Star Kitchen: Jacques Pepin

We figured after 30 years on television, Jacques Pepin—one of the original celebrity chefs—would have all sorts of fancy cooking equipment at home. But the Frenchman's most prized possessions in his Madison, Connecticut, kitchen are a beat-up old garlic press and an industrial-size rubber garbage pail.

Jacques keeps pots, pans, whisks, ladles and spatulas on individual hooks. "When I need to grab something, it's much easier than having to go through a drawer," he says.

No matter how hard he closes them, Jacques' kitchen drawers never slam shut; they have a catching mechanism that slows them down. Jacques also has two heating drawers that go up to 150 degrees. "I've put brisket in them and cooked it for 24 hours," he says.

Jacques stores his many knives in a long slit cut into his counter. "You only need three knives: chopping, utility and paring," he says. "But I probably have 300."

Jacques painted these kitchen tiles himself, covering some with still lifes and others with food-related twists on classic proverbs, like "Show me your refrigerator and I'll tell you who you are."