By The Editors of Real Simple magazine

In a well-designed kitchen, cooking flows as smoothly as a Cole Porter tune. Too often, however, a cook's needs and her setup are out of sync. The following lays out kitchens that work for different cooking styles. Pick yours.

The daily cook

For you, an efficient setup is all about access and speed — quick in, quick out.

Strategies:

● Keep necessities within easy reach. Make a place in the hot zone (around the stove and the sink) for the essentials: oil, knives, cutting board. Move special-occasion cookware out of cabinets in the zone. And ask not where ingredients and tools fit; ask where you will be using them. Keep the basket of potatoes near the cutting board, sugar and flour near the stand mixer, and your best-loved pan on the front burner.

● Use under-cabinet space. Under-cabinet lighting strips (attached with screws or double-stick Velcro) keep the focus on the onions at hand.

● Put the walls to work. Put up racks or pegs to keep favorite utensils, the dinner recipe, in plain sight.

● Under-cabinet cookbook holder ($81.99, www.organizes-it.com). Clear acrylic. Flips up out of the way when not in use.

● Simple human pull-out recycler ($59.99, www.simple human.com). Two 5-gallon bins on a sliding rack.

The Sunday cook

When you're too busy on most nights to cook, one weekend session — making dinners in bulk and freezing portions for weekdays — reduces daily stress.

Strategies:

● Keep essentials front and center. In this case, "essentials" means stackable storage containers, large plastic mixing bowls.

● Invest in equipment. Where others might station the toaster, the Sunday cook has a food sealer — just the thing for turning blanched green beans and fish fillets into future instant meals. A scale is useful for weighing ingredients, which some cooks consider a faster and more reliable way to measure for bulk recipes. A calculator speeds the doubling of recipes.

● Organize the freezer. Make designated sections (prepared meals, vegetables, desserts). Use dividers, baskets or multilayer ice caddies to keep containers neat and accessible. Label everything.

Products:

● Erasable labels ($9.99 for 70 labels and a pen, www.contain erstore.com). Won't come off in the freezer, microwave or dishwasher.

● Tilia foodsaver advance design ($143.85, amazon.com). Attractive enough to keep on the counter.

The entertainer

If you're a cook who enjoys performing before an audience, all the kitchen's a stage. Create an illusion of effortlessness that belies a tightly organized support system behind the scenes.

Strategies:

● Set a mood. Using clear vases for a theatrical display of fresh herbs or beautiful bowls for picture-perfect produce will whet guests' appetites. Install a dimmer to bring the lighting down to party mode.

● Use glass cupboard doors for display. Glass-front cabinets can showcase what you love most.

● Keep party gear handy. Create a place for platters and trays — with dividers to maintain order — so you don't have to hunt for them. Give candles, place mats, and other table toppers a dedicated drawer. Use an index-card box to store recipes, past menus, friends' food preferences or wine labels.

Products:

● 60-minute kitchen timer ($11.99, www.stacksandstacks. com). A timer can be useful for pacing the evening. For example, when it rings, it's time to warm the rolls.