SAVEUR editor-in-chief James Oseland doesn't have much counter space in his kitchen, but he doesn't mind. "Some people might think of that as an obstacle, or a drawback," he says. But James and his husband, Daniel, think of it instead as an opportunity for a creative use of space: prep work spills over onto their rustic dining table, and tools, pots, and equipment are kept tightly edited to avoid clutter. They don't feel the need for the bells and whistles of a high-tech, gadget-oriented cooking space: "Lots of my own personal revelatory kitchen experiences occurred with a wood fire, or a makeshift grill, or a simple pot," says James. "Some of the greatest cooking I've witnessed — some of the greatest food I've eaten — came out of humble, small kitchens, not the George Jetson kitchens of today. Those kitchens got inside me: how can we make do with what we have? We had that in mind when we redid this space: not only how the kitchen functioned as an efficient room, but also how it could be a room where the focus was truly on the cooking."

See more of James Oseland's kitchen in our gallery »