Small houses... how do you function in the kitchen?

raedean52 · #41 05/14/14, 03:45 PM

the cabin we are moving too is 200 sq.feet.
my kitchen is so small.its cute.we only go visit it right now.it seems fine.
living there full time may be different.
its fine till the hubby gets in there with me.
we need to loose weight so we can have lots of room.
here is a picture of our kitchen.i have more in it now.

Vickie44 · #42 05/14/14, 05:59 PM

I got a large Island with butcher block top and drawers for storage . I also have harvest tables in other rooms that I move into the kitchen when projects come up.

I got rid of many of the appliances that many deem neccessary, no coffee pot or stand mixer or microwave

mrs whodunit · #43 05/14/14, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJ

So with these tiny kitchens and tiny homes, family gardens and hunters, where does a person store a couple thousand jars of canned food? I'm just not seeing it!

I have 11x12 pantry. Its a lovey rock and cement foot thick about 114 years old.

I also have a room down in the basement that we could use as jar storage if we had as many jars as you have.

Our kitchen layout stinks. Its supposed to be an eat in kitchen. Yeah. Right. We stuck 2 stainless steel tables in there to act as an island and a counter.

Kasota · #44 05/14/14, 06:46 PM

CJ, I plumb forgot about a storage system I made some years ago. I simply LOVED it for all my canning and other items. Maybe if you find a place with a basement it would work.

I made shelves out of 2x4 with plywood for the shelf part and I used thinner lumber to make a little keeper - about 3 or 4 inches up from the bottom of the shelf. Not explaining it very well, but I didn't want things falling off the shelf. Then I went and bought some seriously heavy duty wheels - the kind that spin about so you can roll something in any direction - and I put those on the bottom. I suppose they were about 4 feet by 2 feet. Really whatever would work for your space. They were about 6 feet tall. You need good quality wheels because you want them to work smoothly and they have to be able to work whilst carrying a lot of weight.

This let me slide the shelves short end against the wall, one right next to the other close to each other. The wheels let me slide them out, access my stuff, and slide it back in. I kept a small clipboard with a list of what was on each shelf unit hanging on the end where I could see it.

It was such a space saver! You can have a fairly small space and cram a lot of goods in there because you only need enough space for the shelf and enough space to slide it out and get at it.

raedean52 · #45 05/14/14, 09:55 PM

my hubby is going to build me canning shelves right outside my kitchen door.it will be turned into a storage hallway.
i will have to can on our wood stove.i cant can anything on the little camp stove i have now.
our tiny cabin is to do for us till we build a bigger house ...now i keep all my canned foods in a chest of drawers under the counter.
i use to have an outdoor kitchen.i would go out in the early morning and the coffee would take forever to perk.if i poured water on a dish cloth-to clean a coffee cup.the dish cloth would freeze before i got it to the cup.now i have a kitchen.here are some of my little collections.wood stoves and such.

ChristieAcres · #46 05/15/14, 02:14 AM

Although we have only done it temporarily, living in an RV with a tiny kitchen is challenging. Our last home had a dysfunction kitchen, really. There was only one counter to work on, so it might as well as been much smaller for the lack of function. The RV we have been living in, is a 19' travel trailer, so the term micro-kitchen would fit. However, this space won't work for us, except very temporarily. So, we are going to seriously start searching tomorrow. After this, a 34' motorhome looks huge! If we go that route?

DH will build us a small log cabin for our washer/dryer/closet for my clothes/office for my work. After our bigger log home is built, we will move into it, and sell whatever we end up temporarily living in.

As for how I managed to work in a small kitchen, not the current micro-one? I had a large pantry cupboard in the dining room for all my larger appliances, larger pots, etc... Since I had two ovens, I used one for storing all my extra pots/pans/iron cookware. I also had a pantry type unit with side by side doors, mounted to hinges, with top-to-bottom shelving on the inside and outside of each door. This unit is also deep with lots of space for canned/dried foods. I have seen others put lazy Susan's in their taller cupboards, some multi-shelved. A friend of mine got a small island, had drawers, cupboards, and a laminate top. She installed wheels on it, so she could move it out of her kitchen, when she wasn't using it. It gave her additional counter space to work on, besides adding valuable storage space.

CJ · #47 05/15/14, 07:39 AM

I think I've come to the conclusion that my kitchen gadgets exceed the norm. LOL I have many large ones, and I do use them all!

If we find a house with a basement, problem solved. Or heck, even an attached garage! But nothing we've seen has either.

Besides a couple thousand canning jars, I have cases and cases of freeze dried food, hundreds of pounds of wheat, and again rice, and again beans

.

Equipment, golly.
3 AA canners, 1 water bath canner, plus 2 pressure cookers (not canners).
dehydrator
sun oven
grain mill
champion juicer (large footprint)
squeeze food mill
big berkey water filter
stand mixer
large meat grinder
commercial sausage stuffer
4 or 5 cast iron dutch ovens
vitamix
pickling crocks
Steam juicer
commercial vacuum sealer

These are HUGE and take a lot of space. The list doesn't include standard dishes, bakeware, etc.

