* Adapt a professional set-up. Restaurants divide their kitchens into zones. Luchetti did the same: her kitchen has a bar area, a prep area, a plating area (next to the cooktop), a clean-up area and, at the other end of the kitchen, a pastry station-- a useful addition for any cook who's a baking fanatic.

* Vary the countertops. Luchetti chose stainless steel for strength and mahogany for warmth, and she used marble for the pastry station. 

* Put sinks where they're needed. Luchetti has a bar sink, a prep sink and a double sink for cleaning up. And in the pantry there's an extra-deep sink that can accommodate large pots (or lobsters). 

* Create a warming cabinet. The big cabinet over the ovens has been lined with stainless steel; food fresh from the oven stays warm even though the cabinet has no heating element of its own. 

* Buy a self-cleaning oven. The two Gaggenau ovens here cook both via convection (for baking) and normally. "They're not restaurant ovens," Luchetti says, "because those aren't self-cleaning, and anyone who buys a home oven that isn't self-cleaning is nuts." 

* Use cover panels to unify the look of appliances. Luchetti's architect sheathed her Gaggenau dishwasher and her KitchenAid trash compactor in stainless steel to match her ovens. 

* Install an ice maker. Luchetti finds that she uses her U-Line machine less for drinks than for food-- "to shock the vegetables or to cool down a zabiglione." 

* Think about the view. Why place your kitchen in the back of the house if the best scenery is out front? "I spend most of my time in the kitchen," Luchetti says, "so I didn't want to be stuck without a view." From her kitchen, she has a superb vista of San Francisco Bay and the city beyond.