When I moved out on my own, I spent the first few years living in a string of rented studio apartments with shoebox-sized galley kitchens. Cooking in places with minimal counter and storage space (and one particularly wonky oven) taught me a lot about the craft and provided me with some best practices I still regard as true: When cooking for a crowd, don't make a menu in which everything has to cook using the same appliance; vertical storage is a kitchen's best friend; and rolling bar carts are good for more than just booze.
One belief that I've slowly dropped, however, was my long-held conviction that cooking utensils should, largely, be completely utilitarian.
