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Ina Garten is a national treasure that sips cosmos from oversized martini glasses like us, who cooks with store-bought products like us, and who values her privacy like us. Even as a famous chef with her own television show on the Food Network, Barefoot Contessa, Garten doesn’t divulge too much information about her personal life. And when she does, it’s usually about her relationship with husband of more than 50 years, Jeffrey, or it’s printed in one of her 12 cookbooks. That’s probably why we get so excited when we learn anything new about the queen of comfort food — and even more so when we get another glimpse into her gorgeous East Hamptons home.
Fans of Barefoot Contessa know that the show is filmed at “the Barn” built next door to her main home. But outside of show, we rarely go behind-the-scenes of the Barn — until now.
Garten lives in East Hampton New York in a shingle-style farmhouse. And according to blogger Jalon Burton, Garten is so private, it’s near impossible to find interior shots of the house after 1994 when House Beautiful published a feature about Garten’s home. But when it comes to the Barn, Garten invited Women’s Wear Daily over nearly 10 years ago for a rare tour of her “office.”
From Garten’s pristine kitchen to her nearly perfectly organized pantry, take a look at the Barn ahead.
The Main Home
Garten lives in a single-family home that sits on a 37,026 square-foot lot that she purchased in the ’90s.
“I have a very quiet life in East Hampton, and I love it the way it is,” Garten told Food & Wine in 2015.
A Dream Farmhouse
On the lot next door, however, is the Barn, were Garten films Barefoot Contessa.
BuzzFeed News describes the Barn as boasting two large rooms, one that contains a kitchen with blonde wood floors, and a living room with a stone floor and a large hearth.
The Barn
When Garten’s 1999 cookbook The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook sold more than one million copies, she needed a kitchen large enough for herself and her assistant to test recipes. Thus, the Barn was born.
Built from Scratch
According to a New York Times feature published in 2012, Garten built the kitchen from scratch.
“There she housed everything she needed: two Sub-Zero refrigerators, an eight-burner Viking stove, two ovens, Belgian stone countertops, open shelves, a tall 17th-century Italian cabinet for china and glassware, and a long antique Swiss pine dining table for friends she invites over to try new dishes,” reporter Jacob Bernstein wrote.
An Exact Replica
According to reports, the kitchen in Garten’s home is an almost exact replica of the kitchen in the Barn.
On Decorating the Barn
When Garten decorated the Barn, she said she didn’t want the space to look like a set. “I didn’t do it for TV,” she told NYT. “I did it for books. And if it looks like a set, it doesn’t feel real.”
Garten also told The Cut that, when designing the Barn, she was inspired by Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Belgian style. “I spent a lot of time in Belgium,” she told the publication.
Behind the Scenes
Even Garten’s storage room is pristine. Here, she stores all her dishware and cookware.
The Pristine Pantry
And in true Garten fashion, all of her seasonings, spices, and other ingredients are neatly organized and presented.
A Dream Office
In the end, the Barn is Garten’s office; and it’s here that she works on recipes until they’re exactly what she’s envisioned.
“Sometimes I nail it on the second try, and sometimes it takes 25. But once I feel it’s right, I give the recipe to my assistant and have her make the dish. She’s not a trained cook, so as she works I watch to see what mistakes she makes. It helps me recognize all those little instructions I forgot to make clear—like ‘Cook on high heat’ or ‘Chop diagonally,'” she told Oprah magazine.
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