Ever attended a Pampered Chef party in somebody’s home? It’s been years since I’ve been to one, but I still have several of their products. Most are gathering dust, but I couldn’t live without this mini-spatula, of all things. Use it all the time.
Anyway, when I read that the company’s founder Doris Christopher is reportedly selling her 12,000 square-foot house in Hinsdale, Illinois, I had to take a look!
The listing describes it as a “Magnificently renovated and expanded traditional 6 bedroom, 8 full/3 half bath stone home.”
She bought the house in 2003 for $6.32 million.
Doris reportedly plans to downsize to a smaller place.
I like this sunny sitting room:
The house was built in 1956 but has clearly had a lot of updating done to it over the years.
Of course, the room I was most interested in seeing was her kitchen.
I kind of expected something larger and more extravagant from someone who has made a successful business out of kitchenware, didn’t you?
You can cook here, too, if you can come up with $6.5 million.
For more photos and information about the house, check the listing by Daniel DeBoo of Koenig & Strey. Thanks to Mary of The Chair on the Lake for the scoop!
P.S. The pink mansion Mary Kay Ash used to live in went on the market this year, too.
{ 48 comments… read them below or add one }
Although lovely, this house does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling.
Eek! It’s a bit grandiose for my taste.
That’s what I was thinking. Lovely . . . and rather formally sterile. Perhaps it has been cleaned out of all personal belongings and staged for sale. It seems rather hotel-like. And I don’t like the massive furniture pieces in the main hallway.
I was one of the first Pampered Chef consultants. In 1984, our company meetings were held in her cozy River Forest home on Thatcher and we “practiced” with the new products in her then very small kitchen. A far cry from this Hinsdale home!
Doris and Jay are lovely people, I wish then continued success wherever they make their nest.
No kidding? Wow! Fun to hear from one of the original consultants, Donna!
I love the library and do not care for the front hall, staircase should be more front and center I think. I really find the lights over the kitchen island a bit much but other than that love the little kitchen, it seems well planned. Back yard and patio is beautiful as are the bathroom and other rooms.
The kitchen needs windows and openness!! Despite the white cabinets, it seems so dark and uninviting. So disappointed at the lack of color and personality
I love the library and the patio, but I want a cozier home personally. I like the kitchen–I would love to have one like it because it is roomy without being too big (says the woman with not nearly enough cabinet and counter space).
My personal favorite: the Bamboo Tongs–perfect for getting bagels, toast, and english muffins from the toaster.
Another vote for the Bamboo tongs. Such a simple thing but makes it easy to get anything out of the toaster without burnt fingers or kids using fork
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I think the house is lovely, in a BIG house way. I thingk once the house reaches that size it is hard to make it bright and cozy.
rick
Loved the two-story library!
ditto.
tritto
Quattro!! That is my Dream Library!!
Love the exterior and grounds…it does appear a bit dated though.
I have featured an Interview on my site with Tina from The Enchanted Home…
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
well it is a grand and lavish estate… but I have to say my favorite thing in the whole mansion are the puffy little sheep in the breakfast room!
..me too…
LOL. I thought those dogs were standing awfully still!! Guess I should have put my reading glasses on.
The woodwork and moldings in this home are exquisite. (I love my mini spatula and cookie dough scoop!)
I grew up about 10 minutes away from this house in Hinsdale, IL…lived on N. County Line Rd. It was on the other side of the tracks…literally and figuratively. I grew up in a cozy little cape cod (with a HUGE yard) in the much more modest (wrong side of the tracks) part of Hinsdale in the 70′s. The shame is they are tearing down most of these little houses to build McMansions, including my childhood home. : (
I used to work for the corporate offices and I attended an event in the home when it was first purchased. The house looks very much the same as it did when they bought it. All of the renovations were done by the previous owners. The original house is the center of the home. The previous owners bought the two homes on either side, knocked them down, and put on two additions.
It’s not particularly cozy, but it is top of the line and absolutely enormous.
For what it’s worth, there is more than one kitchen in the home, but the one pictured here is the main one.
Interesting! Thanks for the additional info, Michelle!
I love the outside, but I agree with the others who think the interior is rather sterile. Perhaps even a bit ugly. I think that for $6 million, I could find something that suits me better.
Although lovely…I wouldn’t know what to do in a house that large. I would be “lost”! The grounds are beautiful though and I could live with them without any trouble…LOL! Thanks for sharing. PS – We lived in the Chicago area for 26 years but not anywhere near upscale Hindales!!!
Well, I think that kitchen is huge… and I work in a lot of big ones. There seem to be 3 rooms it encompasses. The main kitchen, a gathering island/prep space, and a butlers pantry (?)
