apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Good job, Frank!

when all you have is open storage, give up to it - I think you've made the best of a cramped situation with IKEA not looking soooo IKEA but giving you a nice visual upgrade from Closet Maid.

(what a funny name, Closet Maid)

yeah Frank!

Now this looks like a kitchen that is both lived in, functional, and stylish. Great job! I'm tired of things looking so sterile, and it's great to see something that has life.

This is great open shelving use. The pantry area, while well-stocked, is still orderly and does not appear cluttered. Great idea using the lazy susans on the shelf. You've really maximized on a minimal amount of space.

Love it! Gave me ideas how to use wall space to organize! Besides using shelves which I've done already.

I feel clausterphobic just looking at the picture! Too much!

I agree with the claustrophobia. A few cupboard coverings such as inexpensive washable fabric drapes would go along way. It would also add another dimension of color and/or texture, some thing that Frank seems to enjoy.

Also, edit some of the items. I count 8 frying pans, 3 similarly size pots, another 3 similar looking stock pots, two mesh strainers, numereous muffin tins, an explosion of places and bowls, a coffee maker so hard to reach that i doubt it gets used at all (suggest replacing with a french press)

Not only would a good edit bring out the cheerful color, it would give you collection of colored glasses more prominence and give you some more elbow room to whip up culinary delights.

i really like the muffin tins over the door. so nice to see them out and not hidden, the space makes me feel like i should instantly start cooking...

Excellent use of color and storage, no editing needed at all since you probably use duplicates of same-size pots and pans. I cook a lot and also have an open kitchen (not so aesthetic as this one though) - after having an open kitchen, I wouldn't have any other kind.

I love how you've managed to turn your cookware/bakeware into art! This is one of my favorites so far, and I love that you've been able to show us a kitchen that looks well-used, organized and unique at the same time!

I really like this one! I can tell from your surroundings that you like th cook and am impressed with your ability to so neatly store so many cooking-related items. Well done!

To me, this looks like a real cook's kitchen. Every pro chef's home kitchen I've seen has as much as possible out, orderly, and easily accessible. My appetite is whetted thinking of the feasts this kitchen could produce. (Hard to think of feasting in some of the other entries.) - The only thing is that I'd like to see a bigger stove!

(as always, I'm voting on the quality of the space and not the photos. One does not live in a photo, but in a three-dimensional space. And anyway, I'm better at imagining things in three dimensions than I am at responding to two.)

This kitchen reminds me of the upward spiraling cave of human trinkets in The Little Mermaid: The combination of height and cookware as art highlights your utensils, making them look less like clutter and more like treasure.

Lots of nice comments -- thanks so much!

...and to Sea -- you think you want to see a bigger stove! LOL! Join the club.

Taking photos in such a small room, and with a less than optimal camera, was very difficult. Glad so many of you are able to visualize with what I was able to provide. In person, many people respond much like lalularueen!

And the color of the walls!! Orange/red ... looks like red with orange in the light-highlighted areas, more a result of the photo probably. Anyway, warm and hot and appetite-inducing. I, too, like lots of things, esp repeated things, displayed. Instant aesthetic experience rather than just looking at stuff. I see no need to cover it up. In my kitchen I will have both open and closed storage, best of both worlds.

Thanks for the inspiration!

Frank, you are one colorful and tall dude!

Frank - great kitchen - reminds me of a great second-hand kitchen store near me called Cookin'.

I'm really curious how much counter space you have? But in any case, it's very cool.

I have to admit that I am partial, as I share this kitchen, but to set the record straight...no French press, as we prefer making espresso and capuccino the traditional way, but the large coffee machine does come in handy for a larger dinner party.

When I first saw this kitchen, it struck me as a very cozy and romantic kitchen, in the sense that a man who loves to cook created it for his personal style of cooking, and from the accumulation of the various acoutrements collected through the years. Even though it is small, it is a wonderful place to unwind after a long day and catch-up while dinner is prepped and cooked. Yes, you need to learn patience working in this kitchen, but then that is one of the most important ingredients to any good meal.

This reminds me of the jammed, colorful, homey hippie kitchen I grew up in, except smaller. Living as a kid in jammed, colorful, blow-your-mind surroundings turned me into the minimalist clean freak I am today, but I still feel at home in places like this. I love it. It reminds me of an interview in a magazine with Julia Child some years ago, with a picture of the small galley kitchen she'd adapted when she moved to a retirement community.

I do agree that you might want to edit your pots/pans a bit though. Fewer of them means less washing of them! And more room for more wacked-out, fun new stuff!

argarg -- counter space is painfully limited, but that's so typical in NYC. In the last picture, there is a pull out work surface (original to the space) that stretches out to connect the built in counter to the free-standing unit, so I gain a bit more. Also, the dining table is out and around the corner, so that's always a back-up -- and I've become adept at using the refridgerator top and the shelf under the microwave for staging.

As for editing, well, I do use everything here at one time or another -- obviously some things like the large coffee machine only for a dinner party -- the height of the item does have a lot to do frequency of use.

I should probably point out that my father was a professional chef, and I've been in a lot of restaurant kitchens -- this "editing" concept would make most chefs wince!

The wall color is amazing. I'm sure it's even more delicious than in the photos.

There is SO MUCH STUFF in this kitchen which, in any other way could be overwhelming, but it's so orderly and decorative that it really makes this space. I would have a hard time if this was mys kitchen--I'd be constantly fiddling with arrangements, just looking at things. But I especially love the colored glass in the window, the baking pans over the door, the wall color (oh my god. that RED!), and the multicolored stacks of plates. I dig the whole look.

"I should probably point out that my father was a professional chef, and I've been in a lot of restaurant kitchens -- this "editing" concept would make most chefs wince!"

Yes, that's right! Mid-C Frank, thank you for confirming what I was trying to say. SO many of the kitchens on display here are not really suited to real heavy use. Everything has a purpose (yes, including that tenth pan!), and 'editing' these things away applies only to those who will not use them, or don't really know how to, or never have a LOT going on in the kitchen at once. I don't cook so much now, but when I did, boy, it was a wonder to behold the efficiency with which you can use tools, juggling layers upon layers of tasks - the point is to have one's life (and cooking) run as smoothly as possible, not to live with as few things as possible. It's just that most people don't do that much in the kitchen, so running smoothly for them means getting rid of stuff. And that's fine. But as for me, I need that very special Japanese curling shaver to make lovely daikon and carror garnishes for my meals.

It has been my experience that things run SMOOTHLY when you have just what you need, not several redundant tools that add to the clutter of your workspace.

I am a trained chef and caterer, so I know how to deal with layers upon layers of tasks and it has always been my experience that what limits productivity is the amount of prep space, not lacking that 10th frying pan.

A good chef knows how to use one tool for multiple things -- it is rather the 'foodie' type cooks who need all the latest gadgets as and single use tools.

I'm not saying this is the situation here, just that with a few simple edits, this kitchen could be a LOT more productive.

Looks like a homey, cozy, much used functional kitchen, I'd cook here.

Looks great & looks functional!

Dust?

It's just too cluttered. How can you control dust and grease?

Dust can be an issue -- but "spring cleanings" are frequent (usually do a shelf or two at a time), and this is a good thing vis-a-vis little varmints and such.

As for clutter, keep in mind that this is the one room where I let it all hang it out -- if you look at last year's Smallest Coolest entries ("Franks Mid-Century Madness") -- you can see that the rest of the place is edited to a T.