Tyler Florence's Kitchen Setup Is Actually Genius

The kitchen is the sanctum sanctorum of every professional and aspiring chef, and how it is organized can play a key role in how successful you are in your endeavors. This is why you may want to file this kitchen tip under things you didn't know about Tyler Florence and borrow a page from his kitchen setup playbook to adapt as your own. The New York Times caught up with Florence, who explained that the size of a kitchen doesn't determine how well you cook; however, he conceded that organizational skills come in handy, which is why he uses a triangular approach to his setup.

The host of "The Great Food Truck Race" told the outlet, "What matters is how well you organize three spaces that form a triangle. Sometimes it's not a perfect triangle, but it connects three stations: the refrigerator, the prep station and the oven or cooking area." Per Food Network, Florence calls this a "pivot triangle." He notes that the cooktop or stove should be the central point of your triangle, and from there, you should be able to pivot to the sink or refrigerator. Why is this important?

Tyler Florence's triangle approach makes a lot of sense when you think about it. After all, you probably have a system for organizing your pantry, so why wouldn't you have a system to keep you organized while you cook? Florence's triangle pivot does just that and allows seamless movement from one cooking station to another. It's all very functional. The sink plays a key role in your prep work and cooking. Before you have food sizzling in a skillet or boiling in a pot, you are prepping by either washing hands, rinsing fruits and vegetables, getting a few tablespoons or a few cups of water, and cleaning pots, pans, spoons and knives as you go. Being able to pivot to the sink easily will make cooking efficient. 

Additionally, when working with ingredients you want to keep cold before adding them to a bowl, pot, or pan, having the fridge as the other triangle focal point allows you to do this quickly without a lot of fuss. But thinking of the stovetop, the sink, and the fridge in this manner can also help you organize where you store certain items. You may want to keep cooking utensils like spoons, spatulas, knives, peelers, graters, and zesters in a crock or in a drawer near the stove and the countertop where you will be doing the majority of your mixing.  

But don't discount the need for clean, uncluttered countertops. This will give you the much-needed elbow room to mix, blend, pound, knead, pre-season, or accomplish whatever prep work is needed before you turn on a burner. To this point, the professional chef and cookbook author recommends having all of your kitchen gear required to make your dish within arm's reach, including clean kitchen towels, and don't forget about keeping the kitchen tool Tyler Florence thinks everyone should splurge on, also known as a cutting board, nearby.

Of course, you don't need to redesign your kitchen to apply Florence's triangle approach. Instead, use the principles of this concept and think of your kitchen in zones where you have one area for prepping and cleaning, another for cooking, and a third for storing and preserving. This can help you form your own triangle with efficiency as your key objective. Remember, when you have everything within reach, you are organized, and it will help ease the stress that can accompany cooking.