Star Kitchen: Michael Symon's Kitchen Renovation

Michael Symon and his wife, Liz, bought this nearly century-old Tudor in Michael's hometown, Cleveland; he has six restaurants in the area. The house came with a tiny kitchen and a prayer room — neither of which suited the Iron Chef. Renovations took almost a year, but the wait paid off: Now the couple has a 700-square-foot entertaining space with a six-burner BlueStar range, an espresso station and a wine alcove that holds 850 bottles.

Though Michael splits his time between Cleveland and New York City, he and Liz found themselves living in hotels and out of suitcases when they were back in Ohio. "We got many offers from our moms to stay with them," he says. "But I'm 45; I wasn't going to move in with my parents." 

Previous owners used this tiny space as a prayer and meditation room. 

Michael and Liz decided to install enough hooks to hold 850 bottles of wine, including Lulu 62, an Oregon-grown pinot noir blended by Liz and served at all of Michael's restaurants.

The couple bricked over a set of windows to create a wall for pots and pans.

"Liz came up with the idea of using a slat wall like the ones you see in stores for displaying products," he says. It holds three times the pots and pans that would fit in a drawer.

"I have probably 25 mortars and pestles," Michael says. "People want everything so fast, but when you make pesto with a mortar and pestle, it tastes so much better than it does from a blender."

Michael first cooked on a BlueStar range at a friend's house. "I was immediately hooked," he says. "I had to have one for this kitchen. It's the only home stove I've used that performs like a restaurant range. It's got 25,000 BTUs, a French top, and you can fit a whole hotel pan inside."

The prep sink has foot pedals instead of faucet handles. "This is my favorite little feature," he says. "The last thing you want to do is touch anything while you're butchering a chicken."