My Setup: Kitchen Edition
Where I work & where I eat, and quite often, where I work while I eat. Presenting my setup: kitchen edition.
Currently, both my wife and I are working from home; our positions have afforded us the ability to work remotely throughout the pandemic. Our main work area already plays the role of a guest room, home gym, library/reading nook, closet, and home office; not bad for 100sq feet. But with two of us working from home, 8-12 hours per day, we needed a second space that could double as our second office space. And that honour goes to our kitchen table.
The house rule is that whichever one of us has the busier or longer day gets the office, leaving the other with the kitchen. And because we eat all of our meals at this table, we wanted a setup that was easy to move & clean. Finally, we wanted a design that kept things pretty minimal and easy to pack up at the end of the week.
The Setup
The Laptop: 14-inch MacBook Pro
The cornerstone of the setup is the new 14-inch MacBook Pro. Although this Mac is beyond overpowered for the needs of my 9-to-5 job, the quality of the display & improved camera is a significant quality of life improvement as someone who can spend upwards of 7-8 hours per day on Zoom calls. It's after I clock out for the day that the MacBook Pros CPU/GPUs get to really shine during any of the design work that I do.
The Stand: Rain Design mStand 360
The MacBook might be nice, but the real MVP of this setup is the mStand. This is my second time purchasing this stand because over the summer, swept up by the promise of 'Hot Vax Summer' and the return to the office, I sold it, convinced I never needed it again. But then Delta happened, and now Omicron is happening, and as a result, my role continues to operate out of my home base.
I can't stress enough how good it feels to elevate my laptop. I'm at an age where a rough night of sleep can kink my neck up for weeks, so I'm in no position to gamble with my posture, especially as someone required to sit at a desk all day. The addition of a stand that elevates the centre of the display to eye height has done wonders in alleviating neck pain & improving my posture.
One of my favourite features of the kitchen is that I have East, South, and West facing windows, providing tons of natural light throughout the day.
The Mat: Satechi Eco-Leather Deskmate
I adore this mat! After buying one for the kitchen, I instantly purchased a second and replaced the office's vinyl mat with this one. It's a beautiful shade of brown (resembling Apple's Saddle Brown), dense, and features excellent stitching around the perimeter of the mat. It feels far more premium than's its $40 price tag suggests and offers enough space for my Mouse & Keyboard. No issues with it sliding. Five stars!
The Headphones: AirPods Max in Sky Blue
I'm a superfan of the AirPods Max, and a year of using them daily has not reduced the joy I get from these headphones in the slightest. I love how they look, I love how they sound, and I love their noise cancellation.
The AirPods Max do a stellar job of blocking out ambient noise. During the day, the ambient noise around our home can become quite distracting: mowing, clearing snow, children playing, the neighbour's cat trying to steal a bird's eggs, the neighbour's cat chased away by bird parents for attempting to steal their unborn children. The long and the short of it is that a lot is always going on. And because my profession requires giving my patients my utmost attention, blocking out as much noise as possible is necessary.
As for comfort, I can't complain. I wear them for an hour at a time but prefer to give my head a 10-15 minute break where possible. AirPods Pro or another pair of noise-cancelling headphones would likely meet my needs quite well, but I can't stop crushin' on these AirPods Max to consider anything else.
I know I did the disingenuous infomercial thing of making my actual work office black and white, but this comparison shows my kitchen setup vs. the shared computer space at work.
The iPad: iPad 9th Generation
This basic iPad does A LOT of heavy lifting in our home. It's a music player, the home hub for reminders and calendaring, a TV, a cookbook, and more. During the workday, the iPad also serves as a second screen for calendaring, reminders, or scribbling down notes & things I might want to recall. If Apple ever intends on releasing a HomePod-like device with an integrated display, it will have a tough time dethroning this $329 iPad. An Apple Saddle Brown leather Smart Cover completes the package.
The Peripherals: Magic Keyboard & Mouse
Since their release, I have been using Apple's Magic Mouse and Keyboard and have gotten so accustomed to them that it is difficult to transition to anything else. Last winter, I moved to the Keychron K3, but months in, I still struggled to type as quickly & accurately compared with the Magic Keyboard and have largely given up on using it. As the saying goes: you can't teach an old dog new keyboards.
The Phone: iPhone 13 Pro
Another critical part of my operation is the iPhone 13 Pro. The iPhone contains the apps that allow me to log in to my workplace securely and make hours of calls throughout the week. I use my iPhone predominantly as a phone (go figure). And between meetings, I usually tune into podcasts on the iPhone.
Hiding in the background is one of my coworkers: our 5-year old Boston Terrier.
In Sum
Now, these photos paint my setup in a very sanitized and aspirational light. What you're not seeing is mounds of files that clutter the table, the bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch that I'm chowing down, or the pens, paperclips, and other miscellaneous objects which scatter themselves across my workspace each day. But at its core, this is the workplace that I adore getting to work at each day; clean, cozy, and close to all the snacks... what more could you ask for!?
Other: Nothing more annoying than posting a photo and realizing that the coffee cup you have set is empty… Sigh! The sweater you see in the foreground of these photos is the Roots Cabin Collection Cotton Cabin Zip Hoodie which often becomes available in the Fall.
