We’ve all seen a Nancy Meyers movies. The successful female director has been responsible for bringing powerful lady bosses to the silver screen through her romantic comedies Something’s Gotta Give, The Intern, and It’s Complicated, amongst others. Meyers’ exposes the flaws of these woman, making audiences fall in love with their imperfections, challenging the definition of Women’s Pictures since she first boomed on the silver screen in the late 1980s. Aside from complicated lives, all the the women in Meyers’ movies only have one thing in common: they all have beautiful kitchens.
We rank 6 of the beautiful kitchen in Nancy Meyers’ movies all for the fun of it. Which one is your favorite?
THE INTERN (2015)
Anne Hathaway’s modern kitchen within her New York City brownstone sits on top of the list of the most beautiful Nancy Meyers movie kitchens. Playing the neurotic though lovable Jules, Hathaway’s character is a hip, young business owner with a flair for fashion. It was no surprise for us to see her well-appointed kitchen perfectly fitting her personality. White brick walls, open storage space, hanging lamps and a stainless steel design element reflects Jules’s no nonsense attitude, although shows her close attention to the rustic and beautiful. We also speculate that Jules had most likely refurbished and renovated this space. The quaint fire place in the kitchen was considered fashionable back in New York’s early days. If we’re creating the back story ourselves, we can see the young Jules, fresh from making her first million dollars, buying an old home in a hip New York village and calling all the shots. Did we mention how much we’re in love with those wooden floors?
IT”S COMPLICATED (2011)
Academy Award winning actress Meryl Streep appeared in Nancy Meyers’ 2011 romantic comedy It’s Complicated, as an aging woman who starts an affair with her ex-husband (who happened to have cheated her almost two decades ago) played by Alec Baldwin. As her Jane Adler deals with the pressures of being alone, she does it the best way she can: baking croissants and whipping up enormous dinner feasts for her family and friends. It only helps that Jane is a professional chef and restaurateur. Her modern California bungalow features a breathtaking taking kitchen space fit for a Michelin-starred chef. The marble island is so chic. The open arches that lead to the dining room shows Jane’s affinity for entertaining. As night dims, the kitchen only gets cozier, making it the ideal space for midnight snacks…but only when your Mama can make something restaurant worthy with a drop of a hat.
SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE (2003)
Something’s Gotta Give was basically set inside this beautiful kitchen in the Hampton’s. Diane Keaton’s Broadway playwright Erica Berry is forced to stay in her mansion by the sea when her daughter’s elderly boyfriend (Jack Nicholson) suffers a heart attack and must stay put for a couple of days. They meet in the kitchen (surprisingly in his boxers before he attempts to woo her daughter), she tries to cook him a fantastic midnight snack of blueberry pancakes, and they also enjoy a romantic candle-lit dinner there when the lights go out due to an unexpected storm. It’s basically the first Nancy Meyers movie where the kitchen played a very special role role. Berry’s kitchen is sprawling in size and features two views: the main view facing the front yard and the back view which looks out onto the ocean. Imagine spending your summers here, cooking croque madame while dreaming up your next big play. It would be a dream come true.
THE PARENT TRAP (1998)
The kitchen in Meyers’ remake of The Parent Trap isn’t the most intriguing space there is, but as a part of the first level’s floor plan, it actually really special. Set inside a Vineyard at Nappa Valley, Nick Parker’s California Mansion is full of natural light and features a sprawling open floor plan. The kitchen floods open to the woody living room and the veranda covered in vines. Sitting in the kitchen during a hot California afternoon will be no problem here, easily kick off your riding boots, pop open a cold bottle of wine, open one of the large French doors and look out into the sunset disappearing into the grape vines.
THE HOLIDAY (2006)
Kate Winslet’s kitchen in The Holiday is the definition of shabby chic. Her character (compared to the other neurotic female leads of Nancy Meyers movies) may not be as wealthy as her film counterparts, but we think she did an awfully good job with her English cottage that screams Christmas. Floral curtains, blue and white checkered details, that carpet, and the cream paint on the stone walls gives off the feeling on comfort and ease. We can imagine drinking a cup of extra hot hot chocolate with an abundance of mushrooms.
BABY BOOM (1987) *Honorable Mention* – Although this movie was not directed by Nancy Meyers (it was made by her then husband Charles Shyer), the Meyers kitchen was first evident in 1987’s Baby Boom, in which she wrote the screenplay. Diane Keaton’s character J.C. Wiatt leaves New York city for a chic antique country home in Vermont. Althought J.C. encounters many problems in its restorations, we appreciate the ranch look of her kitchen in which she starts her gourmet apple sauce baby food which would turn her into a multi millionaire.
Text by Chino R. Hernandez
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