That is so cool. Thanks for sharing. Love how they did the backsplash behind the stove. That plate of cheeses in the last shot looks yummy, too.

Oh how I wish I could have gone with marble...

I love that little "wall" of marble next to the microwave. I also enjoy seeing how the seams are so big and obvious. At some point in out counter experience, we (Americans?) have become super focused on nearly invisible seams (I've fallen into it too). Sometimes I ask myself why? It is stone, after all. Not solid surface.

Thanks for posting!
:-)
francy

I love this kitchen and would love it even more if I was there and could cook in it. The marble sink is beautiful. I love how they have the silverware holder in the sink. Very clever placement. Thank you for the beautiful pictures. Now, let's eat! Mangia, mangia!

Very interesting, and beautiful marble! Lotsa space savers in what I'm sure is a tiny kitchen by American standards: uutensil rails, spice shelf under the cabinet, and the glassware-holding shelf above the cooktop. Also, are there 3 sinks? And is the single-vs-double bowl we love to debate on GW answered with two adjacent, and integral, sinks?

Now THAT is a working kitchen! Only 1 wall cab and 1 shelf. So interesting to look at...thanks for sharing with us! I love, love the long dining room table...mangia!

Great pix! Thanks for sharing.

When we went to visit my cousin in Italy a couple of years ago, she produced fantastic food from a kitchen that was barely bigger than a closet. Super efficient use of space. That's where she's lived all her life, and cooked for her family of four (plus now grandkids, and extended family). The best part about her kitchen is the HUGE garden she has - so all of the food is incredibly fresh, seasonal, delicious.

My favourite feature in your villa kitchen is the very cool recessed drainboard with that cute spout for the water - giving me ideas for my soapstone...

Buon appetito, tutti!

I love that adorable little frilled milk glass shade.

And yes, Smeg is really the name of the appliance company. They make some adorable retro-style fridges in the US, but unfortunately their reliability isn't what it should be.

I have NEVER seen a microwave or a drip coffee maker or more than one sink in an Italian rental before. This one is either owned by an American or caters to Americans.

It looks beautiful. I agree. Lets eat!

Bellisimo! Grazie! And hey, it doesn't look that small to me, 2 cooktops?! I love the little step up in the marble by the cooktop in picture 3 and behind the cooktop in picture 1. And the marble sink, it just seems right that it's so shallow, I love it! The drainage board, the marble backsplash and window area, it's all lovely. Our trip to Italy was spent in a castle that had been turned into an inn, but I think next time maybe we'll rent a villa, too!

Thanks for sharing!
Robin

The OP is showing 2 different kitchens from the villa, so only 1 cooktop per kitchen ;)

I love those marble sinks.

Love it! Last fall I stayed in a lovely Paris apartment with the typical tiny kitchen. The sink was very wide and shallow just like this one. And it was marble, too... yum! The hood over the stove is beautiful... I'm noticing the espresso pot on one of the stoves - so very common in Italian kitchens. Thanks for posting these!

Thanks for sharing it is fun to see how kitchens are done in other countries! Did you have that many people with you? That is quite a large group! What fun!

Daki, thanks for clarifying. The villa had a small kitchen on both the first and second floor. The 1st floor kitchen seemed to be used to prepare dinner which was served out by the pool, and the 2nd floor kitchen was used for everyting else. The first 2 photos were of the 1st floor kitchen and the rest were the second floor. Seeing this kitchen in action made me wonder why we are so obsessed with sprawling kitchens. It also made me wish I had chosen a marble counter and sink!Here are some more pics of the villa:

{{!gwi}}
The kitchen's behind the french doors:
{{!gwi}}

View form the dining room window:
{{!gwi}}

"Seeing this kitchen in action made me wonder why we are so obsessed with sprawling kitchens."

I have to agree with you there. Our kitchens seem like more of a showplace than a working space.

The pics are wonderful. Those kitchens say home. I am always taken aback when I visit/see other cultures and compare it with American life. We are SO commercialized. Drives me nuts....

What I love about most European kitchens is the lack of closed upper cabinets, which makes them so much more open and friendly to me than the uniformly marching banks of upper/lowers we have here. Something about the uninterrupted banks of uppers and lowers makes so many American kitchens look like caves to me.

I'm intrigued to see more of the Smeg appliance line, too. Thanks margieb!