Some people have trinkets. I don't. I have kitchen stuff out the wazoo, and I love using all of it!

Perhaps an intervention is in order

Jolly · #48 05/15/14, 08:51 AM

The most efficient kitchen I've ever seen was in a hunting camp in Canada.

Galley style, it couldn't have been over ten feet long, with about 3 feet of floor space between counters, but one cook fed 30 guys a day, 3 meals a day, out of that kitchen.

CJ · #49 05/15/14, 09:06 AM

I couldn't agree more about galley kitchens, that's my dream. One wall of counters and cabinets, and one very long kitchen island, with seating on the other side. Make mine 30 foot long please?

Yellowmug · #50 05/15/14, 09:21 AM

Yes, you do have more than the norm! But if you use it all, well, what can I say? I get by with far, far less in a smallish kitchen and still juice, bake bread, can, dehydrate, etc. However, I do have a basement where I can store stuff so that helps.

As for counter space, I have an open kitchen/dining area and we have a big as the space allows farm table that I can use for extra flat space. I do dream of a large pantry and an open kitchen/dining area that is configured differently (right now the table is on the other side of a peninsula and I wish it would just fit in the middle of the kitchen. Alas, that probably won't happen because it would involve moving doors, windows, and supporting walls.

Sounds like you need to look for a place with at least a garage or basement. Honestly, I can't imagine a homestead not having those things, we tend to have big things that need storage :-)

CJ · #51 05/15/14, 10:49 AM

Exactly Yellowmug! How can someone build a farm house without at least a garage, basement or root cellar! It baffles me!

7thswan · #52 05/15/14, 11:09 AM

I too have a lot of kitchen stuff, I collect it, antiques, so I don't own a microwave but many items that I use for "Hand" work. I'm a bad sucker for Bowls, I had to narrow myself down to just yellow bowls or bowls/dishes with roses on them. Man, if has a Yellow Roses-it's a real prize. I also collect Vaseline glass-only yellow. So I can relate, and as you probably have seen my pantry, I have thousands of jars of food in there. But I also have to store some of my tools in there. We have a Michigan basement, that is too scary, and I ain't scared of much, but even in a tornado, I wouldn't go down there. We have 3 freezers and an extra fridge in the pole barn. My Unkle actualy hand dug a 1/2 basement in my grandparents retirement cottage for their washing and drying machine. It was sandy soil, but he did it bucket by bucket. I'd say , if you really love the place, you will find a way. I'm planning my move to a 20x24 log cabin, I've alreadyed figured out where the 12 foot addition is going for pantry/ bathing.Useing an outhouse ain't nothing compared to not having enough space for all the Kitchen stuff! Even a shed could contain "out of season" tools, empty jars are starting to make their way to the pole barn, where they can procreate to their Hearts desire.

CJ · #53 05/15/14, 11:29 AM

Oh I agree, I'll take an outhouse in exchange for a killer kitchen, no problem!

wogglebug · #54 05/16/14, 03:25 AM

Start thinking in terms of apartments you have lived in or seen. 17 squares (one square=10'x10'=100sq.ft) is an awful big living space. Heck, four squares is big enough, just barely. If you made it a one-square bathroom/laundry and three squares for bedroom/sitting room/kitchen, there'd be plenty of room; and an apartment doesn't even have a yard outside the back door. You can squeeze an efficient kitchen into one square, if your pantry storage and freezer is outside it. Less if you talk to yacht designers. One square is plenty for a single bedroom - even a double with bunk beds and/or trundle beds or two loft setups with bed over desk, wardrobe and drawers. Two squares is adequate for a master bedroom with en suite, one-and-a-half without, and two-and-a-half is luxurious. A square is just adequate to fit a complete washroom - bath, shower, toilet, sink, washer and dryer, two doors.

Just don't short your pantry space. Everything else, you can probably pack more efficiently if you have to. Food is generally already packed about as dense as it can be. There's a definite limit to how much you can cut down on access space, so the pantry just gotta take the room it takes.

Don't pre-judge your 17 squares - where I come from, the post-WW2 home for a mixed family, even an Irish Catholic mixed family, was just ten squares, and lots of those families lived in a two-square or three-square garage (bunks, trundles, and littlies topping and tailing - heads to both ends and toes to the middle) while they were building their house.

If you do go for extra space, build at least a double-garage that can be livable, then hive off space for your summer kitchen, sewing room, and supplementary storage. Put in a corner kitchenette if you don't have the full-fledged kitchen; and a toilet, shower and sink or basin with outside doors, so it's self-contained livable for anyone who needs the space; and you've got facilities available for workmen.

