When Ree Drummond wants to cook for a special occasion, the fact that she lives on an isolated Oklahoma ranch presents some problems, not the least of which is that she has to drive to her kitchen. As millions of fans know, Ree is a former Los Angeles resident who was swept off her feet by a real-life cowboy; they got married, moved to his sprawling ranch and had four kids. Ree writes about their city girl-country boy life on her blog (thepioneerwoman.com), and now she has a new Food Network show to go along with it.

For her long continuous countertop, Ree chose an unconventional material: concrete. "It looked like a sidewalk to me," she says, which is not something that she sees much of on the ranch.

When they were designing the kitchen in 2008, Ree and her mother-in-law, Nan, created a "work triangle" with a sink, stove and refrigerator at each point to enhance organization and efficiency. Nan helps keep Ree organized: "Whenever she comes over, she checks my drawers to make sure they are arranged correctly," Ree says.

A removable butcher-block sink cover allows Ree to really spread out when she's cooking, but more counter space sometimes means more work. "By the end of the day, I've made such a mess of my counter that I just want a new house," she says.