The windows are fascinating: exterior operable (I'm sure) louvered wooden shutters, inward-opening casement windows with solid interior shutters hinged to the sash themselves. I have never seen or even contemplated interior shutters done that way. I'm guessing that the villa is not occupied all the time, and the interior shutters provide some security. Imagine if those shutters were simply frames hung with fabric. That would be kind of cool, too.
Casey

Did you see the "task lighting" by the cooktop in photo #3? Hee!

Thanks, Margie. This is fun to see. I really agree with Circuspeanut about what losing most or all of the uppers does to create a nicer place to be, at least for those working in smaller spaces.

Another point that struck me as really worth taking note of, though, is the way the vent over the stove is handled in that one kitchen--very handsome solution for a lot of people having problems integrating the usual designs. Worthy of being a centerpiece, fun to be able to decorate and redecorate, and relatively inexpensive to create to boot...

Oh, duh! I guess I didn't read closely enough to see that it was two different kitchens...LOL! All that scrumptious marble in both of them made me think I was looking at all one kitchen and I was thinking...THAT'S small?!! Hee hee, brain fart!

The outside of that villa is almost as gorgeous as that marble! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Italy!

I love how that kitchen looks like its evolved over years (decades?). It is beautiful and doesn't look "designed" or decorated to within an inch of its life. It isn't a static kitchen, but alive and vibrant.

well I'm from Tuscany.. and I still don't understand the huge Viking Professional stove that most of the people want in their kitchens... I'm sorry but my mom cook soo good in her little 24" cooktop ... I always say quality first quantity second.. no matter how the appliances are.. is the person the prepare a wonderful meal! ;-)

margieB which town in tuscany you were?

Amazingly beautiful in such a simplistic way. And Giacomo I can hear your beautiful accent in your message! Love it, thank you for sharing.

Lukkiirish, I was just smiling while reading giacomo's post because I too was '"hearing" that gorgeous accent!

Giacomo, the villa was in Lucca but while there we visited Florence, Sienna, San Gimangiano, Pisa, Vinchy and Le Cinque Terre. So Beautiful! (And we had a wonderful cook preparing wonderful meals in our small, functional kitchen!).

I've so enjoyed reading these posts. It's amazing the details that you have all noticed in the pictures. Francy, I never noticed that task light until you pointed it out!

sombreuil_mongrel, I was fascinated by the windows and doors there too. it was an unbelievably intricate system.

buona notte ,

margie

I love that house and kitchen even more with the fabulous pictures of it. Reminds me of the film Enchanted April. I just LOVE that movie. The cinemaphotography in it was gorgeous!

margieB2 it's funny because I'm from Lucca actually near Lucca the little region that I grow up is called "Castelvecchio di compito".
I hope you enjoy a walk on the wall of Lucca and have a Gelato to the Veneta.

We had a similar kitchen in a villa in chianti ; same smeg oven ! our countertops were tiled, no marble. I wonder if marble is more affordable there, probably.

those tuscan kitchens are quite humble, Tuscany is countryside, farmlands;
everything is utlitarian in those kitchens, well worn and used.
We cooked many meals there and managed quite well.

My DH spent 10 days in Pari , in Tuscany, this past May. There is an institute there and the village is about 100 people. He had fabulous meals all cooked in a modest setting. It took 3 hrs each noon to eat and then he went for a long walk. He never gained a #.

Giacomo is sure right about one thing...I have a great racing bike that can go very fast....but it is the motor...my body, that causes that to happen. You can sure have a fancy kitchen with all the bells and whistles but as he said it is the cook ...my DS1's kitchen at his restaurant is so so low on the scale of tech and efficient...but boy the meals that guy puts out...rivals anything you will get anywhere in the world. c

Giacomo, Yes, we walked the wall and ate delicious gelato! We LOVED Lucca. What a magical place in which to grow up.

Mustbnuts, I'm going to add Enchanted April to my Blockbuster list.

Mitchdesj, I think the Marble must be more affordable. We drove by Carrerra and saw the mountains of marble and miles of gorgeous slabs. What was most notable about the marble counters was the lack of stains. Some etching, yes, but no red wine stains or anything like that. And I can tell you those counters were not at all protected. Interesting.

Trailrunner, I'd love to try your DS's restaurant!!

-Margie