Julie Inzanti

The holidays are upon us and what do we typically associate with this time of year, besides exhaustive gift shopping and occasionally excessive amounts of alcohol? Why, food, of course!

But preparing an epic holiday feast for your family and friends in your typical New York kitchen can provoke stress--and fantasies of a generously designed kitchen that can make food prep feel more like a party.

Above, 10 kitchens that will hold all the cooks.

This is the time of year when the thoughts of the average New York City homebody turn from outdoor space to interior warmth/coziness.

We found a few stylish hearths that will definitely make you want to curl up with a glass of wine and relax in front of the fire.

Winter is coming, after all.

Related:

A fireplace in the city? It's not impossible!

For most of us living in cramped NYC apartments, the dining room as a separate space is a foreign concept. Typically an alcove or a quaint corner is all we get to call a dining area--and a vast improvement over the coffee-table-as-dining-room scenario.

But one can always dream. Herewith: Eight swanky dining NYC rooms that will make you drool.

With the cold weather looming, sometimes you just want to stay in at night and watch a movie--or all weekend to binge-watch an entire Netflix series. Here are some amazing home-theater setups in eight NYC apartments and homes on the market right now. Surround sound never looked so good.

Could the days of dingy basement gyms with low drop-ceilings and dated exercise machines be behind us?  The exercise options in these state-of-the-art  in-building fitness facilities are endless--rock climbing walls, Pilates machines, yoga studios. You may break a sweat deciding what to try first.

On the other hand, when you have a gym in your building, there is no excuse to skip a workout. Maybe that's not such a great thing....

In a vertical city like New York most of us are stacked and packed on almost all sides with almost no view of the sky. But for those who can afford the penthouse or a massive loft in Lower Manhattan, the sky is literally the limit.

Here are a dozen amazing skylights from NYC homes currently listed for sale.