peek into my new kitchen
this is a long one.. get your bevvie ready
A solid, functional, and ample storage space kitchen and separate dining room were the two highest priorities for our move. It felt nearly impossible in the age of the horrid (sorry-not-sorry) open floor plan to find a place in our budget and desired sq footage with a divided kitchen / living room / dining room situation. When we lived in this small of sq footage on Capitol Hill in Seattle, the kitchen was *so* tiny that our “dining room” was just an extension of our kitchen. Which made our living room half lounge area and half dining room, and though we could have made it work… it didn’t.. If I accepted a cute lil two seater table life, it probably could have worked for us, but.. I’m a host of a supper club obviously.. my whole backbone to cooking is cooking for and dining with others. I need a dining space that could at *minimum* host a small 6 person Friendsgiving. Thennnn we got spoiled in our last space, where supper club was born, having the most spacious and airy kitchen, a decent sized dining room, and a living room so large it become the extension of our dining room when needed be, without feeling overcrowded in the rest of the living furniture. Anddd now we’re back to over less than half of the sq footage we just came from, but thankfully so much happier with the flow of this house than our cap hill apartment. I won the open floor plan battle, and found a place that has a separate living room, dining room, and kitchen. Plus, the house was just renovated before we moved-in, extending the back half of the house which means, we also have a separate lil “pantry room”/hallway situation. She isn’t perfect though, like all things, and unfortunately doesn’t have a dishwasher. But I’ll take ample storage space, a deep sink, and solid appliances as a trade off.
Okay now to the kitchen details!
We aren’t 100% finished. We’re planning on putting in some temporary flooring/peel and stick (you’ll soon read why in the next bit), and changing the cabinet/drawer handles/pulls. I’m also going to sew a curtain for above our sink, and in-between our pantry and laundry room. Wanting to attempt a korean linen patchwork (Pojagi, Bojagi) style curtain, like this.
Our bedroom, bathroom, kitchen/pantry were the first things painted when we moved. This was some of my moodboard for our kitchen/pantry:
Coming from Seattle where our interior was very classic/simple, a lot of neutrals and natural wood and fibers, I wanted to play with more color this time around. The outside of our house is a grey/blue, and thanks to the modern house reno, we have (my nightmare) grey faux distressed vinyl flooring throughout the house. So the grey vibes had to go.. and color needed to be welcomed in. Our house is a spanish style, and was built in 1925, so it has fun arched ceilings, entry ways, living room built-ins, and some of the original windows. I wanted to pull some of that energy back into the house, bringing in colors that feel warm, yet bright, and a mix of spanish/mediterranean/desert tones. Specifically for our pantry, I was inspired by the houses in our neighborhood that are yellow or light green with red trim. Considering my top colors are yellow and red, this decision felt right.
I’ve always dreamed of a yellow kitchen, and Molly Baz really created my dream IRL with her kitchen design we’ve all seen and love. So, I did research the exact yellow she used in her house, and used the exact same. (Shout out to benjamin moore good vibrations 296 🙏 ) If I had more dedication the whole kitchen and cabinets would be yellow, but have to remind myself this is still a rental, so working with rental friendly.. and rental realistic of what i’d have to re-do in the future.. but we’ll see how far the yellow ends up hehe. For now, it’s our whole pantry, and an accent wall by the stove.
Pedboards have been our savior in the small kitchens we’ve lived in. Though we certainly have plenty of drawer space, the pedboard helped tie this “pantry” space aka our espresso machine / cookbook / kitchen tool and larger appliances room together. I’ve also been loving this new shelf with a butcher block from the restaurant supply shop for our espresso machine, and holding all of my catering tools, cambros, and dutch ovens.
Spice drawer organization is a must. Baby lazy susan for everyday cooking ingredients: neutral oil, olive oil, kosher salt, flakey salt, Mallorcan sea salt, pepper grinder, and honey. One jar with ladles and spoons, another with teaspoons, butter spreaders, and measuring spoons, and one with cake testers/skewers. We gave into the Our Place Wonder Oven hype, and it will definitely be a lifesaver during a san diego summer, avoiding turning on our big oven. It looks sleek next to our knife block, and always have our labeling tape dispenser nearby.
