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In Good Taste
Chef Barbara Lynch’s Winchester home kitchen is a gourmand’s dream.

By Victoria Abbott Riccardi

Barbara Lynch’s home kitchen, designed by C&J Katz Studio.

CHEF BARBARA LYNCH is standing beside the 13-foot-long stainless steel island in her kitchen, seasoning a whole chicken for a rare dinner at home. She slides the salted-and-peppered bird into her seven-rack, commercial Rational oven—a German brand she uses at several of her restaurants for its rapid roasting/steaming cooking ability—washes her hands at the island’s prep sink and then offers a private tour.


	shelves stocked with glasses diffuse the afternoon light

Lynch describes the original space as being old, cramped and dark. “It had a Maytag or Sears stove, linoleum floors and cabinets that couldn’t fit an olive-oil bottle or a large cereal box,” she says, grimacing. So she went to Jeffrey and Cheryl Katz, of C&J Katz Studio, whom she befriended during a stint working at the now-defunct Michaela’s Café in Cambridge. Drawn to the couple’s unpretentious personalities and elegant yet practical aesthetic, she ultimately hired them to renovate her Winchester home. (Lynch also had them design her restaurants No. 9 Park, Plum Produce, Drink, Sportello and the newly opened Menton, as well as her cooking studio, Stir, a small-scale version of her home kitchen.)

“Everything is custom-made,” says Lynch, praising the Katzes for carrying out her vision. “They know how to dial into people’s food and dining experience and really get it with the color palettes, lighting and dining fixtures.”

For Lynch’s home kitchen, the designers chose pale, ivory-gray walls and dark-walnut wood accents to maintain the soothing, subdued colors of the adjacent dining and living rooms. Numerous restaurant elements were installed for efficiency, such as induction burners, freezer drawers and a built-in Rosito Bisani pasta cooker, complete with a deep boiling well and several mesh baskets. Lynch chose Viking for most of her appliances, including the refrigerator, two wine refrigerators built into the island (to separate reds and whites, of course) and two dishwashers—one for glassware and the other for dishes (an oversize, double-bin stainless steel sink sits between them). Around the corner from the refrigerator is a white-gray marble pastry station housing deep pullout bins for salt, sugar and flour.


Lynch prepping for dinner at home

For comfort and convenience, the Katzes added heated cork floors, which also buffer noise. A white board along a back sidewall provides ample room for recipe development; floor-to-ceiling walnut bookshelves hold the media center (TV and music players), along with Lynch’s collection of cookbooks.

Lest you think this kitchen is just for professionals, telltale signs reveal another story. Looped around wall racks at the pastry station are six-yearold daughter Marchesa’s hair elastics and bead necklaces. Her colorful drawings fill the entire white board, and somewhere, tucked away in the cupboards, is a kitchen appliance designed just for her: an Easy-Bake Oven.

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