Square pegs: pegboards in the kitchen

Apartment Therapy: Chicago

We've already covered ad nauseum how I'm not the greatest cook.  But there is still a way in which I might be able to emulate Julia Child, one where there's a low risk of my setting my stove on fire.

InteriorDesign.net

Child's considerable collection of kitchen accoutrement was displayed on huge pegboards in her kitchen, with the outline of each item drawn onto the board for quick and easy identification when putting those tools back in their proper places. One could immediately see and grab the thing that they needed, wasting no time when racking that lamb or filleting that fish or whatever it is that real chefs do.

More of Julia's impressive boards (InteriorDesign.net)

Pegboards can be a great way to increase your storage space in a small kitchen, and to keep yourself organized -- no more searching for that one whisk that seems to hide at the back of your drawer. Putting your tools up on the wall makes use of otherwise wasted vertical space, freeing up precious counter and cabinet space.

Apartment Therapy: Chicago

CafeMom's The Stir

Pegboards can also serve as a kind of decor. Colorful boards, like the ones below, can add a pop of bright color to your wall, tempered by the shiny brasses, silvery steels, and black irons of your cookware.

SassyRadish's Flickr

The Kitchn

Putting all of your pots and pans on the wall can lead to a cluttery feel, certainly. But as Thomas Jayne says in his piece for Interior Design, Julia Child was "hospitable to the point of flirtation," and that her pegboards "contrasted remarkably with modern style kitchens where all the equipment is hidden and all the surfaces too clean and stark (kitchens we used to laugh at and call Gropius-gone-wrong.) But, then her kitchen was radical too, because virtually every piece of cooking apparatus was displayed, certainly not the norm, but nonetheless a remarkable, welcoming gesture." After all, a kitchen should be a place where you can feel right at home amongst your tools, cooking food to share with loved ones.

Or in my case, microwaving leftover pizza.