Inside the Home Kitchens of Five Professional Chefs

Aug 08, 2023

By Morgan Goldberg

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Thanks to The Bear, most of us think we know what it’s like to work in a restaurant kitchen. We’re aware of the French brigade system and family meal and the expeditor. We’re familiar with the lingo, from affirmations like “yes, chef” to directional calls like “corner” and “behind.” We even share the collective fear of getting trapped in the chilly walk-in.

But, as the age-old adage goes, you can’t believe everything you see on TV—especially when it comes to the lives of chefs outside of work. We know for certain that most chefs do not, in fact, store vintage denim in their ovens like Carmy does. But what are the home kitchens of chefs actually like? Are they the lived-in heart of the home, like most modern-day kitchens? Are they Nancy Meyers–style neutrals-only fantasy kitchens? Or are they retro and full of color?

To find out, we chatted with five of our favorite chefs about how they feed their design cravings off the clock, the home kitchen essentials they can’t live without, and how they’d upgrade their setups if they could. Order up!

Natasha Pickowicz getting busy in her kitchen.

Claim to fame: Three-time James Beard Award finalist for outstanding pastry chef and author of More Than Cake: 100 Baking Recipes Built for Pleasure and Community

What is your relationship with the kitchen?

These days I do a lot of work from home instead of a restaurant kitchen, so I prepare and eat almost all of my meals in my own tiny rental apartment. I love cooking at home, and I love having lots of little projects happening simultaneously. I work from my computer just one room over, so I always have something happening in the kitchen throughout the day—a dough proofing, cookies chilling, stock bubbling, fruit macerating. The kitchen is a place that I wander into every 20 minutes to check on a project, make tea, fix a snack. It is like a beacon always beckoning. I love entertaining and having big parties outside in my garden, and love all of the prep that happens beforehand in my kitchen just as much.

What is the aesthetic of your kitchen?

I live in a very small rental studio in an old building in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The kitchen and bed are basically in the same room, so I keep everything very clean and organized because I can’t sleep if I can see dirty counters or dishes in the sink. The backsplash is a basic white subway tile that was put in right before I moved; the cabinets are a generic rental style that I don’t love but can’t change. I installed very shallow white floating shelves on one wall to hold all of my glassware. My only counter space is a very basic, very old IKEA kitchen cart.

It’s lovable clutter—I’m not minimalist at all. I like having my spices out so I can see them. I like taping art to the walls. I like fresh flowers, mismatched linens, and stacks of cookbooks. I tape old artwork, posters, and photos on my fridge—it’s not an off-limits space that stays blank. It reminds me of my parents’ old fridge growing up. The fridge is a place to put mementos and cherished images and accomplishments, not a design element.

What are your kitchen must-haves?

Because my kitchen is so small, I have very few appliances. I don’t own a stand mixer, a food processor, or a blender. I do everything by hand—I have great sharp knives of all sizes, really big cutting boards, and a good mortar and pestle. A Japanese mandolin, a microplane, and small offset spatulas are everyday essentials. I always have restaurant-size plastic wrap. I buy gallon-size cans of Italian olive oil—because it’s so much cheaper—then transfer small amounts to squeeze bottles.

Restaurant-style quart and pint containers are an essential storage item for everything from leftovers to pickles to jams to dry storage. I keep all of my spices in tiered racks, so I can easily see and reach everything. I love these stackable airtight boxes I bought in Paris for all of my small pastry tools, like piping tips and cookie cutters. I’ve downsized almost all of my cookware and bakeware to AllClad essentials—they last a lifetime and are made so, so well.

What would you change about your kitchen, if you could?

The fridge that came in my rental apartment is not full size—it’s not a mini fridge, but it’s definitely not a standard fridge either. I wish I had more freezer space, more space for ice, more space for bulk projects like stocks and sauces and batched cocktails. I have a very antagonistic relationship with my small, wildly uneven oven that has a bottom heating element which takes forever to heat up and even longer to cool down, so I rarely use it even though I’m a pastry chef. And oh, how I long for more deep counter space, like a proper wooden or stainless-steel bench to roll out doughs. I think I long for what every New Yorker wants more of—space. I’d love a bigger sink. I dream of natural light, like a window, in my kitchen.

