Kitchen & Home

Brass in the kitchen is one thing when you’re talking faucets, knobs, or lighting, but check out these three kitchens with all metallic cabinets! The image that started our search for metallic cabinets is from a kitchen designed by Kelly Wearstler. Isn’t it beautiful — and kind of wild? The cabinets above, which we first wrote about here, appear to be made out of hammered metal, which creates a lovely shimmer and reflectivity in this narrow space.

For Spring Projects month this April, I’m tackling a project that’s been on my to-do list since last fall. My pots and pans take up too much valuable drawer space in my kitchen, so it’s time to get serious about hanging them on the wall! Last fall during The Kitchn Cure I bought a ceiling pot rack with plans to install it over our kitchen island. This idea was soon abandoned over concerns that our rental kitchen ceiling wouldn’t be able to handle the weight.

Buffet, sideboard, server, credenza: Do you find yourself using these terms interchangeably? I sure do! After all, there’s so much overlap between these furniture types that a piece’s classification is often determined solely by its location in your home. Confusing, right? Oh, and have you heard of a huntboard? I hadn’t either, at least until reading this helpful Houzz design article that breaks down the details of these terms.

This week I spent a little time replenishing my supply of souper mix. What is souper mix, you ask? Well, it’s the reason I no longer make or buy containers of vegetable broth or stock — and have a lot more room in my pantry and freezer as a result. For many years I made my own stock from vegetable scraps that I’d save in the freezer. Once I amassed enough scraps I’d simmer them in water to make a stock, which I would also store in the freezer.

Q: I’m living in a 50s era home with a 70s era kitchen. The current kitchen cabinets are falling apart around me, and intriguingly, the original steel Youngstown cabinets are in the basement and are in solid condition. They just need new powder-coating, which would end up being about 10% the cost of new big-box cabinets. Before I plunge ahead with the switch though, I want to make sure I know what I’m getting into.

We’ve seen and heard our share of rental kitchen woes lately, particularly when it comes to those ubiquitous contractor-grade honey oak cabinets.

Over the past couple of days, Jay McDonald of EIEIO & Co. Winery has led us through the vineyards of the Willamette Valley in Oregon and shown us the ropes on crafting Pinot Noir. A consummate entertainer, Jay now shares his culinary expertise on pairing food with the ever-versatile Pinot Noir. (Of course, he’s slightly biased toward Pinot from Oregon!

I’ve been known to play things a little fast and loose in the kitchen. There is very rarely a measuring cup by my side when I’m cooking for pleasure. A dash of this, a pinch of that, a glug of wine for the sauce (and a glug for the chef); these are all acceptable measurements in my cooking language. This method totally works when you’re freestyling dinner, but it doesn’t always work out when you’re trying to bake a batch of cupcakes.

Forget about that stinky self-cleaning function!

Last week we showed you Abby Ruettgers’ sweet South End kitchen, a gorgeous, well-edited space with rows of cookbooks, soapstone countertops, and a big chopping board. Abby loves to entertain, and her kitchen is perfectly set up for it: in colder months friends hang out at the counter or lounge around her dining table; in the summer they head out to the patio, which is in near-constant use in grilling season.

Throughout time and many traditions, the household altar is often placed in the kitchen, the heart of the home and the place from which all activity flows. In some ways, the hearth itself is an altar, centering the household with the offering of food and nourishment, warmth, and a place to gather. In general, we don’t see many home altars these days, which is too bad.

I spend most of my days working from home, typing words on a computer, baking and photographing cookies, then posting pictures of those cookies on the Internet. That sentence makes it all sounds idyllic, and while I’m certainly not complaining, my job presents its own set of challenges. Take lunch for example. It’s the toughest meal of the day for me, so I recently made a change.

While looking through Abby’s kitchen tour yesterday, did you notice the huge chopping board on her countertop? If there’s one thing Abby believes in, it’s her John Boos cutting board. She calls it a “beast” and it never leaves her countertop. Here’s why it’s so crucial to her kitchen, and how she keeps it in top-top shape: “I don’t have a lot of kitchen stuff,” Abby says.

