The Brand Of Oven Julia Child Trusted The Most

We all have our preferred brands when it comes to kitchen appliances and so do our beloved celebrity chefs. For the late American television cooking pioneer Julia Child, her kitchen exploits wouldn't have been as productive and efficient without her Thermador thermal convection oven. A few years before her passing in 2004, Child donated the electric wall oven and the rest of her home kitchen to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. It's worth noting that she filmed three of her cooking shows in that kitchen between 1994 and 2001, including "Baking with Julia," "In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs," and "Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home."

Interestingly, Thermador might not have been the In-N-Out-loving celebrity chef's favorite oven brand. According to Child's assistant, Stephanie Hersh, the industrial-grade stove from Garland "was one of her favorite pieces of equipment." She adored the Garland model 182 so much that she bought the one she found at her friend's house for $429 during a home visit. Child's favorite oven featured six burners and a steel griddle. "It was a professional gas range, and as soon as I laid eyes on it, I knew I must have one. I loved it so much I vowed to take it to my grave," she wrote in her memoir, "My Life in France."

Julia Child had several ovens in her kitchen, but the Thermador-branded unit was instrumental to her television career as it was the one she used on her first show, "The French Chef." (Granted, the first-ever dish Child prepared on television didn't require the use of the electric oven.) When Child returned to the small screen for her new show, "Julia Child & Company," in 1978, she made the big switch to a gas oven as part of a sponsorship from the American Gas Association (AGA) which was actively promoting gas utilities on TV at the time. It's not clear to what extent this influenced Child's preference for gas stoves and her eventual devotion to her Garland gas range.

Eight years after Child's passing, her namesake foundation got into a legal battle with BSH Home Appliances, the manufacturer behind the brand of oven she seemingly trusted the most before she landed her major sponsorship by AGA. In 2012, BSH filed a lawsuit against Child's foundation after the latter complained about the company's use of the late celebrity chef's name and image for the marketing campaign of its appliances. The company insisted it only referenced Child's documented use of its products. After all, Child's well-loved Thermador oven remained part of her modified kitchen, which is still on display at the Smithsonian's museum alongside her other ovens, including the Garland stove.