When Julia McWilliams married Paul Child in 1946, she hadn't yet been to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris or revolutionized the way Americans think about cooking. But Paul knew good food. "His mother was a great cook," Julia says, "and when we got married, I realized I'd better get cracking."

Paul, who died in 1994, made it easy by implementing systems in the kitchen — the most legendary of them the giant pegboard in Julia's Cambridge, Massachusetts, kitchen, which held her 50-plus pots and pans. Each was outlined with marker so it could easily be returned to its designated spot. Paul traced the pots on paper first so he could see what looked good where. "He had a very good eye for things," Julia recalls.

She recommends a pegboard to anyone who enjoys cooking. "You want to be able to find and stash everything easily," she says. "Unless, of course, you're one of those people who like to live in a mess." Julia, who moved to Santa Barbara, California, in November, says her pegboard system will follow her wherever she goes. But not necessarily all the pots. When she moved, she donated her Cambridge pegboard and copperware to COPIA, a food, wine, and arts center in Napa, California, and the rest of her old kitchen and cookware to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

The Kitchen According to Julia Child

Make sure you have plenty of counter space and that the height of the counter suits you. "I'm six feet one, so I need tall ones. Everything has to be 38 inches high for me."

"Lighting is very important. I use script lights because I need ample light over every work surface."

Permanently affix a tape measure or ruler to the edge of a counter so you can quickly gauge the size of pots and dishes.

Hang heavy-duty vertical magnet strips on the wall, then attach knives to them horizontally. "Knives shouldn't be in a drawer where they knock against each other and nick the blades."

Don't buy sets of pots and pans, because you won't use all of them. Buy each pot and pan for a specific reason.