5. Setting Up Your Kitchen

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One of the most overlooked keys to becoming a better cook is simply how you set up your kitchen. Chefs in professional kitchens are maniacal about this, and it’s for a good reason. The environment you create in your kitchen— how it feels, functions, and flows— has a real impact on your cooking experience.

Part of this is simply practical. Having the right tools in the right places means you’re better organized, you waste less time, and the cooking process will be faster and smoother. But part of it goes beyond that. The “energy” in your kitchen makes a real difference in terms of how you feel while you’re in it. A clean, organized kitchen isn’t just more functional, it also allows you to be more present and more creative. Clutter, dirty dishes, messy countertops, open jars and packaging— all of these things create mental burdens that distract you from focusing on the process at hand.

There’s a reason why professional cooks can whip up high-quality meals quickly and efficiently without too much effort. It’s not just about skill; it’s about preparation, organization, and creating the right environment. In my opinion, this is one of the most important skills that home cooks can learn. Luckily, it’s quite easy to do.

Let’s dive into how to do it properly.

When I cooked professionally, we had a saying that we repeated often: a clean kitchen is a happy kitchen. The first thing we did before prep was clean up our work area, and to this day that’s how I begin each cooking session at home.

Taking a few minutes to clean up your kitchen and prep area (wiping down your counters, removing any trash, clearing any dirty dishes, etc) before you start cooking sets up a clean slate that frees up mental and physical space for you to focus on the task at hand. It really makes a huge difference.

But it’s not just about starting with a clean kitchen, it’s also about maintaining one. In professional kitchens, the head chef constantly comes by the cook’s stations to make sure that they haven’t created a mess. The key here is to clean as you go. Not only does this reduce the post-meal clean up, but it also helps to maintain flow and order while you work.

• Wipe down your counters between steps.
• Keep a trash bowl nearby for all waste and scraps.
• Wash your utensils and cutting boards while you’re waiting between cooking steps.
• Move dirty dishes and cookware to the sink once they’re done being used.
• Close, reseal, and put jars and ingredients back into storage once you’re done with them.

These things may seem slightly trivial, but I promise you that they make a big impact. These days I can’t even cook without doing these things from pure instinct. I can confidently say that kitchen cleanliness and organization genuinely makes you a better cook and makes the cooking process more enjoyable. Try it and you’ll see.

You’ve likely heard of a cheffy term called “mise en place.” It’s a French phrase that literally translates to “everything in its place.” It’s another professional cooking concept that can benefit home cooks a ton.

Mise en place simply refers to the practice of prepping and organizing ingredients before you start cooking. Instead of doing everything on the fly, which often results in timing errors, mistakes, and chaotic kitchen energy, mise en place allows you to first prepare ingredients, and then focus entirely on the act of cooking. If all of your ingredients are prepped out and organized in advance, the cooking process is seamless. It saves time (no more delays as you scramble to prep out or search for an ingredient in the middle of cooking), reduces mistakes (no more rushing to chop onions while your garlic burns), and keeps you focused (you can immerse yourself in the process of cooking, rather than constantly interrupting the process with more prep).

Doing mise en place doesn’t require too much of a change from how you normally cook. You’re still doing all of the same things, but here you’re making sure the order of operations works for you rather than against you.

How To Do It

1. If you’re using a recipe, read it through from start to finish so that you know all of the steps and which ingredients are needed at which points.
2. Gather all of your ingredients in one place.
3. At your prep station, start preparing your ingredients (measuring, peeling, chopping, etc).
4. Organize your prepped ingredients in a way that makes them easily accessible. Small bowls, deli containers, and sheet trays are all helpful here (we’ll discuss these more below).
5. Lay out your tools and utensils so they’re ready to go.
6. Once all of this is done, you can begin the cooking process.

There’s a well-known concept in professional kitchens called the brigade system, which is a famous way of organizing kitchens created by renowned French chef Auguste Escoffier. Brigade kitchens are broken down into specific roles and stations, which are designated workspaces designed for specific parts of the cooking process.

While professional kitchens have a bunch of different task-specific stations, I think the concept is still helpful for home cooks. I like to think about my kitchen in terms of four stations— the prep station, the cooking station, the cleaning station, and the storage station.

A prep station is the foundation of any cooking practice. The first thing I do (after cleaning my kitchen) is set up a prep station. I even do this when I’m cooking at other people’s homes— a few simple things can make a world of difference for your sense of organization and ease.

