Rachael Ray Says Guests Are ‘Shocked at How Tiny My Kitchen Is’

Despite her status as one of the most recognizable celebrity chefs in the country and having millions and millions of dollars at her disposal, Rachael Ray has one small kitchen.

“When people come over for the first time to my apartment, I think they’re shocked at how tiny my kitchen is,” she told the Wall Street Journal in the video here.

The Wall Street Journal estimates (and Ray’s husband and manager/lawyer/singer John Cusimano confirms) that her net worth is $25 million.

“If I put my arms out, I can reach from my refrigerator to my stove,” Ray told the Wall Street Journal. And that blue tall-and-skinny fridge? She can’t reach the top shelf. (She’s 5-foot-3.)

The colorful kitchen, reflective of her similarly brightly hued cooking line, is part of a six-level, 1,800-square-foot home in the East Village that she and Cusimano purchased in 2004, as her career exploded.

The couple liked the layout because it felt like a treehouse, they told the Journal. There’s just enough space for about one room per level.

“If we’re home, John’s in his studio and I’m in the kitchen,” she says in the video. “We come together for the cocktail portion.”

They bought the place for $1.4 million and renovated it. (A year later they also bought their neighbor’s one-bedroom apartment for $1.25 million – a testament to how much real estate prices climbed in that pre-bubble time period – but rather than combining the properties, they kept the one-bedroom open as a guest suite. Appropriately enough, the two units connect through a sliding glass door in their kitchens.)

Despite the tiny size of her New York City kitchen and the massive success she’s experienced since purchasing it, she says she won’t be selling anytime soon.

Ray told the newspaper: “This is my vibe. This is my ideal apartment. They’ll carry me out in a box.”

More tiny spaces on Yahoo Real Estate:

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