I was taken with the DIY leather pulls in this rental kitchen when we first shared it here at The Kitchn, but I didn’t dare think that leather could actually be used even more broadly in kitchens. Turns out, it can be used for floors, backslashes, or the cabinet doors themselves. This is mostly thanks to a resin coating on the leather, making it easier to clean up in arguably the messiest room of the house.

Q: I have been wanting an “everything” type of cookbook, but I have limited space. Is Joy of Cooking or Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything more essential? Or is The Essential New York Times Cookbook by Amanda Hesser a better choice? Should I buy all of them? I’m a bit confused on what should be my first choice and would appreciate any advice from you and your readers! Sent by Chelsey Editor: Chelsey, I think it depends on what kind of food you normally cook.

Almost every element in Ellenkate and Tim’s Chicago rental apartment is DIY’ed in some capacity. From the wooden bar area “hand-distressed with apple cider vinegar and steel wool” to the hand-built loft bed, this couple loves working together on projects for their home.

My three cast iron skillets are my most-used kitchen items. One of the skillets used to belong to my grandmother, which means the interior is super smooth (great for eggs). Because I use them so often, I keep my pans right on my stovetop, but that’s certainly the least exciting way to store them, as evidenced by the setups in these 10 kitchens: Cast iron pans actually look quite striking when displayed in the open, whether packed in clusters on a pot rack or hung side by side on the wall.

My landlady stopped by this morning to retrieve her mail, which I had been dutifully saving from our drenching late winter rains while she was away in Mexico. In return, she presented me with a gift of a little Oaxacan spoon topped with a carved pink rabbit. The cheerful pink bunny and the arrival of March are just a few of the many reminders that spring, and all the changes it will bring, is not that far off. (Honest. I swear.

We’re asking readers to share how much they spent on a given item, project, or upgrade in the kitchen. We hope this information proves helpful to anyone needing to get a basic sense of how much that something costs. Today’s query: How much does it cost to install a range hood or vent? If relevant to you, please share any and all details on installing a range hood or vent. Did you do it yourself? Did you hire it out? What did it entail? How much did you pay total?

Pulls and knobs are a great way to update your kitchen cabinets if you want to make an impact without getting too spendy (or without making permanent changes in a rental). But choose carefully, as new hardware multiplied by several doors and drawers can mean a change for the better but it can also mean magnified mistakes. If you’re switching hardware (or putting in completely new cabinets), consider these tips: Look for knobs with a diameter somewhere between 1″ and 1 1/2″.

If you’re lucky enough to have some (mechanical!) help with your dishes, how’s your helper doing these days? Cooking can be tough on the dishwasher. All those goopy soups, milk-crusted mugs, and baked-on casseroles can overload it; perhaps you’re feeling like things aren’t running so smoothly or smelling as good as they ought to in there. Well, we’re here to help, with 10 tips for making your dishwasher run its best. Some of these tips came from Amy Wood of Mr.

There’s a rather large, rather old, but very sweet hound dog in my kitchen right now. She’s making sloppy slobbering noises as she eats her dinner, pushing the thin tin bowl that contains her kibble plus two scoops of wet food and some warm water (to make ‘gravy’) around the kitchen floor. This long legged, floppy-eared, all-nose invasion is a temporary situation. I’m just keeping her around for a few days while her real mom handles some family situations.

Who cooks and eats here: Meg van der Kruik of Beard & Bonnet, a vegetarian and gluten-free food blog, her husband Todd, and her children Eliza and Kash. Where: Long Beach, CA Rent or Own? Rent I’m always smitten by a living space that fully represents the personalities of its inhabitants. You know the kind. It’s more than just a space — there is life to it, a story. Meg’s house is definitely one of these places.

Whether you’re over the chalkboard paint trend or still on board (get it?), consider this: slate! When a trend like chalkboard paint begins to feel as if it’s run its course, we can turn to the source for substance and fresh perspective: Though slate as a building material got its start on roofs (the material’s low absorption rate makes it perfect for shedding water), slate is a wonderful material in the kitchen, too.

