Gray Kunz of Manhattan's Lespinasse transforms a stable into a cook's fantasy.

Home is where Gray Kunz, the chef at New York's Lespinasse, liberates himself from the single-mindedness of his job. His restaurant kitchen is completely enclosed, so for his newly remodeled house in the Hudson River Valley he wanted the opposite: an open, welcoming work space where friends and family can chat with him while he cooks. His organizing principle was the golden triangle of heat, refrigeration and water: keeping these three elements no more than three steps apart, he says, is the key to a good working kitchen.

 

Published August 1998