To readers launching out for the home turf this Thanksgiving weekend, Curbed wishes you safe shelter from the diabolical god of holiday travel. By all means, treasure what you have this season but still take a long hard look at these over-the-top kitchens and ruminate on their invitation to epic gut-busting holiday feasts. Hey, one or two may even be in your budget!
↑ Let's just start with the hallucinatory stained glass skylight that hangs over this "chef's dream kitchen". You really don't have to go beyond that, but for the sake of Thanksgiving feast preparations, we'll inform that this custom kitchen is one of the largest we've ever seen and includes Traulsen and Miele & Wolf appliances, an island, and a walk-in pantry. There's just one problem— the kitchen belongs to the Gold Coast's priciest listing, Ann Lurie's 18,500-square-foot limestone mansion asking $18.75M. Good luck.
↑ It must be wonderful to have a kitchen with enough flame for a fireplace and enough real estate for built-in book shelving. This ultra elegant space has a hardwood ceiling, stone floor, large center island, and all new appliances. The property is, naturally, another vintage mansion in the Gold Coast so you'll be asked to pony up $4.5M.
↑ There's no unexpected technologies or funny modern gizmos in this Gold Coast kitchen. What's pretty dang nice about it is its entirely new composition preserving stylistic deference to the historic 1876 Victorian it inhabits. We count coffered ceilings, classic white cabinetry, hardwood floors, and an island among the kitchen's attributes. The home as whole conveys a festive atmosphere, one that would only be fortified by the addition of turkey, pumpkins, and running, screaming kids. The ask: $4.6M.
↑ We wrote up this listing just two months ago, but we must continue to stress the awesomeness of the Kenwood mansion's kitchen. The rebuilt 10,000-sqaure-foot Krause Mansion, a Greystone spectacle on Drexel, has high ceilings and hardwoods throughout which lend serious lusciousness to the modern eat-in chef's kitchen. It strikes us a suitable pre-feast mingling spot. Anyone disagree? The asking price has slumped $200K to $1.499M— an unheard of bargain were it on the North Side.
↑ An "expansive contemporary private retreat" otherwise known as a remodeled flat is on the market in Rogers Park about a block from the lake. It's true that the level of finishes and amount of finesse in the decor exceed expectations for a vintage 3-flat with average curb appeal. The kitchen is, perhaps, most surprising with its custom cabinetry, cooking island, inset lighting, and marble counters. The home measures 3,200 square feet with three beds and baths and an ask of $559K— right in line with its 2006 sales price.
↑ This is officially the most self-consciously modern kitchen on the market. The enormous space is like a steroidal riff on the classic galley kitchen— very long and ergonomic, but far less slender than the midcentury high-rise version. This kitchen has all flat surfaces with built-in appliances, high ceilings, and a floating staircase behind the island. Can you feel the "radiating" sophistication and style? The remainder of the 6,000-square-foot home is up to par with breezy contemporary decor and gigantic outdoor decks. Although some neighbors don't much care for the "dead cement" that's sat vacant and on the market for nearly five years now. The current ask: $2.89M.
↑ On and off the market for more than two years, there's no doubt this vivacious timber loft is hobbled by location and only location (it's on a noisy fringe stretch of Ogden near Ashland). The open floor plan brings much of the 2,500 square feet together into a versatile lounge and party zone. The kitchen is implicated in that, with its social layout, mood lighting, and wet bar. It isn't enormous, exactly, but being able to enter and exit with ease means capacity isn't a concern. The ask: $555K. Let those turkeys roam!
↑ While the pundits are divided on the formulaic modern luxury infill invading our neighborhoods, the kitchen shown above avoids controversy. It's large, well-spaced, bamboo-floored, high-ceilinged and enhanced by top-of-the-line equipment and a built-in CCTV security monitor (part of the broader Smart Home system). Oh, and in case you're hosting the Romneys there's spillover kitchen and grilling space in the outdoor zen garden. Newly built and new to market, $1.895M is the initial ask on this five-bed Wicker Park lair.
↑ Another six-figure selection is the above "state of the art" wood-paneled kitchen, attached to a 12th floor Lake View penthouse co-op. The unit offers two beds, two-and-a-half baths, marble and hardwood floors, and 3,100 square feet that can grow to 8,000 were you simply to purchase neighboring 12W (that ship may have sailed). The kitchen is probably the richest, most elaborate room with so much counter and cabinetry that three photos are required to properly depict. The ask: $799K.
↑ A rambunctious conversion in Wicker Park yields this fun/frightening kitchen specimen. We're dealing with a retired orphanage, so of course Curbed has chimed in before. The building sits on six city lots and distributes 22,000 square feet of living space across 22 rooms, much of it elaborately reappointed. The listing states the kitchen and living room are in a combo arrangement, but don't think for a second they're cramped. The highly unreasonable space has been on and off the market since 2008 with a current asking price of $3.5M.