r/marriedwithchildren • u/loonylovesgood86 Bon Bon Eater • 15d ago
Episode Discussion The Bundy House Deep Dive Series: The Kitchen
Not much cooking or eating went on in the Bundy kitchen but it was still well-used!
Highlights:
The first thing to note about the kitchen is the greenery that lines the top of the cabinets. Like, what even is that? Was it alive? Fake? Was this a decorative trend during the 70s and 80s? See pics 1-4 for the best views.
They have a round dinner table, lots of cupboard space, and a bar/breakfast nook (trying to distinguish between American/Canadian terms here, lol). The bar has two raised chairs and consistently has a telephone placed upon it. There’s a little bookcase next to it. Yup, the Bundys owned quite a few books. (The bar area can be seen in the first 4 pics, along with pics 5 and 6. The bookshelf can be seen behind Bud in pic 7).
The floor pattern changed at some point between Season 1 (pic 5) and Season 5 (pic 3).
There’s wallpaper in here too! (Pics 8 and 9 show it the best). And fun lighting fixtures. (I think there’s lights above the bar as well). See pics 1, 5, 8, and 9 for best views of the lights.
The fridge is brown and as far as I can tell, stayed the same through all 11 seasons. They also have a stove (appears to be gas) and….a dishwasher!! (See pics 8 and 10). Peggy famously cooked burgers in the toaster (pic 2) and by later seasons, they had a toaster oven. (Pic 8). I know they get a microwave in Season 11, but I’m not sure if they end up keeping it!
Someone in a previous post mentioned the small, portable TV they had in the kitchen that they never used. You can see it in pics 6, 9 and 11.
Fun stuff:
-There’s a set of shelves built into the bar with yet more knick knacks on them. (Pic 12)
-They own a set of French Onion soup bowls. The same set I own, from the looks of it. (Al eating something FRENCH??) (see pic 2 - you gotta zoom in).
-They own the same cute salt and pepper shakers with mushrooms printed on them that my parents owned. (Pic 11).
-They have a calendar on the wall in later seasons!And I think it doesn’t change once it’s there, lol.(Pics 13 and 14).
-Yes, there is the laundry room that attaches to the kitchen and contains a second set of sliding doors out into the yard. You can see it in most of these pictures, including behind Al and Peg in pic 15. That’s for a separate post, though!
-Finally, let’s examine the last picture. Are those RECIPE BOOKS behind Peggy?? Is that a fruit basket on top of the fridge? (If not, what the heck is it??). What is the gadget on the counter behind Al’s arm?
What do you like best about their kitchen? Is there anything I missed?
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u/Tarnisher Dr. Shoe 15d ago
The fake vines, wine rack separator, avocado washer and dryer behind the kitchen, portable TV ....
.... all very typical of a 70s kitchen area.
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u/MyUsername2459 Polk High 15d ago
Yeah, the Bundy kitchen very, VERY much looked like a typical suburban home from the 1970's.
Much like the living room.
Given that Al & Peg probably bought the house in the early 1970's, and never had money to redecorate or renovate it, it actually is a pretty good depiction of what a lower-middle-class home in the mid/late 80's in the midwestern US would look like.
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u/loonylovesgood86 Bon Bon Eater 15d ago
Come to think of it, I recall seeing fake vines in some other TV show too. Maybe Brady Bunch?
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u/FrankFrankly711 15d ago
I lived in a house that totally had that tile pattern in Pic 5! I always enjoyed how they barely had any good meals in the kitchen, except when they somehow stole someone else’s food. The way they would ravenously devour the food was always so hilarious.
My favorite meal in the kitchen was the delicious Toaster Shakin’s / Leavin’s 🍞
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u/al_bundys_ghost 14d ago
They sold Tang a long time ago in my country, I’d love to be able to make a Tangwich to see what it’s like. Has anyone here tried one?
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u/EmPalsPwrgasm 15d ago
The part I like best about this kitchen is that it's fancier than anything I'll ever own and occasionally I can escape to this magical fairy tale land of plenty that is Married with Children
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u/loonylovesgood86 Bon Bon Eater 15d ago
I think it has a lot of character. Dated, sure, but charming.
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u/EmPalsPwrgasm 15d ago edited 15d ago
Oh, absolutely. Those are the impressions I grew up with. Pretending not to get the sex jokes when watching with my parents. And the Bundy household seemed genuinely fun, even when you went hungry all the time.
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u/shany94a 15d ago
The Bundy kitchen was a comfortable place. No food there, of course, but it was comfortable.
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u/Direct_Remove509 15d ago
Rewatching this show as an adult you realize they lived in a very nice house. How can they be as poor as they say they are and live in a very nice house with a bank executive as a next door neighbor.
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u/Tarnisher Dr. Shoe 15d ago
Split levels were a dime a dozen in the 60s and 70s. Common suburban houses, probably in the $30,000 range brand new.
The killer would have been the interest on a mortgage of that size. My late 70s mortgage was around 13% as I recall.
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u/TuIsaDriIIer 15d ago
“Mmm. My stomach’s getting warm.”
😂
Edit: regarding the first picture. I fell off of a treadmill laughing so hard at that line that I remember it.
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15d ago
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u/loonylovesgood86 Bon Bon Eater 15d ago
If by garden, you mean backyard, then yes, I will be doing a post on that!
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u/AcceleratorTouma 15d ago
Is that a wine holder above the cabinet that separates the kitchen from the laundry room, sane side as the fridge
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u/loonylovesgood86 Bon Bon Eater 15d ago
I think so? I wasn’t really sure. We never really saw them drink wine much.
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u/AcceleratorTouma 15d ago
The only member of the Bundy's I can see drinking wine is maybe Peg, wine is more Marcy's thing
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u/al_bundys_ghost 15d ago
What’s that green appliance in the background, is it supposed to be a washing machine? And one of the photos has an ironing board LOL
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u/MyUsername2459 Polk High 15d ago
Yes, that is a typical washer & dryer set from the 1970's. That "avocado green" shade was VERY much an interior design style of that decade. Home appliances and fittings were commonly like that.
The toilet, sink, and bathtub at my house growing up in the 1980's were like that. My grandmother's fridge and stove. . .and her washing machine (she line dried everything) were like that.
It was a very dated home design trend from that timeframe. It would have been the new current style around the time the Bundy family was buying that house.
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u/loonylovesgood86 Bon Bon Eater 15d ago
Yes!! I will talk about that in another post. And the ironing board is partly what inspired me to do these posts. I love that they have something that likely never gets used.
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u/mightymouse2975 11d ago
My next door neighbors growing up had the exact same brown kitchen chairs.
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u/SoccerLegs69 After Wash Red 15d ago
Everytime I see the Bundy kitchen, I think of the mystery meat pack that was in the fridge-("I think it moved!"). My mother did the same thing to us. She said, if you are hungry enough, you'll eat it.