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"Location: San Gabriel Valley, CA John Queen was the king of clean-as-you-cook. He&amp;#039;d scrape a carrot, walk across the room to throw out the peel, return to the counter, mix a sauce, and cross the floor again to put the bowl in the sink. &amp;quot;I had to work that way,&amp;quot; explains the avid cook. &amp;quot;The kitchen had so little counter space, and everything was poorly laid out.&amp;quot; When John and his wife, Marie, decided to expand and renovate the kitchen, they knew they wanted not only plenty of counter space to spread out ingredients and utensils but also a layout sensible enough to prevent their having to crisscross the new larger space endlessly. &amp;quot;I looked at a lot of restaurant kitchens,&amp;quot; says John, &amp;quot;and I talked to a friend who is a professional chef. The one thing I saw and heard over and over is that\u2014despite the usual focus on the stove, fridge, and sink forming three points of a cooking triangle\u2014professional chefs actually do most of their work standing in just one place. I wanted to do that, too: to wash vegetables in the prep sink, chop them on the butcher block counter, reach up and grab a pot from the overhead rack, pivot, and put the pot on the stove.&amp;quot; Architect Georgie Kajer made that and much more possible. By extending the rear of the house, incorporating a butler&amp;#039;s pantry into the main working space, adding a new walk-in pantry, and repositioning the staircase, Kajer produced for the Queens another 149 square feet of usable, eat-in kitchen.     Before the renovation, the Queens&amp;#039; 1970s kitchen was small and nondescript.       A narrow doorway led from the kitchen to the old laundry room. While that large, new space includes the most modern conveniences and appliances, Kajer and interior designer Betsy Stephens both discouraged the Queens from going too, too modern. &amp;quot;At first,&amp;quot; says John, &amp;quot;we thought that if we were renovating, we should build a big combination kitchen\u2013great room, the way people tend to do these days. But Kajer explained that our house, which was built in 1937, was designed to be a house of rooms, and that a great room would look incongruous.&amp;quot; Stephens agreed and then steered the Queens toward furnishings with a more vintage appearance. The large new kitchen island, for example, was chosen because it resembles a piece of been-in-the-family furniture, and the farm-style table, which the Queens moved from the formal dining room, is an antique. That table is one of Marie&amp;#039;s favorite things about the kitchen\u2014not just because of its rustic good looks. &amp;quot;I love having an eat-in kitchen at last,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;I can&amp;#039;t imagine feeding my family anywhere else.&amp;quot;     The space now off the kitchen is a family room, where the kids can watch TV while their parents cook and kibitz. Glass-front and solid-wood cabinets display dishes and hide clutter.   A hanging rack keeps copper pots in view and at hand; everyday pans are stowed in cabinets.   The tile backsplash features an inexpensive custom version of a favorite painting. Keeping it Cozy A restaurant-quality kitchen doesn&amp;#039;t need to look like it&amp;#039;s all work and no play. Here&amp;#039;s how interior designer Betsy Stephens made the Queens&amp;#039; kitchen a workplace to behold:  Balance shiny appliances with vintage-style furniture. Reproduction and antique furniture such as tables and islands soften the sharp angles and hard surfaces of cooktops and massive refrigerators. Add swags and curlicues. A curved chandelier, gently draped valances, and rounded-back chairs can minimize the severity of a too-modern look. Don&amp;#039;t forget the flooring. The Queens chose warm solid-oak flooring, which helps connect the kitchen visually to the rest of the 1937 house.     Marie and John can chat while she tackles paperwork in the new, well-organized kitchen office and he cooks.    A double wall oven can cook two dishes at two temperatures simultaneously. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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