Tiny House Episode 15: Not so Tiny Kitchen
One room that was particularly important to us when we designed the tiny house was the kitchen; we knew we didn't want it to be tiny. We wanted a functional space that would be appropriate for cooking meals from scratch and cleaning and preparing vegetables from the garden. One of the main issues we saw with the RV designs was that they had awkward kitchens with little counter space and sinks that were next to useless for washing large pots and pans because they were so small. The house we were renting at the time had a kitchen we liked and I discovered that it's dimensions were small enough that, with a bit of tweaking, we could make a similar kitchen work in the tiny house.
The kitchen design we came up with is 8' x 7'7". It has a standard-sized double sink and counters of a normal depth. One section of counter is 3' wide and the other section is 4' which gives us two areas of useful size. Additionally, we have enough space that both Aimee and I can work in the kitchen at the same time should the need arise. The appliances are smaller than those found in most conventional kitchens but not as small as what would be found in an RV.
Both the fridge and the range are made by a company called Unique, who specializes in off grid appliances. While they are fairly basic appliances, by todays standards, they do seem to be well built and we haven't had any issues with them in the year and a half in which we have used them.
Our refrigerator is 6 cubic feet which is big enough to fit about a weeks worth of fresh food for our family. It has a 2 cubic foot freezer which has also been of adequate size. It operates on either propane or 110V AC power. While we have been very happy with the refrigerator one thing to be aware of is that it doesn't have an auto defrosting feature so this needs to be done manually every month or two.
The range is a 24" wide propane model, which is a good compromise for those wanting to save some space but still have a enough room to cook normal meals. We can use two large frying pans and a pot on the cooktop at once or four smaller ones. The oven is big enough to fit two normal sized cookie sheets. It also has a broiler at the bottom which is nice to use once in awhile.
One aspect that worked out well, since the kitchen was of more normal dimensions, was the ability to buy off the shelf kitchen cupboards and countertops. This saved me a considerable amount of time rather than having to design and construct the storage space myself. I was sure to plan carefully so that I could buy standard countertop widths and not have to cut them down to odd sizes.
There is still plenty of work to be done in the kitchen but I will save that for future posts!
Very well done, Matthew. Practical and intelligent use of space!
Thanks I think I spent more time figuring on this project then building.
Haha I see, but it is beautifully documented and immutably stored on the blockchain!
You are right. I hope a few people can get some value from these posts even if it is just a tip or two.
This is a really nice sized kitchen. Since I make all our food from scratch and can/freeze for the months our garden does not produce I need a decent kitchen. I like how you laid this one out, functional.
Thanks, we put a lot of thought into the layout of it.
Excellent work
Nice house!
Thanks!
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