Living in a Tiny House or Shouse Frequently Asked Questions About the Kitchen

My tiny house build. 

So many folks ask me to explain to them how I converted a shed building into a home. There are two specific areas that most are really interested in: The bathroom and the kitchen. Today I thought I would show you a bit of my kitchen and answer some frequently asked questions.




Q. What do you do for a kitchen?

A. I have a regular kitchen with regular things such as a sink, stove, and refrigerator. I have shelves with dishes and lots of food storage. I even have a table that can seat six for a holiday meal. If you have it, most likely I have it too.

My kitchen is cozy and functional.

Q. How do you cook? 

A. I cook in a couple of ways. First, I have a propane cooktop. It is great for frying, boiling, etc. Just like your cooktop, only I have just two burners instead of four. Secondly, if it requires baking or barbecuing, I use the barbecue. I can bake using a dutch oven either on the cooktop or the barbecue. I just preheat the barbecue and use it like an oven. I even cook bacon on the barbecue as well as any foods that have strong odors that may linger such as seafood. Additionally, I have common appliances like a toaster, coffee maker, and crockpot. I can cook just about anything you can cook in a standard kitchen.

Cook Smelly or Messy Foods as well as bake on the Barbecue. 

Q. Where does all your stuff go?

A. I collect the pattern of dishes I have, so I have a ton! Rather than go with standard kitchen cabinets, which upon investigation would only store 2/3 of what I store now, I chose to go with open shelving for both the dishes and the pantry. I have found the shelves look really great, were economical, and are versatile. I can rearrange them as needed without too much hassle.

Just a small portion of the pantry.

Q. How do you store food so bugs don't get to it? 

A. I keep all my perishable items either in the fridge, freezer, or sealed in Mason jars. I also have a vacuum sealer that I swear by. Bugs can't get in to the glass containers and by vacuum sealing food prior to freezing it or storing it, the food stays fresher much longer.

Mason jars and airtight plastic storage.

Q. How big is the refrigerator in your tiny house?

A. The refrigerator I chose is a 10 cubic foot model. The fact is I will freeze far more than I refrigerate, so I chose a smaller than average refrigerator. However, I do have a chest freezer I keep on the porch for putting by food.

10 cubic foot refrigerator.

Q. How do you store pet food in a tiny house?

A. I chose to store cat food in a container I found at a big box store. I added a galvanized trash can with a locking lid for the dog food. Both seal the food in to keep critters out and both fit the rustic theme I am going for with my decor.

Pet Food Container from World Market

There are lots more questions folks ask me every day, but these are the ones I could think of off the top of my head. What questions do you have a about living in a tiny house?

Hunting for Character in Appliances

Look closely at the stoves I show here. What do you see? Look closer. Right! They are stoves that look like old-school wood burning stoves, but are, in fact, electric. How cool is that?

Why Are Kitchen Cabinets So Expensive?

I have been, again, putting pencil to paper to "do me some figurin' " about my kitchen cabinets in the Shouse. First I went to visit Pinterest where I found these pictures that got me all excited:

Then I let me fingers do the walking on over to the big box "fix it yourself" store. Holy cow! I can't believe how expensive cabinets are! $300+ per cabinet? Are you kidding me? Ya, that will never do. I need to find a cheaper way. So then I let my fingers take me on over to Craigslist where I searched for "used" cabinets. Ok, that was more reasonable, but many of the cabinets available are still hanging on someone else's walls. They actually want the buyer to do all the work and take them down. Ain't nobody got time for that! The other ones I found were cruddy and I wouldn't want to put a dish or food item in them (ick!). 

Next I thought, "Hey! Flat pack. Surely someone makes them cheaper." 

 I headed on over to IKEA where I discovered A) I don't like their selection and B) they are as overpriced as the big box home improvement store. Ugh! 

What to do? Here is what I am going to do: 

I am going to build them myself. Yes, you read correctly. I am going to build the frames, install shelves, paint the bases, and then hang these doors that I got for an incredibly great price: $30 for all of them! They are solid Maple and made by KraftMaid Cabinets. I plan to build the bases something like this: 

I will then cover them with bead board, paint them an awesome country color, and cover the fridge as well to "blend it" in with the cabinetry. Combined with the slide outs I have already built: 

they will look amazing! After adding the cabinet doors, I plan to only install the cabinets on one wall and on the opposite will be my existing Ethan Allen china cabinet. Considering my dining room set looks like this...

