The Oven Brand Julia Child Vowed To Take To Her Grave

Although you can't attribute a great chef's triumphs (or failures!) to her equipment alone, folks tend to take notice when they're reminded of someone like Julia Child's kitchen accoutrement preferences. And the famed American culinary star commonly credited with bringing French preparations to home cooks all over the United States had some very strong feelings about the stove in her own home. When she first laid eyes on the large appliance that she'd come to prize so highly at a pal's place, she knew she had to have it, Child wrote in her memoir, "My Life in France." She loved it so much that she actually bought what Bon Appétit and other outlets would eventually identify as a Garland stove right off that very same friend. "I paid him something like $412 for the stove, and I loved it so much I vowed to take it to my grave!" Child wrote.

The behemoth, black and silver range known as model 182 presently sits in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Most people would probably describe it as double-wide, replete with a griddle and six burners for all the test crepes that Child would have made to achieve the ideal thinness. Although Child obviously did not follow through on her oath to bring the faithful apparatus to her final resting place, it's probably better for the world that it can still be admired somewhere.

A search of the Garland website seems to indicate that the company is not making new model 182s today. But it does sell some fairly similar looking varieties that also approximate model 182's functionality. A few of Garland's modern day alternatives also come with six burners and a griddle, just like Julia Child's beloved original.

Garland's current prices are also a little less quaint than that of Child's impromptu purchase, selling for well over $9,000 new. These babies are also pretty explicitly intended for commercial use, with mentions of restaurants in a lot of the product descriptions. But that doesn't mean that it would be impossible to install one in your own home with enough renovation dollars and the contractors who command 'em. Garland ranges have also been known to go for considerably less cash on the resale market, but they might not be as beautiful as one is probably envisioning for personal use. Provided you perform all of your secondhand shopping due diligence, it should still make for a Julia Child-inspired coq au vin in either case.