• Stable Cutting Board

Your cutting board is the centerpiece of your prep station. Start by putting down a damp towel or paper towel to help stabilize the board, and then place the board on top.

• Trash Bowl

Place a trash bowl nearby your cutting board. This allows you to easily toss waste and collect scraps as you cook, keeping your cutting board clear and avoiding constant trips to the trash can. This may seem silly since your trash can is only a few steps away, but I can’t emphasize enough how helpful this is. Trust me on this one— start doing it and you’ll never go back.

• Chef’s Knife

Almost everything you do at this station starts with your chef’s knife, so place that on top of the cutting board, ready to go.

• Prepware

Make sure you have some containers available to prep hold your ingredients as you do your mise en place. Deli containers, stainless steel bowls, or any small containers work well. It can also be really helpful to have a quarter sheet tray or two to hold all of these things.

• Tools

Gather any additional tools you might need during this process. This depends on what you’re cooking but may include things like a bench scraper (which makes moving around ingredients much easier), a peeler, measuring cups, a mandoline, etc.

• Ingredients

Finally, gather all your ingredients and bring them over to your prep station to start the process.

Your cooking station generally refers to your stove and the area right near it. Once you’ve completed your mise en place, you’ll do most of your work here.

A cooking station is a bit more static than a prep station, so you should take the time to set it up in a way that works for you.

• Salt, Oils, and Pantry Staples

Your salt and oils should be within arm’s reach of your cooking area. These are two core ingredient categories that are used throughout the process, and they should be readily accessible. It’s nice to have other pantry staples (spices, condiments, etc) close by, but depending on your storage setup you might just grab these on a per-recipe basis and add them to your mise en place.

I personally keep my salt and oils right next to my stove, and I keep my spices, vinegars, and other condiments in a cupboard right above it.

• Utensils

You should keep your core utensils right in your cooking station so you can easily access them as you cook. I like to keep mine in a dedicated utensil holder right next to my salt and oils.

If your kitchen setup doesn’t allow this, just make sure that you know exactly which utensils you’ll need for a given recipe and bring them over to your cooking station before you begin.

• Cookware

Your cookware should be easily accessible in this area. Grab any cookware you need— pots, pans, etc— and set it up on the stove before you begin.

• Utensil Platter

Finally, I always set up a utensil plate right before I start cooking, which I keep right next to the stove. This gives me an area to place dirty utensils during the cooking process so that I don’t dirty up the stove or the surrounding area. A quarter sheet tray works great for this, as well.

Your cleaning station is the area with your sink, dishwasher, and drying rack. Ideally you start cooking with this area completely clear, but you want to move things into this area once you’re done using them. Plates, dishes, storage containers, and cookware can all be place here after you’re finished using them, which helps keep other areas clear. If you have breaks in the cooking process (for example, if you need to let something simmer or boil for a bit), pop into this area and get some cleaning done as you go. This will reduce the amount of cleaning you have to do at the end of the cooking process, which is always nice.

The storage station refers to your refrigerator and pantry. This is where you store your ingredients. The key here is to keep things organized, and move things back into the storage area once you’re done with them to keep the other areas clean.

One of my favorite professional kitchen tricks is to store things in plastic deli containers. These are great because they come in many different sizes but all share the same lid. They’re easy to clean but cheap enough that you can toss and replace them if need be. They’re great for storage and for mise en place, which is why you can find them in pretty much any restaurant kitchen. Buy a sharpie and some painter’s tape and use that to label them, which makes storage, organization, and finding things much easier.

• Deli Containers
• Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls
• Sharpie
• Painter’s Tape
• Bench Scraper
• Quarter Sheet Trays
• Kitchen Towels

Here’s a quick video I made showing some of these concepts visually.

A quick overview of what we’ve covered here. This is the order of operations I follow pretty much every time I cook.

1. Start by doing a quick clean of your kitchen.
2. Set up your prep station.
• Cutting Board
• Trash Bowl
• Knife
• Prepware
• Additional Tools
• Ingredients
3. Prep out your ingredients, mise en place style.
4. Set up your cooking station.
• Salt, Oils, and Pantry Items
• Utensils
• Cookware
• Storage For Dirty Utensils
5. Start the cooking process.
6. As you finish using things, move them back into the storage station or over to the cleaning station.
7. Clean as you go to reduce the amount of cleaning you have to do at the end.

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