Synopsis: These simple and unpretentious kitchen table plans are for a table that is designed to be used, and the unusual construction makes it robust enough for the most avid home cook. Dispensing with typical leg-to-apron joinery, the table has shouldered bridle joints that lock the legs to a pair of long aprons. Three dovetailed cross rails link the aprons, and together with an H-stretcher system, make the table clean-looking and solid as a rock.

The Smithsonian Institution calls Julia Child’s kitchen “the workspace of a master craftsman,” and I have to agree. I’m a huge fan of Julia Child. She was friendly, curious, enthusiastic, down-to-earth, and crazy about food. Her simple, encouraging approach to cooking changed the way America prepared its meals. When I visited her famous home kitchen—it’s now an exhibit at the Smithsonian, intact down to the last saucepan and ladle—I was fascinated by her kitchen table.…