The Resource | ART & DESIGN
Cooking Up Calm Le Bernardin’s famously serene chef, Eric Ripert, built a minimalist kitchen that has maximal efficiency. Words: Janice O’Leary Photography: Conor Harrigan
AT NEW YORK’S Michelin threestar Le Bernardin, that lone lobster claw sitting in a lime-green remoulade upon a sea of porcelain might seem the essence of simplicity, but because French chef and restaurateur Eric Ripert is behind it, you know better. Its minimal presentation belies the intricacies that went into its creation. No surprise then that the celebrated chef would apply the same spare aesthetic to the renovation of his personal kitchen. Sleek efficiency was what he craved. “It looks like nothing,” he says, “like a table and a wall.” But that sparseness is all about performance. “It’s the Formula 1 of kitchens. I can cook for 20 people by myself.” Ripert likes the clean look of a wall of cabinets concealing dishes, spices and cutlery but with plenty of space for it all. He went to German manufacturer Siematic for the cabinetry and worked with its experts on placing the various essentials just so. When Ripert cooks at the 3.6m island, he can reach an arm to the refrigerator to retrieve the butter without taking his eyes off the scallops searing in the pan in front of him. That easy reach is no accident: it was measured to suit his arm’s length. “Two feet behind me, I have the fridge and access to the wine and freezer,” he says. “I’m not moving; I’m cooking. It’s ultra-efficient.”
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JUNE 2022
