I cook a lot. These past couple of weeks, for instance, I've been cooking through all the un-photographed recipes in Bakeless Sweets and shooting them for the book's website. The amount of dishes generated by these 75 recipes has been mountainous. So this clutter of dishes expresses how my kitchen looks, most of the time (and actually, this isn't too bad, in comparison! I will under no circumstances, however, show you my stovetop right now.). And yet I have an open kitchen, with the mess on display for everyone to see. (See my whole kitchen renovation reveal here.)

So can you guess what the most important element of my open kitchen is? 

It's always fascinating to see what stirs up the most vehement comments on our family of sites. And over at Apartment Therapy, there is one sure way to start a spat: Talk about organizing books by color! And yet I think that it actually can be a great option, especially for cookbooks! Why is it so controversial, and why do I like it in spite of this? Read on for more, plus a really awesome picture of cookbooks organized by color...

If someone were to take the doors off all your kitchen cabinets and snap a photo, what would that image say about you? That's what Dutch photographer Erik Klein Wolterink explores in Kitchen Portraits, a photography project and the subject of his new book by the same name. 

While there's a lot to love about a dramatic light fixture hanging over the dining room table — I'm still smitten with these copper pendants — I always go back to a simple, classic drum shade pendant. The natural fabric and unfussy shape gives off the loveliest diffused light — great for creating ambience and mood throughout dinner. Here are five classic picks:

For a simple spring place setting at your next dinner, look to the farmers' market and a bunch of hot pink radishes! Tie two radishes — leaves intact! — with twine and place on top of a cloth napkin. I particularly like them paired with a pea green napkin; so lovely and fresh! 

I've been sharing my kitchen renovation with you over the past couple of months (see all the posts and the progression here). Today's finally the day: the big reveal! Here are some photos of my kitchen as it is today, after all the research, sweat, and dust. We are thrilled and feel so lucky — hope you enjoy the peek! 

Remember this dining room? The map was such a cool touch, particularly paired with that cheery purple table. In the spirit of that, we went looking for other inspirational map-attired dining rooms, and found a few that should ignite your wanderlust. 

One of my most memorable experiences last summer in Israel was a Friday night dinner at the home of a few local Tel Avivians. I've thought about that evening a great deal since, mostly because it was such a lesson in hospitality. There we were, a traveling group of food writers, invited to eat a homemade dinner prepared especially for us. We were strangers to our hosts, and yet the evening turned out to be an intimate, welcoming affair — all due, I think, to three things, which are also great entertaining ideas for anyone:

When I was on a food tour in Israel last summer, I attended a Sabbath dinner hosted by three young architects/designers. These Friday night dinners with friends were weekly affairs for them, a nod to the tradition of their culture but more about celebrating food and friendship. The dinner was held in a stone-walled courtyard outside their apartment in Tel Aviv, and when we arrived, the first thing we saw was the menu for that night's dinner written in chalk on the courtyard wall!

There was nothing quite so angsty in my kitchen renovation as the countertops. Maybe it's because I was coming from a rental kitchen with truly awful laminate countertops, countertops that were not only dirty cream in color but textured with deep wrinkles, like rhinoceros skin, never clean and never smooth; but I was convinced that the countertop choice would make the kitchen. Countertops are the difference between easy cleaning and dread. Countertop material changes the light in a kitchen, and is the surface under your hands and food. For me, kitchen renovation meant finally having countertops that were beautiful, bright white, and easy to clean. And not too expensive, my husband added. 

Marble was the natural choice. Right? Right! Here's the story of how we overcame our fears, and found our honed marble countertops.