By Morgan Goldberg

By Sara Barragán del Rey

By Ludovica Stevan

What’s your favorite kitchen memory?

I was 23 when I lived by myself for the first time. I loved the freedom of having my own space, but especially the kitchen, where I spent every night cooking in peace. I was teaching myself how to cook from scratch, but more importantly basking in all of the sensory pleasures that surround you in a kitchen—standing barefoot on a soft rug, my cat pressing up against my ankles, music playing the next room over, steam rising from a pot, cold wine in a glass. I wouldn’t work in a proper restaurant kitchen for five more years, but the kitchen was where I first appreciated my own independence.

Hay Sowden Kettle

HAY

Leach Pottery Pestle and Mortar

Toast

Benriner Mandoline Slicer

Milk Street

All-Clad D5 Stainless Polished 5-ply Bonded Cookware, Fry Pan

All-Clad

All-Clad Stainless Steel Measuring Cup Set, 5 piece

All-Clad

Japanese Can Opener (Ganji Kankiri)

Korin

Chubo Mini Offset Spatula

Chubo

Sophia Roe inside the Apartment Miso kitchen.

Claim to fame: James Beard Award winner for emerging voice in broadcast media and founder of culinary studio Apartment Miso

What is your relationship with the kitchen?

My home kitchen is under construction right now. And the idea of a home kitchen…it’s like you are bringing your work home with you, which can actually make you hate your job. A lot of chefs probably treat their restaurant, their studio, or their commissary more like a home kitchen than their actual home kitchen. I cook so much for work that my home kitchen’s kind of whatever.

Having this studio kitchen sounds kind of bougie, but I’m a chef. It’s like how a painter has a paint studio and they paint sometimes for pleasure and they paint sometimes for a gallery show and they paint sometimes for a friend. My studio is the same, just with food. So sometimes I’m just making food for my dinner. Sometimes it’s for content, sometimes it’s for a bake sale, sometimes it’s for an event or a dinner. It just runs the gamut. It’s literally a commissary kitchen, but it’s mine. I don’t have to rent it by the hour.

By Morgan Goldberg

By Sara Barragán del Rey

By Ludovica Stevan

What is the aesthetic of your kitchen?

The studio is really open. There’s one entire wall that’s windows. Everything in there is white and blue. I’m a maximalist, so there are a lot of doodads and tchotchkes in there. I really wanted my studio to feel like the inside of my brain. There’s a lot of pressure in your home kitchen to make everything so design heavy. My studio is just this amalgamation of things I’ve collected. Every single thing that is in there I consciously chose it to be in there, it’s very on purpose. I have artwork from my friends I really care about. It feels very, very personal.

But it’s very much a professional kitchen, so I have two wood work tables, and then everything in the actual oven area, over by the sink, is stainless steel. I have a stainless-steel speed rack, a little half speed rack. And I have every appliance that you could possibly imagine, from an ice cream maker to a Robot Coupe to a dehydrator to two blenders. I have juicers. I have everything you could imagine.

What are your kitchen must-haves?

I need my speed rack. I must have hundreds of sheet pants, so I need a speed rack. I need my really great knives that I’ve collected over the years. A really great knife is relative because knives are very individual, it’s like your wand. But I can’t go without that. I couldn’t go without my cookware, like my Dutch ovens and cast-iron pans. I have a lot of carbon steel. I think I could go without the electrical stuff. I think I’d be okay. It would be sad to not have a blender or a food processor, but I also could make it work. I really just need knives, really good pots and pans, and all my rubber cutting boards. And pint containers. Those deli containers. I must have hundreds of them.

What would you change about your kitchen, if you could?

I wish it was bigger. The weakness of my studio is that it doesn’t have a full-size oven. I wish I had a full-size oven. It’s a tiny oven. A full sheet pan fits inside of it, but I can only fit two sheet pans at a time. And I wish I had a full-size oven so I could fit four or six. That’d be awesome.

What’s your favorite kitchen memory ?