CJ · #55 05/16/14, 08:07 AM

If I could design the layout of the 17 squares, sure I could make it work just fine! It would be a one bedroom home with 1 full bath and one 1/2, no hallway, no dining room, one huge kitchen open to the living room and one huge pantry/utility room.

But since I'm not building...

raedean52 · #56 05/16/14, 07:42 PM

i do have to say this about my little kitchen.we have no kids.me and the mister dont eat as much as we use to.
we dont want to overeat when we are finally living out at the homestead.
the little camp stove does us fine.
last time we were at the camp...we split a big can of sardines and crackers while sitting out by the camp fire.it was a great time we had.swigged it down with green tea.
we are planning to have oatmeal in the mornings.a sandwich in the noon hour and some kind of soup or stew in the evening.so our little kitchen is good for us right at this time.

susanneb · #57 05/17/14, 05:11 AM

I believe in homes reflecting the people who live there, and if cooking is central to your life, than you need a functional kitchen. Our lives revolve around art, music, books, gardening and our animals, with a much lower priority on cooking and eating, so our 8x10 kitchen will suit us.

How about putting up one of the ready-made, nicer sheds, say 20x10 (some even have two stories), as a secondary kitchen? You could easily plumb and wire, or you could use it primarily for storage/pantry/root cellar. You could place a big harvest table in the center, hang dried herbs, make it a wonderful cook's space.

This could work especially well if you have an outside door in or near your kitchen and put up a covered walkway between.

raedean52 · #58 05/17/14, 11:04 AM

susanneb-i agree with u about our homes reflecting who we are.
and ours does.
our cabin is us but we shall build a bigger house after a few years of living out there.
we have tons of books in our cabin.once we move there we are going to have a part of a building for storing out stuff till we get a house going.
our motiff is pioneer.snicker.so my cabin is like a miners kitchen.
we are gonna be so busy working out on the land that we need a small kitchen right now to keep me out of the minus 35 degree temps in winter.
so it fits us now.we love art and books and music but right now our main thrust is getting the land cleared.getting our orchard and plants planted.getting our well with a pump.for now.our tiny cabin is a cute little shelter to hang in.
i agree with all u are sharing.

**Shrek** · #59 05/17/14, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJ

We're off shortly to look at a farm for sale. It's 115 acres, but the house is 1700 square feet, built in the 70's and never updated. When we look at it, I'm going to try my darndest to visualize it remodeled, and possibly remove a wall if the kitchen is (most likely) closed off and tiny.

But still, for those of you with small homes and tiny kitchens, how do deal with huge gardens and canning, not to mention regular cooking? And where do you store all your kitchen gadgets? We have lots of large appliances like a meat grinder, sausage stuffer, KA mixer, dehydrater, grain mill, etc. Where does one store that stuff in such a small home?

I don't think there is a garage either. No idea of the condtion of the outbuildings yet.

Anyway, I'm looking for creative ways to fit into a smaller home, mainly the kitchen. I'll have to build an addition for my sewing studio regardless.

When my parents moved to the farm and a 14 by 75 foot mobile home, my father solved the kitchen and garden/canning issue by building the patio behind the mobile home twice as large, enclosing half as a screened in pavilion with stove , sink and stove on one end in a solid wall section to protect the appliances from the weather when not in use. The solid roof of the pavilion had ceiling fans mounted in it also.

During canning season the pavilion was a screened in canning kitchen. Year round it was a patio extension and in winter could host outdoor parties simply by putting up the storm windows and moving the patio chimminea in under the vent flue as a fireplace.

calliemoonbeam · #60 05/19/14, 08:51 PM

CJ, sometimes I swear we're sisters from another mother, lol!

I match you in the kitchen gadget list item for item, except the commercial sausage stuffer (just getting started and have a small attachment for my Oster Kitchen Center) and the pickling crocks (only have one so far and also just learning fermenting so plan for more).

I only have two pressure canners, a waterbath canner and two pressure cookers, but I also have a pressure fryer, lol. I also have sprouting equipment. In addition, I have six crockpots. I also have the canning jars and food storage.

But like you, I use them all and don't want to give any up...so what's a cooking girl to do??? Believe me, I feel your pain!

We need something like my grandma's house, huge kitchen with tons of storage and counter space and room for 4-5 women to work at once without crowding, an eat-in area big enough for 12, a root cellar, a spring house and a smoke house. Plus an extra big panty wouldn't hurt.

Of course, she and her husband built their house to her specifications in 1906, when Oklahoma was still Indian Territory, lol!

Like 7thSwan, I'm also a collector of antique bowls, glasses and bakeware, as well as lots of cast iron and antique tin canister sets. My favorite set of tin canisters with bread box and cake keeper have an old-fashioned kitchen with a wood stove on them, from the 40s.

Also, like Raedean, I collect wooden stoves...salesman samples, cookie jars, salt and pepper shakers, trivets, wall plaques, you name it, lol.