Do you or your family have secret recipes? You know, Nonna’s amazing apple cake or that noodle dish or salad dressing whose secrets you will never reveal? Not me! I’m a big fan of sharing the love (and the deliciousness) so I’m more than happy to let you know how I made something or my favorite, magical, transformative ingredient. But I know this is not true for everyone.

Gray and cream is such a soothing color combination in the kitchen. Do you love it, too? If so, I have five lovely kitchens to share with you, plus a tip from a friend on the perfect off-white paint color to get this subtle, sophisticated look. The color is Benjamin Moore’s Moonlight White. When the time came to paint, a friend recommended we go with Benjamin Moore’s Moonlight White because it goes well with both grey and bright colors.

I admit that I sometimes I do things kind of half-assed in the kitchen. I’ll throw flowers into a vase without first trimming the stems or fail to thoroughly read a recipe before beginning to make it. I’ll not brown the meat enough for the stew or not measure carefully when careful measuring is called for. The results, while not disasters, are often not as good as they could be. They’re not bad, but they’re not perfect.

My question for you yesterday on dried herbs got me thinking about the way we get ourselves into repeating loops with ingredients. Maybe you love chicken breast and never think to cook chicken thighs. Maybe you cook quinoa every week but want to branch out into a different grain. It’s good to gravitate towards the things we love, but there’s also real pleasure in trying new things.

Lift-system cabinets doors — doors that open or fold up, as opposed to out — have been around for a few years, but they’ve gotten sleeker and more user-friendly, and that’s what caught my eye at this year’s Kitchen and Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas. The newest versions from two makers in particular, Blum and Bauformat, feature seamless fronts that open up at the slightest push and fold back down with the touch of a button.

We all have those moments in the kitchen, where we look down at a pan and realize that in the process of cooking we’ve created a deep, black crust on the bottom. Visions of steel wool and days of soaking flicker across our minds. But no. You shouldn’t take that pan off the stove until it’s already clean. What, you say. Faith, you make no sense. How can you clean a pan while it’s still on the stove? Let me show you what I mean.

We’ve all know and understand that we’re not supposed to cry over spilled milk and yet sometimes we do because sometimes spilled milk sucks, or it’s the last straw in a series of challenges and difficulties that day. Or because we really wanted that milk and now it’s gone.

What strikes you most about this kitchen? I’m guessing you, like me, cannot ignore those wooden handles. Set against the greige cabinets, they’re a throwback to the mid century, but still look like they belong in this time. I’ve always liked wood in the kitchen, but this is a unique take on it, and I think the overall look is very soothing. Wondering about the cabinets? They’re painted “French Gray” by Farrow & Ball.

I admit that my spice storage is a mess right now. The bottles are not stored so much as piled together in a corner in my pantry. (Ugh.) Here’s one solution that could work, though, and it’s really smart: hang wire mesh drawer organizers (or pencil holders, depending on what you want to call them) on the wall! This super smart idea comes from Ashley of the blog Domestic Imperfection.

To top off this Wednesday, how about a dream trip to this incredible light-filled kitchen, with its big, beautiful skylight and stunning view. Jealous much? A skylight probably tops my list of dream kitchen details. What’s not to love about light flooding in from big windows stretched along the whole length of the ceiling? Do you have a skylight in your kitchen? Do you dream of having one?

Frances Palmer is a well-known ceramist whose beautiful pots, plates and vases have graced the pages of Martha Stewart Living, Elle Decor, and Vogue. While pottery is clearly her calling, she’s also a cook and a gardener and a passionate advocate of the handmade life. Read on for her take on what’s essential to be a happy and successful cook! I learned to cook from my mother when I was very young.

Who cooks and eats here: Ellen & Greg Gartland Where: Chicago, IL Rent or Own? Own Ellen and Greg Gartland’s simple and beautiful kitchen is a result of the pair’s creative approach to renovation. “Rustic elegance,” might sound like an oxymoron, but that’s exactly what the Chicago couple achieved in the design of their loft.

