The other day I was making cookies and as I looked around my kitchen, I realized I’ve never written about “French kitchens,” which are a little different than American ones. Of course this depends on the house and the person because kitchens in France run the gamut in terms of style, size and decor just like they do in the USA. You can find tiny modern kitchens or big, sprawling spaces for entertaining and everything in between. In general though, typical French kitchens seem to be smaller than their American counterparts and you will notice some differences. So let’s talk about those differences.
Kitchens in France
Bread drawer/bag
The French love their bread so storing it properly is a must. If you buy a baguette and it’s not quite dinnertime, keep it in your bread drawer. Done with dinner? Put the extra baguette in your bread drawer until breakfast the next day. I’ve seen these things on counters on the USA for bread but never a drawer or bag for bread.
My kitchen here in France has a pullout bread drawer with a cloth bag, but I’ve seen bread receptacles that resemble trash cans as well as cloth sacs that hang on the back of a door.
If you’re visiting a French family, be aware of this bread receptacle and don’t throw your morning trash in with last night’s baguette. I made that embarrassing mistake once and have recovered — but in the moment I felt like a real idiot when my friend’s dad asked what Q-tips and tissues (both used) were doing in with the bread. In my defense, their bread receptacle looked JUST like a trash can.
Baguette etiquette: What to do and not do with your bread >>
Electric kettle
Pop into any typical French kitchen and you’re sure to see an electric kettle. They’re called bouilloires in French, plug into the wall and boil water for you in about one minute. It’s not that these don’t exist in the USA. They’re just not super popular on that side of the Atlantic and don’t heat up as quickly due to the lower voltage.
I guess if Americans want to boil water, we put a pot on the stove or use a tea kettle on the stove for tea. Or use the microwave (the horror!). Another French kitchen appliance that’s popular? Pressure cookers. They look like this and most French kitchens have one.
Let’s talk about electric kettles >>
Cute sugar cubes
Need sugar for your coffee or tea? Most kitchens in France will have a box or sugar bowl full of cute little sugar cubes that you can pop in your beverage.
Some are just little cubes or circles but many come in more unique shapes like clovers, hearts and diamonds. Or in little packets that come in flavors like vanilla. Sure beats scooping out your sugar with a teaspoon!
Pans with removeable handles
If you’re American, unless you shop at Ikea for all of your kitchen wares, your pans probably have handles that cannot be removed. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever come across pans with removable handles at any of my friends’ homes in the USA. Some people probably use sets like this Tefal one without handles but they’re not the norm.
In French kitchen stores, handle-less pots are very common. Pans stack really well in the cabinet and take up less space when those pesky handles don’t get in the way. Just buy a handle or two and a variety of pans and you’re all set.
Eating out? Tips to wow your French dining companion >>
The washing machine
A washer in the kitchen is especially common in smaller spaces where there may not be a laundry room or garage to house your washer (and maybe a dryer). In Paris, my brother-in-law’s washing machine is next to his dishwasher in his kitchen.
Similarly, the apartment we rented the first time my parents visited Paris had a washer/dryer combo appliance (but beware, the drying cycle is quite weak and may leave your clothes damp even after running it a few times) across from the oven. The French are masters of making every space count.
Small refrigerators
It’s not that giant fridges aren’t available for kitchens in France, but most families just don’t need them so they buy something smaller. Or the space doesn’t allow for anything large. I’ve been to people’s apartments before in France and they get by with a dorm-size fridge (half size) which fits under the countertop.
Now while that’s not common in a 2+ bedroom house or apartment in the countryside, it can be common in smaller apartments in cities.
Smaller fridges make sense if you think about it — a few steps out the door and you can grab what you need for the day, so no 20-minute treks to the supermarket to stock up for the next week.
We have our fridge from our old apartment in our basement as a backup fridge since the one in our kitchen tends to get crowded (especially the freezer). But giant American-style fridges? Definitely not the norm in kitchens in France, although they do exist.
9 Differences between American and French houses >>
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What about you? What else have you found in kitchens in France?
PIN my typical French kitchen differences post:
A scale!!!
French don’t mesure flour or butter or sugar or milk with cups. When we cook, we use real measuring devices 😉 a scale for anything solid or granulated, and a measuring cup for liquids.
Ah yes, that’s a good one. Grams make so much sense and a scale will tell you the exact weight of the flour, sugar, etc. Measuring cups aren’t as precise and now I try to cook in grams whenever I can. I use my scale to weigh packages too before going to the post office. Win win.
Europeans are generally a head when it comes to environmentally friendly products and habits. The appliance in many European homes used for washing clothes is called a washer, spin dryer. It’s not intended to completely dry the clothes it’s not good to put your clothes in the dryer. Every time you wash them textiles wear out more quickly when they’re overheated for long periods of time so Europeans and Irish typically hang their laundry in the fresh air which is much better for the environment and makes your clothes much fresher.
Remember ceramic corning ware? I still have a few of those and they have detachable handles. They’re also great for the microwave.
Oh ok, not super familiar with that but the handleless stuff can be really useful and so easy to store in drawers. Anything to make cooking simple works for me!
Never heard of a bread bag or drawer, electric kettle we have one of those sits on the kitchen sink they are pretty common in Australia. I used to have a pressure cooker when I was first married but now I use a slow cooker
Yes, I think the electric kettles are getting popular but bread bags seem to be a France thing. LOVE slow cookers!
The washing machine in the kitchen was unique to me too. And always the small (3/4 size) refrigerators.
Yeah, I understand that sometimes space is an issue but it still seems strange to have a washer under the counter. And big fridges all the way!
I don’t have any further things to add, but I do have a question. My wife and I have always used Iron frying pan/skillet. Is that common in France?
Todd
I think they’re popular and see cast iron pans in stores. I have a few. I’d say they are at the same popularity level as they are in the USA. Not super sure though overall.
Love the electric kettle for sure! Useful for a million and one things, basically!
Yes, for tea, for quickly heating up water to boil in a pot, etc. I make single cups of coffee each morning and use mine daily!
I‘m so French! In my Maryland-kitchen, I have of course „une boite à pain“ to store my bread (even if it‘s degusting toast), a water boiler, and of course sugar cubes that I bought in the store of the French Embassy. Concerning the washer and dryer, I moved them to the basement when we bought our house but they were in the kitchen. And, yes we have a huge fridge that would never fit in a French standard kitchen.
If you wonder why the French go along with smaller fridges, just think that they/we cook more with fresh produces than Anericans. Fresher is better, therefore shopping at the farmer market once a week, and not only during the weekend is probably deeply rooted in the French mind.
Are microwaves common in French kitchens? I was trying to remember if my French family had one, but it was 30 years ago since I was there!
And sugar cubes! I remember learning to drink the café in shops, my friends and I started by using those sugar cubes and dipping it in the espresso then sucking it out. (So not polite, I know.) But eventually we were drinking it without any sugar cube.
Bonjour! Le sucre en morceau trempé dans le café, on appelle ça “un canard” en France. (a duck). On peut également le faire avec un cognac!
Bonne journée!
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