They’re renters, renovators, first-time homeowners, DIYers, homebodies, hosts, hot take havers, experimenters, and they’re inspiring us to make our best homes. Meet The Spruce’s 2026 Homefluencers Winners.

The couple is known for transforming their small apartment kitchen into a bona fide cafe complete with specialty drinks, featured menu items, and friends gathered around tables or curled up on sofas (or sometimes the floor) with a plate.

Crawford and Lambar typically share their Chicago apartment, with an open-concept layout, large windows, white kitchen cabinets, and subway tiles, between the two of them, but the apartment transform—and opens up to a crowd—on select weekends.

This apartment-turned-cafe might look like butcher paper taped over top cabinets, smell like espresso, feel like a hug from a friend, look like green leafy garnish and gooey red jellies, sound like mixers whirring, and taste like a “chocolate crunch” waffle, Crawford’s breakfast-y spin on the viral chocolate crunch cake made with pudding and corn flakes.

If it sounds and looks like you want a part of it, you’re not alone. Crawford (@natebakedthis) and Lambar (@justen_lambar) have 43,000 combined Instagram followers and 50,500 combined TikTok followers. They send out information about their cafes (and signups) via their Substack newsletter.

Their first cafe was with friends in June 2024 when they were looking to test out new recipes on an audience, and “the goal was never to do these long-term—or ever again,” Crawford says.

The first iteration took place in their previous apartment in Chicago, and it was such a hit that they’ve kept hosting them—plus organizing them in other people’s apartments—as a way to market their culinary ventures.

“It’s such a stress-free, fun project to do,” Crawford says, but he and Lambar have learned some small-space hosting lessons along the way.

One takeaway after the first cafe? Portion sizes can be small! Guests wanted to sample everything on the menu but got full because the portion sizes were too big. He advises thinking of an event like this like a tasting and focusing on small, easy-to-serve bites.

“It sort of has evolved into almost a chef’s table experience where it’s an intimate space where we’re able to test items and test out flavors,” Crawford says.

But there are non-culinary logistics to think through, too.

Everything You Need to Host in a Small Space

“Think through the space as a whole,” Crawford recommends. “It’s not just the food; it’s the atmosphere. It’s the seating. It’s the sights, scents … everything all in one that makes the space unique and intimate.”

Here are his best recommendations if you want to plan a cafe of your own.

• 10 to 12 friends. You can, of course, host fewer people than this, but Crawford recommends not going over this number of people in a small space.
• A way to get the word out. Crawford and Lambar send out invites via a Substack newsletter. If you’re going to open up your home to people you don’t know very well, safety is a top priority, Crawford says.

  “Folks who have signed up at least know who we are, know our concept, understand us,” he says. “It’s less of a random stranger and more of community folks who already know us.”

• A menu. For their cozy cafes, Lambar makes three savory items, Crawford makes three sweet items, and they collab on the drinks. Usually there are two specialty drinks and a latte bar. Menus are printed out on paper.

  You don’t have to be a professional chef, however, to make a recipe you’ve always wanted to try—or one that’s always a crowd-pleaser.

• Triple-chocolate espresso cookies with bittersweet wafers, milk chocolate chips, and dark chocolate bars, espresso powder, and a sprinkle of salt on top. This is Crawford and Lambar’s most iconic menu item.
• “Places to put things,” Crawford says. End tables and coffee tables are key.
• A good playlist. Crawford has been curating playlists since the very first cafe. There’s a fall one, a holiday one, and a rainy day one. And Crawford’s guests say they listen to the playlists on their own time, too.

“It’s almost like food, right?” Crawford says of hosting in a small space. “We know if something is too salty, it can destroy a meal. If anything’s burnt, that burnt taste is going to be first. And so any bad vibes or anything that sours the note, it’s going to sour everything.”

The Planning Before the Hosting

And if you’re wondering what the grocery shopping looks like before the cafes, think less cozy and more curated spreadsheet. Crawford says he is more analytical, and Lambar is an “artist through and through”—both are key to making the cafes happen.

Crawford and Lambar plan their menu in a spreadsheet where they list out all the ingredients they’ll need, and then they tackle grocery shopping together.

When they first started out, the process took them a week. Now, the fastest they can turn a cafe around—from the ideation to the shopping to the cooking—is 48 hours.

The more savory dishes happen hours before the event, whereas the baking happens days before (especially for anything with dough that needs to rise). So it’s a perfect balance for a small space.

“We sort of knew that we balance each other out really well before starting this,” Crawford says. “We also cook and bake together well … I’m in my own world prepping, and he’s in his.”

Beyond the Apartment

Crawford and Lambar have ventured beyond their apartment, too, collaborating on pop-ups with restaurants like Bartleby’s Ice Cream in Chicago’s North Center and others upcoming.

They get the word out through social media—and through their even more loyal following on Substack. Crawford says to compete with “the Starbucks-ness of the industry,” it’s been important for him and Lambar to curate community and share their story on social media.

“The breakfast-brunch scene is not a new concept,” he says. “Folks aren’t going to really care about our food yet … they’re going to care about us … They’ll show up to meet us, but they’re going to—I hope—stay because of the food and hospitality and all those other things that we have tried hard for. But it really is the power of human storytelling.”

For him, being an “influencer” in the kitchen space has been an unexpected upside.

“There are a lot of things that make the online space hard and annoying and terrible, but also it can be great,” Crawford says. He likes to ask: “How are we using the space to find those folks who want community?”

He says he and Lambar have received thousands of comments with people saying they want an invite to the cozy cafes, they love the concept, or they want one in their own town or neighborhood.

“There are folks yearning for a place to be, but it’s also up to folks to make those spaces.” Crawford says, and that’s precisely what he and Lambar aim to do—and inspire others to do.