I think it will make a lovely French Country kitchen. You may think this would looks strange, but there is simply no way I am giving up my dining room set. The table currently has two leafs in it, but they can be removed to make a nice round table. The cabinet will store my dishes, serving pieces, flatware, napkins, and tablecloths. When I want to entertain, I can pull out the leafs (stored under the bed) and double the size of the table. This will be a lovely country kitchen to be sure. If you could see the way I see it in my mind's eye, you would agree this will look just lovely in a Shouse. 

So, stay tuned dear reader as I embark on building (pre-building in sections then taking them with me to be installed) my kitchen for the Shouse. I am guessing it will be nowhere near $1200 to build. My best guess is under $500, not including the real butcher-block counter tops I will be installing.

What is your opinion? How would you design your dream Shouse kitchen?

The Classic Spork - Reinvented

While on the shopping trip at World Market where I found the fantastic collapsible silicon funnels, I also found this little gem: two-in-one fork and spoon, a.k.a spork. This institutional standby has been redesigned into a clever utensil designed for convenience and portability. Unlike a traditional spork, which is a spoon with tines on the end of the bowl, this spork is a fork on one end and a spoon on the other. They were just $1.99 and are made of durable stainless steal. I bought two because I thought they were quite clever and wanted to try them out, but the more I think about them the more I realize they are great space savers for those with a tiny house too.

Things that I like about this spork (although it is like no spork you have ever used before) include both its solidness its space saving size, and its portability. It would be useful in a kitchen, a lunch kit, strapped to a Bento Box, or included in a picnic basket. I also think keeping a couple in my drawer at work will be convenient since I hate plastic disposable flatware. Because you wash and reuse this spork (it is dishwasher safe), it is a green alternative for those looking to help reduce the amount of trash going to our landfills. These would be a one time purchase as opposed to plastics which could possibly have BPA and/or other toxins and would eventually end up on a landfill not decomposing for 100 years or more.

As great as I think this is, there are some limitations to consider in the design of this spork. First, there really is no "handle" so your hands will touch the spoon end when using the fork end, and vice versa. You will either need to use the fork side first then wipe it off to use the spoon side, or the reverse. Second, the spoon is not really very deep. Finally, The tines on the fork are rather short.

I tried this spork out today on my Cup-o-Noodle lunch and despite its compact size it worked quite wonderfully. I am going to go and pick up four more of these to keep in my picnic basket as well as the two I already have in my desk at work. I think that once I am in my tiny house, these will come in handy there as well in the limited space of my tiny kitchen. If you are not a great gourmet and are looking for practical utensils that don't consume much real estate in small spaces, then this ingenious piece of flatware might just be something you come to love.

You can order your own at the World Market site here:
http://www.worldmarket.com/product/metal-spork.do?from=Search&cx=0

What do you think? Have you ever used a spork before? Would you find something like this handy in your kitchen?

Cool Cast Iron

LPG13 by Lodge 

Last week I went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel. I love Cracker Barrel because they have some really cool, old-school stuff. They also sell Lodge Cast Iron. Luckily Lodge products were on sale! Whoot! I have been wanting a double-sided griddle/grill that covers two burners. I was so excited to find they had one and it was on sale. Total, including tax, was $52.46. The cost when not on sale is $74.95 plus tax, so it was a good deal. Even better, my good friend who I was with decided to buy it for me as an early birthday present. How sweet was that?

Very Cool Drain

Continuing on with my quest to find only the best for my tiny house, I discovered I would be needing to buy the drain portion for my kitchen sink. While kicking around my local big-box home improvement store I was stunned to find that drains range in price from around $8 all the way up to $45 with even more expensive options made for the custom sinks those with deep enough pockets to custom order.

I looked at all the choices and found that I really liked the ones that are designed with a small basket that fits in the drain to catch food prior to it going down the drain where it could possibly cause problems later. This will come in especially handy because there will be no garbage disposal in my tiny house. This clever drain will capture shavings and cuttings when I peel potatoes and chop vegetables, etc. and easily empty them into the compost container so that I can add it to the compost pile at my convenience.

My Kitchen is Coming Together!!!!

Since I am doing everything on a budget of next to nothing, I thought I would share the items I have managed to bargain hunt up for our kitchen. Everyone knows that the sink, faucet, stove, fridge, and garbage disposal are the big ticket items that will nickel and dime you to death in your kitchen. I have put HOURS into considering how to go about getting these items at the best price, researched all my local big box stores, and surfed Ebay.

First up on our list is our cook top. I decided that I really didn't need an oven per se, as I plan to have a solar oven, BBQ grill, and outdoor kitchen. I chose to get a propane cook top in black. I got this baby on Ebay for $40 plus shipping! My local RV place wanted over $120 for this same item.