I’m a sucker for a celebrity home tour. Back in the day, I used to love watching Cribs on MTV. It’s fun to see how people decorate (or how their interior decorators do, at least) with near-unlimited funds. It feels even more special when a celebrity is an expert in the home space, like a chef. My point? I loved watching Bobby Flay’s Architectural Digest home tour, especially when it came to peering into his kitchen.
How does a Food Network chef keep his own kitchen? It’s chic but simple, if you don’t count the hundreds of pots and pans stacked in his pantry. In between his own cookbook and restaurant-level BlueStar stove, I spotted six things you can incorporate into your own kitchen, big or small. Personally, I have my eye on his mini cast iron pans!
1. Wooden chopping block
You’d expect a chef to get a lot of use out of his knives and cutting boards. Flay invested in a high-quality John Boos board, a brand that’s known for its quality wood. No flimsy plastic ones for Bobby!
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“I always have a really great cutting board — this is one I use all the time. It’s very, very thick and dense. When I’m cutting, it feels like it has a lot of heft to it,” he said.
Amazon
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2. Knife set
“Of course I have a bunch of different knives,” Flay said, adding that he changes his knives from time to time. However, the set he featured was from Gude. “I love this knife, I just love the design of it. I love the feel of this olive wood on here,” he said, pulling out the brand’s cleaver. He also had the brand’s “The Knife” lying on his cutting board.
Gude
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3. Mini cast iron pans
Flay makes his at-home kitchen feel like a restaurant. To do so, sometimes he’ll use mini cast iron pans like these to make shrimp. “One of the dishes I do all of the time, is I take shrimp and garlic and chilies and olive oil, and maybe like some fresh thyme, oregano. And I just put it in [a small cast iron dish], and I put it in a very, very high heat oven, like 500° F. I pull it out, I put [it] on top of a plate with a napkin, and it feels like a restaurant.”
Williams Sonoma
That said, if you don’t need four, the brand also sells individual pans, and some with longer handles that make it easier to move them from the stove to the oven.
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4. Molcajete (mortar and pestle)
One thing Flay seems especially proud of is his collection of molcajetes, or mortars and pestles, which he uses to make sauces. He showed off one he got on a recent trip to Mexico City, but don’t worry — you don’t have to travel south of the border to find one.
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5. Custom spice rack
Flay keeps his spices right out on the counter in a custom black spice rack, with each spice uniformly stored in a glass jar. “Being able to see them while I cook inspires me to season differently,” he’s said in the past.
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You can get your own custom rack to fit your kitchen (like this one) from creators at Etsy. Of course, prices vary depending on the size and material you choose. That said, the most expensive part of your spice rack is most likely the spices themselves. One tip Flay shared: “Your spices don’t last forever, so if it’s been a couple years, you might wanna replace ’em, ’cause they probably don’t taste the way they should,” he said.
Etsy
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6. Food canisters
Also sitting out on Flay’s counters are white canisters from West Elm holding pantry staples like sugar and flour. While his exact set is no longer available, Williams Sonoma has plenty of similar options, like this three-piece porcelain set. You could add your own labels if you want.
