Jan. 22: On Guy Fieri’s birthday, a look at his tasteful home kitchen
Looking at Guy Fieri, the bleached blond, spiky-haired self-proclaimed Mayor of Flavortown, it would be easy to assume he lives in a mansion as loud and large as his personality.
Yet the Food Network star, who turns 46 today, owns a modest ranch house in Santa Rosa, Calif., where his family has lived since his 17-year-old son Hunter’s first birthday. The four-bedroom, three-bathroom home is more cozy than hardcore with just 2,000 or so square feet of living space. Nearly half of that is dedicated to Fieri’s modern kitchen, which he calls “the engine of the Fieri family spaceship.”
The kitchen, which the family built over the home’s former patio, features a 7-foot range with six burners, a grill and a flat-top griddle. Fieri and his wife, Lori, each have their own self-closing refrigerators -- hers is mostly for the family food and his is mostly for professional taste-testing. There are also two commercial ovens, counters made from repurposed barn wood, stainless steel countertops and a foot-pedal sink.
Despite the room’s sleek design, it still clearly belongs to the chef who calls himself a “kulinary gangsta.” It has a digital jukebox filled with heavy metal music, football plays scribbled on the wall from NFL players he’s hosted, and trinkets acquired on his travels for “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”
But if you’re still in need of a true Fieri fix, his garage doesn’t disappoint. Created through a “Garage Mahal” makeover collaboration between the Food and DIY Networks in 2009, the garage has a rolling car bar, diamond plate wainscoting, and illustrations by tattooer Joe Leonard. It’s a tribute to vintage cars, road food, and life in the (slightly cartoonish) fast lane -- much like Fieri himself.
Ilyce Glink is an award-winning, nationally syndicated real estate columnist, blogger and radio talk show host, and managing editor of the Equifax Finance Blog. Follow her on Twitter @Glink.
