Kitchen Confidential
By popular demand, please enjoy the recipe for our kitchen, the most-used room in the home. I'm sharing all design choices, but focusing on the small details relevant to any kitchen (renters, too).
Tonight I’m spotlighting our home cornerstone, the eat-in kitchen. It’s a technical space, arguably even more so than the bathroom. As a result, there’s a tendency to focus on the hard design features — lighting, fixtures, appliances, hardware, countertops. Certainly these play an important role, but after the contractors are gone and you’re actually living with your kitchen, that technical nature comes with a lot of tools in view, easy-to-make messes, and other signs of wear. So, my hot take is that the small accessories actually have a big impact on the glamour of your day-to-day kitchen life. This layer is easy to overlook in the need for pure kitchen function, but if chosen with care, acts for the kitchen as the decorative pillows, art objects, blankets, and books do in your living room. This is something I’ve learned and leaned into after many a rental kitchen. Keep reading for my on-display kitchen accessories. After that, I’ve included all of my kitchen renovation design choices — from the paint and fabric to the fixtures.
A Baker’s Dozen Details
There are 13 small items of note in my kitchen that address the needs of our family while also adding thoughtful curation.
SMEG Retro Toaster Before my days of feeding a family of four required fridge space, I dreamed of a SMEG fridge. Instead, I settled on one of my most-used accessories: a toaster. This appliance has been with me for over a decade and been featured in Domino, Cup of Jo, and more. Here’s a smaller (2-slice) version and an array of throw-back SMEG products to consider as alternatives.
Royal Copenhagen Butter Dish Piggy-backing on the toast theme, our family goes through butter so quickly, that we keep it out on the counter — soft and accessible. (Docs, feel free to come at me if this is a health hazard.) As a result, this classic blue and white container is a constant on our cutting board, along with an olive wood course salt container and copper pepper mill grinder.
Larch Wood Cutting Board The grain and craftsmanship of these Nova Scotia boards are stunning. The thickness and rubber feet add to the luxe look and experience of using them. Here’s the full assortment from the Canadian retailer. After experiencing a couple of surprise custom payments thanks to the new tariffs, I suggest a local retailer.
Moser Cake Stand Before I move away from my favorite food altogether, one more bread-related necessity for me is the cake stand, which you can find on my countertop filled with Breads Bakery booty (most likely their sourdough) and topped with this dome.
Colorful Moccamaster The only thing that could rival my dedication to buttered toast is my main vice, caffeine. Enter many a coffee-making machine. [And, to be sure, I am loyal to my decade+ old Nespresso machine for a quick espresso.] But of all the coffee accessories we own, our Pistachio Moccamaster has the most charm and delivers a mean drip.
Silver Bucket Paper Towel Holder Lest I get through one post without mentioning my no. 1 style influence, Barbie Bryant (get the look of her home bar here), I must share yet another note I took from my mama’s book: employing a champagne bucket as a paper towel dispenser. I’m using a vintage silver piece that is 7.5” H x 7.5” D. Get the look with this, this, or that.
Waffle Dish Towels There’s something so luxurious about these extra thick, super absorbent Swedish “cleaning cloths.” Perfect as a hand towel or for drying dishes, these address most of our kitchen clean up needs.
Disco Sponges I didn’t know I needed these metallic jewelry-like sponges until I was checking out Big Night (Brooklyn retail eye-candy that just opened an outpost in my neighborhood). These are the newest addition to my kitchen, and I’m happy to report that they are very effective at scrubbing and can be cleaned through the dishwasher. [These would make a great stocking stuffer!]
Astier de Villatte Fruit Storage As my faithful readers know, I’m Astier obsessed. This cannot be emphasized enough — I’m even staring at an Astier cup-turned-pencil holder on my desk RN. So, needless to say, these ceramics are on display in my kitchen. I cannot find the exact extra large salad bowl I use to store fruit, but it’s similar to this. As an alternative, I swoon for this or that. Not an Astier person? There are many a Big Beautiful Bowl in this world. How about a spatterware number?
Piccalio Learning Tower In aspiring to raise our kids with a Montessori philosophy, an item of daily use in our kitchen is this foldable helper tower. Apartment dwellers will understand what a large square footage commitment this is (along with a dog bed in the kitchen), which is why we opted for the foldable version. With a do-over, I might go for the more permanent version that converts to a table because I never end up actually folding our tower, as it’s always in use.
Color-Coordinated Cookware File under inevitable mess-making! Cookware may be largely stored when the lights go down, but during the day it’s a primary feature of the kitchen. I chose a Staub set in Graphite over a decade ago and she’s still sitting pretty in my grey, green, and purpled-toned kitchen. To add a PFA-free non-stick version, I’m considering this and taking suggestions. (In the cookware vein, these mixing bowls that match my cake stand are a wishlist item.)
Wipeable Placemats As much as a I love myself some Heather Taylor Home napkins and tablecloths for the kitchen, I have natural fiber wipeable placemats out on the kitchen table at all times (and will often even layer them over a tablecloth). In addition to providing some protection, they add a little texture to my bare table. I can’t find my exact mats, but there are so many fun options; this, this, this, this, and that are a few others I like.
Kitchen Counter Lamp As mentioned, this is another Barbie Bryant-ism. Add a lamp to your kitchen counter and immediately up the cozy. Make sure it’s big enough. Try it out with a lamp from elsewhere in your home — you’ll see. This acts as the nightlight of our entire home. It’s magic.
Design Concept
There are so many flavors of kitchen that I love. So, it surprised me when we purchased our home in 2022 that the kitchen was the only room for which I had a clear vision. We were fortunate to inherit cabinetry and appliances that we kept. The changes — largely already shared here — included new crown moulding, decoratively painted floors (as well as paint for the walls and cabinets), new countertops, lighting (along with a full electric overhaul), hardware, and faucet (though we kept the stainless steel sink itself and all appliances). Here are the key notes:
Every surface was repainted: the floors are a checkerboard in Studio Green and Skimming Stone, the trim and millwork are Elephant’s Breath, the walls and ceiling are Skimming Stone.
The countertop and backsplash were replaced with a remnant Calacatta Viola marble with red and purple veins, honed with a two inch depth. We continued this material into the adjoining laundry room counter.
All the hardware was replaced with an unlacquered brass, including cupboard turns on the cabinets, cup pulls on the drawers, a gooseneck faucet with a two-hole bridge and spray, and antique brass hooks on the door.
The window treatments are roman shades in Décors Barbares’ Varykino installed just below the crown moulding, rather than the top of the window, to heighten the feel of the ceilings and window.
The breakfast table and chairs are an antique from my parents’ old wine cellar with a custom-made banquette in St. Frank’s Plum Patchwork Kuba Cloth. The barstools are also upholstered in St. Frank’s Golden Maze Kuba Cloth.
As for the lighting, in addition to the oversized lamp on our counter (and the recessed lighting which was all redone), the main feature is a mid-century Murano glass pendant giving extremely cozy nighttime lighting along with our under-cabinet counter lights.
On that note, I’m ready for a midnight snack. Goodnight and good luck!
Obsessed!!