustard
Roughly 1 tablespoon honey
6 ounces Gruyère cheese, shredded
1/2 pound thinly sliced roasted turkey
4 tablespoons butter, thinly sliced into 12 pats (aka very thin slices)
How to make it
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Using a serrated knife, slice 1 large tomato into very thin slices. Arrange the slices on paper towels and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt. Let them sit for a few minutes to release some liquid, then gently blot dry with another paper towel.
Meanwhile, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. On it, place 8 bacon slices in a single layer. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until crisp. Transfer to a plate.
Line another small baking sheet with parchment — this is where you’ll build and bake the sliders.
Using a long serrated knife, slice 12 Hawaiian rolls in half horizontally, keeping the rolls connected (so you’ll end up with one large bottom half and one large top half). Place the two halves on the sheet pan with the cut sides facing up.
Add 1 tablespoon mayonnaise to each half of the rolls and spread it evenly over the bread. Dollop 1 heaping teaspoon Dijon mustard onto each half, again spreading it out so that it’s evenly distributed. Drizzle honey (roughly 1 tablespoon total) all over the cut sides of the rolls so there’s a little honey across the whole surface.
Use a box grater to shred 6 ounces of Gruyère. Sprinkle half the shredded cheese over the bottom half of the rolls. Layer 1/2 pound sliced turkey over the cheese, bunching it so it has some height rather than lying flat.
Arrange the tomato slices in an even layer over the turkey, then distribute the bacon evenly across the top. Sprinkle with the remaining shredded Gruyère.
Place the top half of the rolls over the filling. Slice 4 tablespoons butter into 12 thin slices, aka pats, and place a pat on each roll.
At this point, the sliders can be covered with foil and refrigerated for up to 24 hours, or baked in the preheated oven.