Kitchen Decorating for a Pastry Chef

Countertops

• Pastry chefs require a fair amount of counter space for making cookies, decorating cakes and preparing fondant for petit fours. Don't clutter the entire counter top with kitchen décor or storage. Leave some room, anywhere from 10 to 15 square feet, for the actual work of creating pastries. Smooth counter tops comprised of butcher block or marble make ideal surfaces for rolling out dough for bread or pastries. Save a small section of counter top for a galvanized steel easel, which can be used to hold recipes.

Accessible Storage

• A chef needs certain tools to be ready at all times. A magnetic strip attached to the wall can be used to hold knifes, measuring spoons and even corkscrews. Ceramic jugs or large juice carafes can be used to hold spatulas, wooden spoons and other tools. If you are blessed to have a large blank wall in your kitchen, put it to use. Attach restaurant-inspired shelving units that can hold cooking tools, such as a professional scale, and have hooks for mugs and a roll of paper towels. Other options for that blank wall include following the lead of cook Julia Child and using pegboard to hold pots and pans. If any wall space remains, coat it with chalkboard paint and use that space to write down grocery lists or recipe ideas.

Cabinet Storage

• Pastry chefs will need room for their baking utensils. Under cabinets outfitted with pull out drawers are ideal for storing muffin, cake and tart pans plus cookie sheets. Upper cabinets can store the wide variety of different ingredients that breads and pastries require. More often than not, a pastry chef will not only need white sugar, but brown and confectioner's sugar, as well as different varieties of flours, such as white, wheat and almond. Store these different ingredients in clearly labeled, similarly sized, sealed glass jars. The ingredients will stay fresh and finding the ingredients will be easier.

Decor

• Every kitchen needs some art, whether it's on the walls or the counter tops. Magnetic wall boards do double-duty, they add visual interest and extra storage. Use vibrant red magnetic circles to adorn a wall and hold pictures of cakes or notes. Browse antique stores for vintage prints of cakes and cupcakes or frame pictures of confections from vintage cookbooks. Don't forget several hooks for displaying aprons. Adorn extra counter space with decorative cake and cupcake stands. The stands, when not used to house sugary treats, can store fruits, blocks of cheese or cloth napkins.