Long before French kitchens had fitted counters, all the cooking happened on a freestanding table in the middle of the room, and a table like this one, with a drawer for knives and a low shelf for bowls and baskets, was where the day’s meals were made. Found in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and dating to the early 20th century, it rises on ring-turned legs, its old white paint worn back to bare wood along every edge that hands and pots have touched. Painted kitchen tables were made to be scrubbed and used hard, and the wear across this one is the record of years of bread rolled out, vegetables chopped, and dishes set down. Sylvie uses it as her kitchen island, a cutting board and a bowl of apples on top and lemons and artichokes in earthenware bowls on the shelf below.
