Tieghan Gerard is a best-selling cookbook author and founder of popular food blog Half Baked Harvest. Based in Colorado, Tieghan built her dream HBH Studio Barn where she experiments with recipes and photographs her creations for her blog and 2 million followers on Instagram. Tieghan spoke with us about building the perfect studio kitchen, sharing advice and insights on must-haves for a professional cooking space. Can you share a little bit about yourself and the background of Half Baked Harvest? Sure! My mom and I started HBH in 2012…I had just finished High School, where I also received my Associate’s Degree. We figured that there was a lot for both of us to learn in starting a food blog, so why not give it a try..who cares if only 5 people read it. Now here we are 8 years later. I am one of seven kids, and I began cooking for my family in an attempt to reign in some of the chaos of my large family (it didn’t work!). I’ve now written two books, one a New York Times Bestseller, just completed my first product line, and have some really fun projects in the works. It’s crazy to see how far we have come! You renovated an old horse barn to use as your Half Baked Harvest studio space; how long did that process take? Renovating the horse barn took about a year. I worked and lived out of that barn for about 2 years before outgrowing it. We then took on the huge undertaking of building the HBH Studio Barn. This took over 2 years to complete. I now solely live in the little renovated horse barn, and I solely work in the HBH Studio Barn. What are some of the standout features of the kitchen space and why were they important to you to include? I love the giant island in the kitchen. It gives me so much versatility in working. I have a prep sink at the end of the island, and a larger, main sink, across from the island. Having two sinks is key. I love all the work space I have here. You have called the kitchen the most important room in the studio, and expressed the difficulty in getting the kitchen plan just right. What were some of the challenges faced in creating the perfect studio kitchen? The main difficulties we had in getting the kitchen plan just right mainly stemmed from the building aspect. Finding quality people was very difficult, and working with the county was a challenge as well. Those were our biggest difficulties. But beyond that, some of the things we added to after completion, to get just right, were proper track lighting and more electrical outlets. We also added a sink in the pantry. You used Waterstone’s Traditional Positive Lock Pulldown (PLP) faucets in the kitchen and the Annapolis faucets in the pantry and bathroom. What drew you to those styles? Which finish was used and why that choice? As soon as Waterstone was brought to our attention by the two designers we worked with at Park and Oak we fell in love. I love the classic style of the faucets we chose, each one is almost like a piece of art. They’re not only beautiful, they’re highly functional. And they’re made with quality materials and manufactured right here in the USA.. I love that! We chose the Classic Bronze finish for the prep sink and main sink. They present a very vintage, yet fresh tone. In the pantry, we went with the Annapolis Kitchen Faucet in Black Nickel. And we have 3 Annapolis Bar Faucets in Solid Brass in the huge trough sink in the downstairs bathroom. I love their old world feel. How important is quality in a kitchen faucet? Especially for someone in this line of work, who is using one at such a high frequency. It is crucial. Not only am I using the faucets all day long, but the amount of dishes we do each day is pretty overwhelming. Just ask my dad..he’s my end of day clean up crew. Even with the two of us working together, it still takes up to two hours each day to clean. As someone whose life revolves around cooking and spending time in the kitchen, what’s your advice for anyone renovating or building their own kitchen space? What are the big details that shouldn’t be missed? That’s a really good question, I’ve done it twice now, and still made mistakes each time. I really do believe that investing in quality products is key. Many items like faucets aren’t built to last more than a few years. Replacing them is much more costly than doing it right the first time. Lighting and electricity are also very important. Make sure you take time to really go over the lighting/electrical plan. It’s worth it to work with a professional on this. Lighting, appliances, and faucets are key in a real working kitchen.
