HINSDALE
LIST $2.335 MILLION SALE $2.15 MILLION

Last fall, after Doris Christopher and her husband, Jay, put their 19-room Hinsdale mansion on the market, their sales agent told the Chicago Tribune that the couple was “downsizing.” In December 2010, the Christophers paid $2.15 million for their new residence—and though it is indeed about a third of the size of their old place, the 13-room house, built in 1999, still has five bedrooms, four fireplaces, a four-car garage, an outdoor fire pit, and a putting green.

Photos accompanying the listing—the selling agent was Carrie Kenna of Re/Max Elite—show lots of large windows and extensive millwork, including deep crown moldings throughout and paneling and cabinetry in the library. The house had been on and off the market since October 2008, when it was listed at $2.999 million. Doris Christopher, the founder and chairwoman of the Addison-based Pampered Chef (which sells tools and techniques for the kitchen), declined to comment on the purchase.

Sitting on nearly two acres, the couple’s prior home, less than half a mile from their new house, is still on the market, with an asking price of $6.8 million. They paid $6.33 million for it in 2003, down from its original asking price of $10.9 million. In 2002, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway paid an undisclosed amount—reportedly about $900 million—for the Pampered Chef, which Doris Christopher founded in 1980 with $3,000 she borrowed from a life insurance policy.

Send tips about home sale to dennis@rodkin.com.

Photograph: Todd Urban