The Case Against the Open-Plan Kitchen
The open-plan kitchen is the default layout of contemporary residential architecture, and it is a mistake.
Catherine Avery · 2026-06-10
Living
Interiors, architecture, food, drink, and considered living.
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Showing 101–120 of 167 articles
How to Build a Cheese Course
The cheese course, served between the main and dessert or in place of dessert entirely, is one of the great European dining traditions and one of the easiest to replicate at home.
Daniel Hurst · 2026-06-09
A Beginner's Guide to Mezcal Beyond Margaritas
Mezcal is not a variant of tequila — tequila is a variant of mezcal.
William Ashford · 2026-06-09
The Five Sauces Every Home Cook Should Master
Auguste Escoffier codified five mother sauces in the early twentieth century: béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise, and tomato.
Oliver Ramsey · 2026-06-09
How to Throw a Cocktail Party on a Budget
The cocktail party is the most efficient form of entertaining — it accommodates more guests than a dinner, requires less preparation, costs less per head, and generates better energy because people stand, circulate, and talk to multiple groups rather than being locked into a single seating arrangement.
Sebastian Cole · 2026-06-09
A Weekend in Reykjavik
Reykjavik is the world's most northerly capital, and it wears its remoteness like a badge of honor.
Catherine Avery · 2026-06-09
A Weekend in Seville
Seville is Spain distilled — flamenco, tapas, Moorish architecture, orange trees, and a heat that slows time to a crawl between two and five in the afternoon.
James Alderton · 2026-06-09
A Weekend in Hanoi
Hanoi moves at the pace of its motorbikes — constant, chaotic, and exhilarating.
Oliver Ramsey · 2026-06-09
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A Weekend in Bath
Bath is England's most architecturally unified city — a Georgian masterpiece carved from honey-colored limestone and arranged around natural hot springs that have drawn visitors since the Romans established Aquae Sulis in 60 AD.
Daniel Hurst · 2026-06-09
A Weekend in Oaxaca
Oaxaca is Mexico's culinary capital, a highland city in the southern Sierra Madre where seven varieties of mole, mezcal distilled from wild agave, and chocolate ground on stone metates define a gastronomic tradition that UNESCO recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Catherine Avery · 2026-06-09
A Weekend in Tallinn
Tallinn's Old Town is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Northern Europe, a walled enclave of Gothic spires, cobblestone lanes, and merchant houses that survived the twentieth century's wars and Soviet occupation with its medieval fabric remarkably intact.
Sebastian Cole · 2026-06-09
A Weekend in Ghent
Ghent is the Belgian city that Bruges would be if it had never been discovered by tourism — a medieval powerhouse of Flemish art and Gothic architecture that also functions as a living, working university city with a nightlife, a food scene, and a creative energy that its more famous neighbor lacks.
Oliver Ramsey · 2026-06-09
A Guide to Coffee Roast Levels and What They Mean
The roast level of coffee determines more about the flavor in your cup than the origin of the bean, the altitude of the farm, or the variety of the plant — yet most consumers choose coffee by brand rather than roast, missing the single most significant variable in their daily ritual.
Sebastian Cole · 2026-06-08
The Art of the Charcuterie Board
A well-assembled charcuterie board is not a snack — it is a statement of curatorial taste, a composition of flavors, textures, and colors arranged with the same intentionality you would bring to setting a table or choosing a wardrobe.
James Alderton · 2026-06-08
How to Make Fresh Pasta from Scratch
Fresh pasta is one of the few foods where the gap between homemade and commercial is so vast that they are effectively different products.
James Alderton · 2026-06-08
A Beginner's Guide to Sake
Sake occupies a peculiar position in Western drinking culture — revered in theory, misunderstood in practice.
Thomas Nakamura · 2026-06-08
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The Rules of Mise en Place and Why They Matter
Mise en place — French for 'everything in its place' — is the organizational system that underpins every professional kitchen on earth.
William Ashford · 2026-06-08
How to Properly Season a Wok
A properly seasoned carbon steel wok is the most responsive cooking vessel in any kitchen — lighter than cast iron, more heat-conductive than stainless steel, and capable of achieving the searing temperatures that produce wok hei, the smoky, charred breath of the flame that defines great Chinese stir-fry.
James Alderton · 2026-06-08
A Guide to Mexican Chili Peppers
Mexican cuisine without chili peppers would be unrecognizable — like French cooking without butter or Italian without olive oil.
William Ashford · 2026-06-08
The Case for Slow Cooking in a Fast World
The modern kitchen worships speed.
Marcus Wei · 2026-06-08