There’s this really special time between 5:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. in the studio. It’s just really magical. It’s really quiet. There’s no e-mail. I’m probably doing something bread- or yeast-related, so I’m very much in it with my hands. There’s just something about that period of the day, probably in any kitchen. You are alone. It’s just you in there. It’s like your workshop. Whether you’re in a tiny little apartment or your dream gorgeous studio, there’s something really magical about those hours in the kitchen. It’s the sweet spot that just reinvigorates me every single time.

Great Jones The Dutchess

Great Jones

Made In 8 Inch Chef Knife

Made In Cookware

Regency 10 Pan End Load Half Height Bun / Sheet Pan Rack

Webstaurant Store

Cassie Yeung strikes a pose in her minimalist kitchen.

Claim to fame: Digital creator with over two million followers on TikTok

By Morgan Goldberg

By Sara Barragán del Rey

By Ludovica Stevan

What is your relationship with the kitchen?

My kitchen is the heart of my home. It’s become my place of work, yet it remains my place of joy and my creative outlet. When I was apartment hunting, the kitchen was the most important aspect I was looking at, knowing I would spend most of my time in it. I love that it’s the first thing you see when you enter and how the open concept feels so welcoming. Whenever I first walk in, I find myself immediately going to sit at my kitchen island, even though my couch isn’t too far away. Growing up, the kitchen was the most conversational area and now that I have my own space, that connection to my home kitchen has carried over.

What is the aesthetic of your kitchen?

My kitchen has a clean, minimalist, contemporary design with a Scandinavian motif. It features cool gray, slim-profile cabinetry with contrasting light wood uppers. It has all stainless-steel appliances, solid white marble backsplash and countertops, and brushed nickel accents on the fixtures.

What are your kitchen must-haves?

My home kitchen must be open concept, so I can cook and still host. Ample storage and counter space are necessities, so a kitchen island is non-negotiable. Having the small details like soft-closing cabinets and a pull-out trash can has made all the difference. A big sink is also something I can’t live without.

What would you change about your kitchen, if you could?

I wish I had a gas stove, but I’ve learned to love my induction cooktop. I wish my kitchen island had outlets and it would be nice to have a proper pantry or additional storage, but none of these were deal-breakers for me.

What’s your favorite kitchen memory?

I’ve loved becoming “head-chef” in my home kitchen, after being a “sous-chef” of a home kitchen my entire life. My mom has always been a big cook, and I’ve grown up witnessing her host holidays and big gatherings. I always loved shadowing her and helping with the small things, but it wasn’t until Thanksgiving a few years back that she passed the baton to me. It felt like a huge milestone being the one to take on such a big holiday that revolves around food and I loved every minute of it. Now it’s really cool that I have my own home kitchen where I get to be the host for my friends and family.

Even the houseplants are showing off in Woldy Reyes's kitchen.

Claim to fame: Founder of boutique-catering company Woldy Kusina

By Morgan Goldberg

By Sara Barragán del Rey

By Ludovica Stevan

What is your relationship with the kitchen?

My home kitchen in Brooklyn is a space where my morning ritual starts as I make myself coffee. It’s a space where I ideate, create, and cook food. It’s a space of chaos because it’s where everything happens.

What is the aesthetic of your home kitchen?

The aesthetic of my home kitchen is rental eclectic chic. It’s a rental apartment, so I pretty much layered my personal style into the kitchen in a way that works for my lifestyle. I love that there’s a white-painted brick fireplace (though it doesn’t work) that gives the space texture and depth. I have a stainless-steel work table with lower shelves, which is on wheels, that I frequently use. The shelves house ceramic plates and bowls that friends have made, as well as cookware, metal sheet trays, and mixing bowls. The plants in the kitchen add life and beauty, which keeps me grounded.

What are your home kitchen must-haves?

The must-haves in my kitchen are my Material Kitchen reBoard, my Hawkins New York mixing bowl, my Eny Lee Parker x Lulu and Georgia pitcher for holding all my essential kitchen tools, my trusty manual coffee grinder, my Blue Bottle pour over kit, my Selena Liu wooden spoons, and my Maaari mini palayok to hold my kosher salt.

What would you change about your home kitchen, if you could?

