America's Kitchens Nancy Carlisle and Melinda Talbot Nasardinov Published with Historic New England Deluxe paperback, $34.95, ISBN 978-0-88448-308-3 8.25 x 11, 208 pg., 200+ B&W and color illustrations Culinary / Homes / Pictorial

"Chef James Recommendation: BUY THIS BOOK. On a 1 to 10 scale, this book is an 11. Of the hundreds of books I have listed and reviewed here on FoodReference.com since I began in 1999, this is among the BEST. Suffice it to say that on the day I received a copy, I could not help but to stop working and spend several hours reading and enjoying the incredibly rich visual content and text of America's Kitchens. America's Kitchens is interesting, informative, and entertaining. Lavishly illustrated with drawings, paintings, period posters, newspaper and advertisements, color and black & white photos of people, kitchens, and equipment. America's Kitchens is a treasure-trove of cultural information that tells the story of this room that is central to our lives in so many ways. If you enjoy FoodReference.com, you will love this fascinating book. The photos and illustrations alone make this a must have book for anyone interested in culinary history. Kudos to the authors, the boo designers and Historic New England for producing a truly wonderful book."
—FoodReference.com

"A rare hybrid, America's Kitchens is equal parts scholarly research and coffee table book—in short, serious fun."
—Maine Sunday Telegram

"Essays engage the reader while many photographs, illustrations, advertisements, and even recipes engage the browser...an interesting and informative look at the role and use of kitchens as the centerpiece of American family life. . . ."
—Maine Antique Digest

"Innovatively designed and lavishly illustrated with historic drawings, photographs, and a fascinating array of ephemera. . . ."
—Kennebec Journal

America's Kitchens tells the story of this important room and features New England hearths, detached kitchens on southern plantations, Spanish colonial kitchens of the Southwest, elaborate nineteenth-century kitchens in the Midwest, and middle-class open-plan homes of 1950s suburbia. The book traces technological developments such as the introduction of the cast-iron cookstove, the efficiency of the Hoosier cabinet, and the impact of the frozen food industry to suggest how these innovations have transformed kitchen work and changed women's lives.

Innovatively designed and lavishly illustrated with historic drawings, photographs, and a fascinating array of ephemera from Historic New England's diverse collections, America's Kitchens describes what it was like to live with and work in kitchens that had none of the conveniences we take for granted. At the same time, the book analyzes the profound place of the kitchen in our own lives today.

A curator for more than twenty years at Historic New England, Nancy Carlisle works with some of the most important historic kitchens in the country and has written and lectured widely on the material culture of domestic life.

Melinda Talbot Nasardinov, a former assistant curator at Historic New England, is a graduate of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture and writes about American decorative arts and the history of domestic life. This book follows The Camera's Coast in a series of books featuring Historic New England's collections.