I diligently wash my blender after every smoothie, juice, and soup, yet recently I noticed it was still looking scummy. I mentioned this to my friend Angela, who recommended a super-simple way to get my blender looking clean and clear. (Yes, these are the sorts of riveting conversations that occur between Vitamix cult members. The tip is totally applicable to all blenders, though!) Angela pointed out that the stains on my blender container were probably the result of hard water buildup.

For everyone tired of the white subway tile trend (and we know you’re out there!) here’s something to cleanse your palate: Ten subway tile backsplashes in all colors but white! Last week I shared a photo of this kitchen, highlighting the clever way it used a section of empty wall space. But the chocolate brown subway tiles were another unique feature that could not be ignored — a definite departure from the white tiles we’ve seen everywhere for the last couple of years.

The winter doldrums have hit hard in my household. We’re bored and uninspired. We’re restless and itchy. We glower at the kale and turnips that not so long ago were sending us into rapture with their funky and surprising sweetness. Seems like all the tangerines are shriveled and bitter and the cabbage may end up as a soccer ball, kicked up and down some back alley, if it’s not careful. It’s a little early for the winter doldrums, which is worrisome.

Home is where the art is. If you’re hoping to infuse your kitchen with just a touch more personality this year, try carving out some room for a framed print. Find your style (contemporary or classic) and function (inspiration or utility) with some of my favorite prints. Try placing the chalkboard print in front of the glass on a flat-colored frame to give off the look of a hand-written chalk. Or add some interest by hanging three similar prints in different color variations side by side.

In the comments of this recent House Tour, several people remarked about liking John and Laurel’s vintage metal wire cookbook rack in their kitchen. It’s a classic workhorse of a shelf, storing one row of books at an angle that’s easy to read when standing in the kitchen. I scoured around and came up with five similar versions that are up for grabs: 1 Mid Century Modern Wire Shelf, $59 from VintageMementos on Etsy: very similar to the inspiration.

A couple weeks ago I was roasting some cauliflower for dinner and I used the wrong baking sheet, too much olive oil, and all at a rather high temperature. A good amount of oil ended up spilling in my oven and my apartment quickly flooded with smoke and an awful smell. There were no flames to speak of, but it was still concerning. After I turned off the oven and I could see through the smoke, the question became now what.

One of the least rewarding aspects of cooking is cleaning up after the meal is done. A very long time ago, one of our readers asked, “How can I cook without making a huge mess?” We got so many smart answers, we can’t stop thinking about theme all these years later. Here are the eight best tips from our readers for keeping messes manageable and your sanity intact when cooking every day.

The word of mindful is trending hard these days so as someone who writes a ‘meditation’ column, I feel it’s important to come out and admit that I’m not a fan of the word. I appreciate the concept and the hard work that is often behind being a mindful person, but the word itself is too easy to grasp in a superficial way and that, unfortunately, is how some people relate to it. Either that or they nervously squirm in their seats in full aversion at the mere mention.

Remember this clever idea to use a magazine file for storing foil and plastic wrap? If the aesthetics of that weren’t to your liking, but the door storage bit was, then this project may be just what you need. Whitney of the blog Shanty 2 Chic built her own door organizer for all her parchment, foil, and plastic wrap boxes. It cost $10 and only took her about 10 minutes, and look how sleek it looks!

The kitchen island in this recent House Tour on Apartment Therapy, made of iron pipes and a live edge wood top, caught my eye because it’s not an island design you see very often. Owners Mike and Molly are fortunate to have enough space in their kitchen for a full-size table, but there isn’t actually a lot of workspace other than the countertop against the wall.

When we think of clever solutions for the kitchen, this is what we’re talking about. In a recent House Tour on Apartment Therapy, Jonathan Paul shares how he turned his large but underutilized Santa Monica kitchen into a space that triples as a place for him to cook, eat, and work. And he did it all with the help of a few IKEA butcher block boards.