I would like to add more counter space and storage to my kitchen! I’m manifesting to have Reform do an overhaul in my kitchen!

What’s your favorite kitchen memory?

The kitchen is where most of my time has been spent. Between celebrations, holidays, and impromptu dinner parties, I have cried, laughed, burned, and cut myself in the kitchen. My best memories in the kitchen have to be being with my Lola (my grandmother) and cooking traditional Filipino food as she shares her life stories with me!

Material Kitchen The reBoard

Material Kitchen

Hawkins New York Essential Mixing Bowls, Set of 3

Hawkins New York

Laria Pitcher by Eny Lee Parker

Lulu and Georgia

Blue Bottle Pour Over Kit

Blue Bottle

Selena Liu Serving Friends

Areaware

Maari Mini Palayok

Maari

Sakura Smith keeps things simple in her kitchen.

Claim to fame: Founder of Bagel Bunny, a fermented vegetable yeast bagel brand

By Morgan Goldberg

By Sara Barragán del Rey

By Ludovica Stevan

What is your relationship with the kitchen?

It has always been a place where the people in my life gather. Lately, it has become a harbor for me to not only give myself nutrients and care, but also for me to be able to experiment. A few years ago, I started working out of my tiny kitchen in the East Village and that experience really changed my relationship to the space, as it became more of a studio. I now bake out of a commercial kitchen and it is interesting to define the spaces I cook in, seeing the separation between work and home.

For me, cooking, regardless of where, is about making other people happy, but I still find it more natural to do it in my own home. I like when people sit with me as I cook. I was just in Provence and the house had a little window nook with cushions—a dream feature.

What is the aesthetic of your home kitchen?

My hope is for anywhere that I live to be cozy. I struggle with my love for knickknacks, like little figurines or candle holders, so I cannot help but to have them all around. I try my best to balance them with modern items that are clean and white to keep it light in the house, but I always appreciate a pop of color. I live in Park Slope, so my whole apartment is kind of at an angle and when I drop a little cherry tomato in certain areas in my kitchen, it rolls down to the other side. I kind of like that. If I owned a place, I would design it totally differently, but I chose this apartment because it had a bigger kitchen than my last. My dream design would include more tile, more cabinet space, and a pantry. I hope for lots of copper pans and baskets all over one day.

What are your home kitchen must-haves?

I have this red Frieling magnetic fridge timer that an ex bought me and I thought the gift was pointless at first, but I have become so reliant on it. I use it more than any tool I have in the kitchen.

I always love to have a rice cooker around. Though my mom taught me many tricks for how to cook rice in a pan, why risk not having fabulous rice? It’s a game-changer. When I’m hungry and about to lose it, I eat leftover rice straight from the rice cooker with a spoon. I grab a container of hummus or miso and just spoon it in for next-level satiation. The rice cooker just lives on the counter since I end up using it everyday.

For cookware, it’s funny, but I like small things. Small pots and small spatulas are just more fun to cook with. I use my baby spoon, always, for everything. It makes everything taste better. Everything I own has been collected over my lifetime, so there is a mix of all things, from the Japanese wooden chopsticks I use for frying to a silver German peeler that my boyfriend gave me.

By Morgan Goldberg

By Sara Barragán del Rey

By Ludovica Stevan

What would you change about your home kitchen, if you could?

I would change a lot of things, but probably the cabinets first—they just look like an accident.

What’s your favorite kitchen memory?

I hold onto this memory from a few years before my childhood home burnt down. It’s of my younger sister and me getting so stoned and concocting desserts for each other while our parents slept. We laughed endlessly, barefoot on the Italian floor tiles. I can still feel the corners of the wooden and granite counters under my stomach as I was keeling over onto it from laughing so hard. I can still feel the marks of the wood under my hands. And it makes me happy we got to experience that there.

Zojirushi Pressure Induction Heating Rice Cooker & Warmer NW-JEC10/18

Zojirushi

Frieling Kitchen Timer "Retro"

Frieling

Nalata Nalata Ryo Series - Bouillon Spoon

Nalata Nalata

The Good Liver Horn Dessert Spoon

The Good Liver