La Cornue Kitchen Ranges
20 July 2010
“Nothing by Halves”
What first caught my eye about this particular line of kitchen ranges was the use of walnut, probably because I have just finished a custom framing project that involved quite a bit of black walnut. It’s a wonderfully rich-looking wood, so unlike any wood that is stained to look like walnut. Trust me, nothing does. You use the real thing, or you use a cheap rip-off. But I digress. I started to tell you about one of the more unusual and exotic makers of kitchen ranges that I have yet encountered in this “blog my brains out marathon” that seems to have become my life. What most interests me, as I’ve said many times, is simply the richness of what is available for kitchens these days, which is pretty much everything, and pretty much in every price range. Today I thought I might explore a rather pricey alternative for those with the wherewithal for such things.
It’s a French firm, but interestingly enough, they actually have outlets around the world, including the USA, so those who read this and are interested should have very little difficulty pursuing some of the more interesting kitchen designs now available. So, with that as a much-too-long introduction, I can now turn to the subject of today’s blog, La Cornue.
They have three lines of kitchen ranges, all of them made by people who have dedicated their entire lives to this venture, and it shows! Visit their website, and one soon comes across the line, “There is no sincerer love than the love of food” by George Bernard Shaw. They go on to state how they have loved and served cuisine in the same way as a luthier (one who makes or repairs stringed instruments) loves and serves music. Well, sir! With my love of classical music, and food, that just warmed the cockles of my heart, I can tell you. But, in the end, as it must always be, what counts is not what the man says about what he does, but what he does. So, let’s get into that.
La Cornue has been at it for over a century now, and though they’ve modernized and internationalized, they still do a lot of things the old-fashioned way, with integrity. They use only the best materials, chosen for their quality and longevity, items 
like iron, steel, solid brass, nickel and enamel. The wood touches that caught my eye come in blonde oak in its natural color and walnut, which is to say, no stains, no dyes, nothing to homogenize and standardize wood, just the wood itself, which really does quite well on its own, thank you very much! But what I most appreciated about their ranges is that they’re still building them with the same standards they used a century ago before MBA graduates infected (no other word really describes the phenomenon) the business world with their bean counting and “more efficient business models” and, inevitably, shortcuts and half measures in production, every one of which is billed as “just as good,” but none of which actually is.
Eight of every ten ranges La Cornue produces go around the world, and it’s not hard to see why. They have some 250 outlets in 30 countries now, and as word of such superb quality gets out, they can only prosper all the more. When’s the last time you visited a website for a kitchen range manufacturer and found a section entitled 
“The Architect and the Cook?” They go on to state that “a well designed kitchen makes for a happy cook.” In line with that, they have developed La Cornue Chateau Kitchen service, which is a repository for their knowledge-and enthusiasm-for all things culinary. They have also created an entire line of kitchen furniture that is intended to make a glorious French-style kitchen. What they seek to do is nothing less than to be an active participant in the production of a kitchen design that is “unique, traditional, homely, changeable, spectacular, sensual. but always joyous, practical and food-loving.” Looking at the pictures on their website, I have to think they have succeeded in that.
But to get back to the kitchen ranges themselves, two of their lines are still assembled by hand and by one person who follows production through to the end and finalizes every last detail. They take all the time they need in order to make their ranges to the highest possible standards: their own. They proudly state that even if you were the Queen of England, you’d have to wait two months for these ranges because they don’t know how to make them any quicker. Nor do they wish to learn! Half measures always produce half.
Joseph
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2 Responses to “La Cornue Kitchen Ranges”
July 20th, 2010 at 9:47 AM
Absolutely stunning ranges! Of course, they would not work in my house since it is all electric.
July 20th, 2010 at 11:01 AM
They are beautiful, but for a cooktop I still prefer my smoothtop electric. With all the stir frying I do I think it would be a lot more work cleaning up those grates. What I would really like is one of those induction cooktops.