The holidays are gone and winter is here to stay, at least for a while, until spring blooms appear in a few months. So, why not embrace this peaceful season and its hues? This beautiful, rustic table setting really captures the feeling of the season, and it’s also laid-back and relaxed enough to not feel fussy. What I love most about this tablescape is its warmth. Winter’s palette can be quite bleak if not warmed up and softened with natural bark tones.

The other day I was standing on a chair in front of my very full cupboards, trying to find room to stash some of the gifts I’d received over the holidays. Naturally, I got to thinking about stuff, about all the endless piles of stuff, all the many, many things, in my life. Now, I know there’s a high value placed on being clutter-free and minimal these days.

While my apartment is spacious enough, the kitchen is small and one of the first rooms visitors see when they enter. One of my go-to methods for drawing attention away from the limited space is to put the emphasis on another aspect. Appealing to other senses, whether through the sound of soothing music or the scent of freshly baked cookies, shifts the focus from the size of a space and makes the room more comfortable and welcoming. I am no stranger to small kitchens.

When asked about their favorite room in their fantastic Amsterdam apartment, Elena and Judd unequivocally said the kitchen: “It’s really the anchor to the house, and with our small but open floor plan it is great to cook and chat at the same time.” This is a lovely little kitchen — just check out that stove! The couple designed and built the kitchen themselves using stock cabinets with custom doors and handles by Wouter Verhoef at Moving Works.

I’ll admit I was clueless about nonstick cookware. I bought a brand-new nonstick skillet, with the intention of making eggs, and after a few months I found the eggs were already sticking to the surface of the pan. I had always sprayed it with a short blast of cooking spray and cooked at moderate heat: What gives? Oh, cooking spray is pretty much the worst lubricant for nonstick pans? It was news to me.

Who cooks and eats here: Cecilia, her husband and her two children Where: Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City Rent or Own? Own Cecilia has tremendous enthusiasm for life, art, design and food, and her home is a testament to this. Her kitchen is incredibly sleek and blends in so much with the design of her home, that you might not even know it’s a kitchen when you first see it. Nothing would make Cecilia happier.

We have a special treat today: a sneak peek of Remodelista editor Sarah Lonsdale’s rental kitchen, featured in the just-released book Remodelista: A Manual for the Considered Home. Sarah’s rental kitchen is absolutely lovely, the result of a few smart updates. Jump below to see another photo and to hear more from Sarah on what changed in her kitchen, what she loves, and her advice to people who live and cook in rental kitchens: 1.

I’ve always found dark teal to be a deeply rich, romantic color. (I recently painted my hallway this color, and I love it.) But it’s not a color you often see in the kitchen; it’s usually reserved for small bedrooms or libraries. And yet this photo makes a compelling case, in my view, that dark teal is a dramatic yet workable choice for a kitchen.

Last June my neighbors and I gathered buckets of green walnuts from the enormous old walnut tree that anchors the far southeast corner of our property. Armed with sharp sturdy knives and 3-liter cardboard boxes of Syrah and bottles of cheap vodka, we set out on a mission for the future: to bring warmth and cheer to our winter’s hibernation by shoring up our supplies of homemade vin de noix and nocino.

Bryan and Sarah’s Brooklyn galley kitchen is a mix of gray, black, and white — a minimal color scheme that suits the couple who cooks there! It’s also home to “many dinner parties, espressos, and a playful dartboard with scoreboard,” so in our view it also sounds like a lovely place to be. “Our inspiration draws heavily from time spent in NYC, Norway and our childhoods in western Canada,” say Bryan and Sarah in their recent tour on Apartment Therapy.

Do you remember these rosemary wreath place cards? Now the ladies of Spoon Fork Bacon have tweaked that idea once again, and this time it’s even easier! To make these place cards, you only need cards, a hole punch, and about five-to-six-inch long sprigs of rosemary. I love how simple and pretty this is, particularly with the way they’ve styled it above, tucked into a folded napkin. This is definitely motivation for me to get another rosemary plant.

We bet this lovely eclectic kitchen is just spectacular around the holidays. It already looks so cozy and welcoming! This kitchen belongs to the Mackay family, who live in Glasgow, Scotland. The home it’s in was built in the 1840s, and it was originally the billiard room of a large mansion, but was converted to a home in the 1940s. Now Claire and Marcus Mackay keep it full of reclaimed furniture, hand-me-downs, and homemade pieces given to them by friends and family. So lovely!

