FOOD NETWORK Show has it all, even the sink

One show revamps kitchens, another offers a little wine with your Cleese.
By LISA McKINNON
SCRIPPS HOWARD
With its electric mixers, cheery theme music and a certain chef who likes to yell "Bam!" at every turn, the Food Network has never been a quiet place to visit.
It's getting a lot louder, thanks to the addition of "Kitchen Accomplished." The series spices up the usual cooking-show format with a liberal sprinkling of hammers, nails and power tools.
The recipe is this: Trim away the old cabinets, malfunctioning appliances and clunky floor plan of one dilapidated, real-life kitchen. Add the opinions of a professional chef, an interior designer and a contractor. Marinate for three days. Reveal.
"We try to fulfill people's wishes," said Cat Cora, the Culinary Institute of America-trained chef who left her post at the Northern California restaurant Postino to focus on this and other TV projects. "We want to show people how kitchens are changing, not go crazy with their homes."
Team members
Also on the team are Wolfgang Schaber, an interior designer from Tennessee who has been seen on the HGTV program "Designers' Challenge," and Peter Marr, a licensed contractor who grew up in Nebraska but moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in show business.
When he got the call about "Kitchen Accomplished," Marr thought someone had made a mistake. "I asked my agent: 'A building show on the Food Network? Are you sure it's not HGTV?' " (Both networks and SHNS are owned by the E.W. Scripps Co.) "But you gotta keep your options open."
Appropriately enough, "Kitchen Accomplished" is one of several new Food Network shows designed to appeal to cooks and noncooks alike.
In October, actor John Cleese pops the cork on "Wine for the Confused," described as an hour-long special that will "debunk the myths and fussiness that makes wine intimidating to the average person." And premiering in November will be "Inside Dish," a series that takes viewers into celebrity kitchens.
But where's the beef, not to mention the rest of the food? That's where "Kitchen Accomplished" co-host Cora comes in.
"I bring my knowledge about the different appliances that are available now, along with ideas for being more efficient in the kitchen," she said. "And I give lots of tips about food: how to make it, how to present it."