In the pantry near the stove, I added more baby lazy susans for our liquid ingredients: sesame oil, vinegars (red wine, white wine, apple cider, mirin, rice vin, etc.), and others like different soy sauces and fish sauce. In the other is some of our dried goods: nuts (walnuts, peanuts, pinenuts, hazelnuts, pistachios), dried beans, and grains like buckwheat groats and millet. Always have a backup stock of kosher salt, kosher salt and flakey salt containers for private cheffing. My “must have in stock” pantry goods like nut butters, chili crisps, canned beans, pasta, rice, seeds, tinned fish, anchovies, kewpie, and flours (like my last Cairnsprings Mill bread flour from Seattle 💔 ) My baking pantry holds more flours: all purpose, buckwheat, blue corn, cornmeal, whole wheat. Sugars: granulated, powdered, light and dark brown, and turbinado. Vanilla extract and paste, and other extracts. And other random things like pretzel salt, malted milk powder, barley malt, and molasses.
The last thing that is always important to me in a new home, is space for my cookbook collection. This is hardly half of it, so the rest will be going in our dining room once that is complete.. but the ones I have up right now are my mostly my favorites or most reached for. Since I always try to leave you with some recs or suggestions, I thought we could end by chatting cookbooks!
My must haves/most reached for:
Alison Roman books: Dining In, Nothing Fancy, Sweet Enough
Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden
Salad Freak by Jess Damuck
Molly Baz books: Cook This Book, More Is More
That Sounds So Good by
Start Here by
Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat
Zach’s picks: The Food of Sichuan by Fuchsia Dunlop, and The Food Lab + The Wok by J. Kenji López-Alt
Pasta Everyday by Meryl Feinstein (I don’t yet own, but have checked out from the library repeatedly, and every recipe doesn’t miss)
Other faves
Pasta Grannys (both books)
Wild Sweetness by Thalia Ho
Root Stem Leaf Flower by Gill Meller
Mi Cocina by Rick Martínez
Simple by Ottolenghi
Overrated/least I reach for (IMO/hottakes) + what I suggest instead:
Tartine books— instead use The Sourdough School by Vanessa Kimbel
On Vegetables by Jeremy Fox— literally anything else on veg.. like Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden, Root Stem Leaf Flower by Gill Meller, The Modern Cook’s Year by Anna Jones
Indian-ish by Priya Krishna— haven’t felt a good sub for yet, so let me know if you have!
Flour + Water by Paolo Lucchesi and Thomas McNaughton— 1. just go to the restaurant, that’s worth it. and 2. Pasta Everyday by Meryl Feinstein is truly going to be a better guide for homemade pasta making.
Any cookbook published by Phaidon— it’s going to be a cookbook for looks, a coffee table book if you will. I have the German Cookbook and the Japanese Cookbook and neither get used, maybe once a year..
Sweet by Ottolenghi nor..it hurts me to say..Claire Saffitz baking books… I love her so much, but, the books measurements are often inconsistent, so for beginner bakers I wouldn’t recommend. So, instead— The Perfect Loaf by Maurizo Leo, A Good Day to Bake by
, Erin Jeanne McDowell’s Savory Baking + The Book On Pie, Cookies: The New Classics by Jesse Szewczyk, and Sweet Enough by Alison Roman
My wishlist + books excited for that have been released or are being released this year:
Matty Matheson: Soups, Salads, Sandwiches: A Cookbook, releasing on Oct 22.
Seattle’s queen chef, Renee Erickson: Sunlight & Breadcrumbs: Making Food with Creativity & Curiosity, releasing on September 24th.
- : I'll Bring Dessert: Simple, Sweet Recipes for Every Occasion, available now
Letitia Clark: Wild Figs and Fennel: A Year in an Italian Kitchen, released on available now.
Brandon Skier: Make It Fancy: Cooking at Home With Sad Papi (A Cookbook), available now.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading! Dining room is the next big project, so will update you when that is finished. Before that, I’ll have some recipes to share ♥️ Next week is our 5th annual Cinco de Mayo feast, this time in San Diego for the first time! Will feel weird and sad to not have our usual Seattle crew feasting with us, but we have my eagerly awaiting mom who has been wanting to get in on the feast, so that is exciting! Will bring you along next week. Okay, bye! ❤️
WAIT WHAT?! Can’t wait????? 5 de mayo???!?!!!
I demand more hot takes