Rendering lard was one of those things I had on my list: big, complicated cooking projects I wanted to try. Months ago, one of my favorite farmers’ market vendors offered me a bag of pork fat. Who wouldn’t take a free bag of pork fat? He suggested that I try rendering it and I couldn’t wait to give it a try. So why did I leave it in the freezer for so long? I figured I would need a whole day.

Who cooks and eats here: Adam and Alicia Whitely (and a new baby boy) Where: Montgomery, Alabama Rent or Own? Own Leftovers? Nonsense. Do-overs are an option cook Alicia Whitley rarely explores in her culinary adventures. With all the options out there, Alicia thinks diving into something new for daily meals makes perfect sense and is where she finds joy in the kitchen of her home nestled in one of Montgomery, Alabama’s oldest neighborhoods.

A recent Sneak Peek on Design*Sponge stopped me in my tracks when I saw the kitchen. Farah Malik knew she absolutely wanted a brass hood, and she searched for over a year before she found one on eBay for $200. That, combined with the Viking stove and brass hardware, make for a gorgeous little space.

Who cooks and eats here: Peter Hoffman, his wife Susan, and their teenage daughter Where: West Village, New York Rent or Own? Own Decades before most people had ever heard the term “farm to table,” chef Peter Hoffman was shopping at New York’s farmers markets and biking its fresh produce back to to his restaurants, Savoy (now closed) and Back Forty/Back Forty West.

Assigned seating for dinner parties was de rigueur back in the day and had very prescribed rules of etiquette. Nowadays, you might occasionally see a dinner party seating plan, especially at weddings but also big dinners like Thanksgiving. Sometimes I suspect that this practice has survived because we want to use all those pretty/cool/interesting place cards more than any excessive need to control the table, but it can also be a hospitable gesture to offer each guest a named place at the table.

The cat shaped cutout below the sink just kills me. I stumbled across it this morning, and from there I was on a search to see what other kitchen built-ins devoted owners had devised for their pets. From dog bowls in the island to a kitty hideaway in the cabinet, here are 10 ways your pet can find a home in your kitchen: Have you ever done something like this for your pet in your own kitchen?

It was the promise of the Jetsons: Get a robot to do all your cleaning for you and never have to pick up a dust rag again. Reality has been disappointing, but there’s one little gadget that promises to keep your floor clean without (much) thought from you. Have you ever tried the automatic vacuum, the Roomba, in the kitchen? Or its sister Bravaa, the one that mops? I’m just really curious — do these things actually work?

If I needed any further convincing after this that IKEA kitchen cabinets can look way more expensive than they are, there’s today’s House Tour on Apartment Therapy. Meg and Steve’s modern and cozy Toronto home (which they call “modernozy”) includes a beautiful, chic kitchen with — yes — a few high-end elements like Caesarstone counters and Thermador appliances. But the foundation? IKEA’s Ankurum cabinets!

It’s a common dilemma before a big party. Your refrigerator is stuffed with food for the gathering, which means there is no room for the drinks you need to chill before the guests arrive. Sure, you could fill a couple coolers with ice, but there’s an even smarter place to chill your drinks — one that doesn’t require any extra space or clean-up. Where is it? Inside the washing machine!

That beautiful packet of nougat pictured above is my inspiration for today’s post. The nougat is a gift from a neighbor, left on her kitchen table as a thank you for stopping in to feed her cat this coming week. I really love nougat. I love how its smooth chewy texture is studded with the crunch of nuts. I love the slight whiff of rosewater and the way it melts in my mouth. I love the pretty stripes of pale pastel colors and the French label on the package.

We’ve all been there. You’re at a dinner party and everyone is chatting away, having a great time, when suddenly silence falls over the table. And there it stays, getting more awkward by the moment. Help! What’s the best way to end it and get the conversation rolling again? Here’s one tip from an expert.