Table of Contents: Kitchen Composition

Come join us in the kitchen this week. We’ll be exploring kitchen layouts and presenting exemplary horseshoes, U-shapes, L-shapes, and galleys. We’ll also be introducing you to a new concept: the sexy kitchen island (no kidding).

Stay tuned, too, for a Rehab Diary with gasp-inducing Before and Afters, a roundup of precision-made vegetable peelers and other German kitchen staples, and read Sarah’s account of her attempts to live a garbage-free life, inspired by Zero Waste Home.

N.B.: Table of Contents is a new Monday column to fill you in on what’s what every week at Remodelista. (If you’re a subscriber, note that our posts go up a day before they get emailed.)

• UK designer Rose Uniake does it best in her own London house.
• Julie gathers the Mercedes of kitchen basics–made with precision in Germany (case in point: black galvanized metal utility buckets from Redecker, via Father Rabbit). Also look for our weekly Steal This Look column, in which we dissect a kitchen sink with plwood cabinets and gold-plated faucet (yes, gold is looking good again).
• Some of us on staff have managed to give up paper towels in the name of conservation–but not all. For the stragglers, we rounded up 10 good-looking countertop roll dispensers, including Crate and Barrel’s marble model. On Wednesday, we’ll also be presenting a compact kitchen packed with design takeaway.
• Meet the formal eat-in kitchen. This parlor kitchen by Oliver Freundlich belongs to actress–and design genius–Julianne Moore and debuted in the Remodelista book. We think its furniture-like design is the look of things to come.
• We end the week with the Zero Waste Challenge, Sarah’s account of attempting to live with as little waste as possible. Also on Friday, look for a roundup of galley kitchens–sometimes the smallest designs are the most hardworking–and a visit to a restaurant in Poland, above, where rustic wood meets outsized gingham in an altogether fresh way.