In My Kitchen

What do you do when four of St. Louis’ top restaurateurs invite you into their homes? You listen carefully and take plenty of notes.

- Amanda Woytus

ZOË ROBINSON

For Zoë Robinson, the restaurateur behind some of St. Louis’ most elegant restaurants (I Fratellini, Bar Les Freres, and Billie-Jean) the blessing of her Clayton home’s kitchen was that most of it was already designed by the time she moved in—by her husband.

“He had already put in the Viking, the Sub-Zero, the wine fridge, and the cabinets. The basics were here,” she says.

Just one caveat: “He had this big honking island.” That piece, topped with a hunk of butcher block, was first to go. Replacing it: a dreamy marble–topped table that seats six, three on a white banquette and three on the walnut chairs that echo the updated butcher block. Robinson loves the airy quality: “I like that it’s open and you can move around in here.”

1. Robinson describes her husband’s style as traditional but with a modern art collection. She brought “quirky antiques and a few really modern pieces to marry the styles.”

2. The marble backsplash is the same Danby that Robinson used as her tabletop, lending a sense of continuity as well as contrast to the butcher block counters. “The marble is behind the stove, too, which is kind of scary,” she says. “I thought that I would screw it up—you know, tomato sauce— but I’m careful.”

3. For most people, glass-front cabinets pose a threat: Everything inside has to be organized. For Robinson and her husband—she calls him a neatnik—it’s no big deal. “If I could do it over,” she says, “I’d have the Sub-Zero refrigerator with the glass front. I like the challenge.”

4. “I had window treatments, but I took them all down,” Robinson says.

“The bare windows bring the outside in, and at night, all that bamboo is lit up and it’s beautiful.”