Restaurateur and Chopped judge Scott Conant doesn't live in this loft, but you could call it his home kitchen away from home —a place where he can cook and entertain without interrupting service in his busy New York City restaurant. "There's so much going on in a restaurant kitchen, and I was getting in the way," says the chef, who also runs restaurants in Las Vegas, Beverly Hills, Miami and Toronto. "Here, I can answer my 400 daily emails, have meetings and test recipes all in one space."

Scott chose an island made of two materials, chestnut and travertine, so he'd have background options when photographing his food. "Working with different colors and textures helps with the creative process," he says.

Scott keeps condiments and leftovers in plastic containers and meticulously labels and dates them just as he would at his restaurants. He marks them with strips of easy-on, easy-off painter's tape.

Each of Scott's cooktops serves a purpose. The six-burner gas range is ideal for testing recipes, and the five-burner induction cooktop on the island is perfect for entertaining: It speeds up cooking and lets him face the room so he can socialize as he cooks.

This is just a fraction of Scott's cookbook collection: He keeps hundreds on shelves around the loft. "I wanted to create a library so I — or anyone on my staff — could come here to do research," he says.

Scott's $11,000 espresso machine was supposed to be the pride of this kitchen, but he recently quit his 15-shot daily habit and switched to green tea. His staff doesn't let the machine go to waste: They use it constantly.

Scott can cover his cooktop to create even more work space.