Julia Child’s Brilliantly Simple Idea Gives You Way More Kitchen Prep Space

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Julia Child built a home cook empire based on accessibility. She even refused to use the word “gourmet” for its hoity-toity connotation. Like so many of Julia Child’s best tips for home cooks, her ultimate tip for maximizing small kitchen space falls under the umbrella of “work with what you’ve got.” For apartment-dwelling foodies (especially those with roommates), that precious limited counter space might be filled with coffee makers, a utensil jar, and a toaster, leaving little room leftover to actually cook. In such cases, turn your attention to the next-largest horizontal surface in the room — your kitchen table.

In her book, “In Julia’s Kitchen: Practical and Convivial Kitchen Design Inspired by Julia Child,” Pamela Heyne visits Child’s personal home and notes that, unlike the kitchen setup in her hit show “The French Chef,” there was no island to be seen in Child’s kitchen. Instead, Child’s primary workspace (or one of them) was her kitchen table — the same place where she ate the meals she prepared. As Heyne writes, “The kitchen’s center of gravity was the table […] which was covered with a very practical oilcloth. The table was her supplementary work area,” (via Literary Hub). “At one point during the photo shoot, Julia sat down and began peeling asparagus.”

Read more: 10 Ingredients With Way More Protein Than You Realize

Put your kitchen table to work for more prep space

Utilizing your table in a more active prep role can be an exercise in overall kitchen functionality, like Child’s layout. It can also be an effective way to expand workspace in smaller kitchens with limited countertop space. In the modern age, installing retractable countertop extensions can also be a low-cost way to add extra prep space to small kitchens. But, when this avenue is impractical or out of budget, look no further than your own kitchen table, which has been hiding in plain sight all along.

As Child herself demonstrated, the kitchen table also provides the option for home cooks to sit down while prepping food. Some tasks, like sauteeing, must be done standing over the stove, but peeling, chopping, and slicing can all totally be done while seated. If guests are over, prepping while seated at the table even allows prep work to transform into a more leisurely, social moment rather than labor alone. The conversational asparagus-peeling moment Heyne describes at Child’s table feels more like sharing a chill pre-meal drink than actively completing a menial task. On an aesthetic note, we also have a few interior design tips for making tiny kitchens appear larger.

Read the original article on Tasting Table.