Is it a great kitchen, though… no. But size is certainly not it’s downfall. Nice, but not a showpiece.
The Foyer is underwhelming… and it could be so much more. The furniture (nice individual pieces) feels as if it was left there because it was a pain to move. Nothing feels “in place.” Everything is bare above the pieces, as well. There’s a naked feel to that space, which is not an aesthetic goal here.
Agreed.
The Mary Kay house looks like a bargain at half the price of this one. I love cottages not mansions though.
What a fun post. I have a cutting board and that microwave pot to cook veges in . I really use both. I wonder if people are having less parties and that’s why she’s downsizing. I think it’s a lot to ask of people to shell out 30 or 40 bucks for kitchen gadgets in this economy. I hope she saved some $$$ for a rainy day!
I love all my pampered chef stuff: pizza stone, rubber spatula’s (they really never do melt or discolor!), little rolling pin, best garlic press ever.
The house seems disjointed somehow. All the white, which I usually love, doesn’t pull it together but makes it all seem vacant and undone.
I think I would downsize too if I had a home that large. I love that spatula also!!
All I can think of is what ELSE you could buy for 6 1/2 million – like a fabulous NYC brownstone, or a beautiful country villa in Provence or Tuscany, or a fabulous shingle-style house by the beach in Maine or the Hamptons, or….. This place would probably be near the bottom of that list for me, I have to say.
Have the pizza stone (great) and the hold ‘n slice, which is very useful. The house leaves me cold, except for the patio, which is gorgeous!
No real opinion on the house, but the PC mini spatula is pretty much my favorite kitchen tool of all time. I have been through several I use them so much. If they ever quit making them I will be so sad.
Kind of reminds me of Mary Kay’s home. Not warm and fuzzy. It ‘s funny though I’ve noticed with some of my clients (I do weddings and events) the clients that are billionaires are the clients with the least decorated houses. It’s not over the top. But, what they have is high end. I always think they have nothing to prove and just don’t care about the fluff. It’s pretty interesting. This house reminds me of that approach.
Interesting observation, Nicole. I think you might be onto something!
I believe Warren Buffett bought Pampered Chef around 2003 or 2004, it is now a part of Berkshire Hathaway
This is a beautiful home, but I have to agree with Laura, if I had 6 1/2 million dollars to spend on a home, I would buy a nice country home on acres.
This just doesn’t do anything for me, except for the library (!) and a agree the entry furnishings just seem plopped there.
Also, I’ve never understood the “on display” bathtubs and this one is a dozy. It could double as display for one’s dearly departed as guests could all file by. Anyone who actually takes baths I can’t imagine would like them. I love baths, but just looking at this one give me chills – too breezy vs. warm and steamy.
Beautiful, but the kitchen surprised me as well. Interesting layout. The cook is hidden back in the working part of the kitchen, and three guests can sit out in the other area and look at the cupboards? Really? Not exactly conducive to gathering together, huh? I agree with Kathy. No warm fuzzies here.
This house is like a hotel lobby–no personality. I think it would be tough to make something so huge have personality. I do like some of the architectural details, though.
I love my PC mini spatula, and their vegetable peeler is the best!
I was just about to agree with you that huge houses often feel void of personality… This house is lovely but somehow feels sad. And then I thought about Highclere Castle (aka Downton Abbey), which is enormous and full of personality. So maybe it has to do with the newness of the property– not a home that’s been collected over centuries?
Fireplaces in almost every room … the dining room is charming and cozy with that wonderful brick fireplace! Dining by firelight is hugely contentment-inducing. Our primal DNA must get tickled by open flames while eating.
I’m with those who think the interior is bland, although not offensive. Just unmemorable and with no apesl. Where’s the personality?
But it could be turned into a stunner. Still, much too large and traditional for my taste. Like others, hate the light over te kitchen island.
I agree with just about everyone. It’s a bit to extravagant for my tastes. I do love the drawers/bins in the kitchen island though!
I love PC and miss being a consultant. I love that she has a pot rack and the pots look used and yes, very familiar. It’s very interesting to see her house when I’ve gotten to see her office and it’s very small and cozy. I even have a picture of me sitting in her chair at her desk.
I like the dining room with the brick fireplace. It is a beautiful home–the architectural details, windows, etc. I’m just more of a cottage and bungalow kind of person.
Me no likey….to each his (or her) own!
I guess it’s ok…not a 6.5M worth of OK….not to me anyway..I sure could design my home with that moolah!
This so looks like the house from The Secret of My Success, the 1980s movie with Michael J. Fox.
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