Author: Christina Moretti, Culinary Designer and Kitchen Planning Specialist

The kitchens along Lake Malawi don’t look like the ones in design magazines. I’ve spent time in villages where the cooking spaces are open-air

I used to think kitchens were just kitchens—functional boxes where you chop vegetables and pretend you know how to cook—but then I spent three weeks in Albania’

I used to think strawberry slicers were one of those unitasker kitchen gadgets that would end up in the back of a drawer, gathering dust next to the avocado

I used to think kitchen design was about aesthetics—granite countertops, pendant lights, that whole HGTV thing. Turns out, the most important element in

I used to think wall-mounted faucets were just for farmhouses—those rustic Pinterest boards where everything’s reclaimed wood and exposed brick.

I used to think backsplashes were just, you know, the thing you slap up behind your sink to keep water off the drywall. Turns out—and this surprised me

I used to think kitchen design was pretty universal until I spent three weeks in the Pamir Mountains watching a Tajik family navigate their cooking space

I used to think kitchen floors were basically indestructible until I watched my cousin’s beautiful hardwood warp into a saddle shape after a dishwasher leak.

I burned my first pancake on a griddle when I was twelve, and I’ve been trying to get the temperature right ever since. Here’

I used to think coffee stations were just about aesthetics—you know, the Instagram-worthy setups with matching canisters and farmhouse signs.