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?

Welcome to a New Year Rancho No Dinero Episode #8

I released podcast #8 yesterday (yay! It is about time, eh?) and in it I touched on how I am planning to build my kitchen. If you are interested in listening to the latest podcast, just click on the link below. 

Check out this episode!

Anyway, in this episode I touched on how rather than installing stock cabinets from my local home improvement store and laying out thousands of dollars, I am going to be creating my kitchen by re-purposing items I already have and some items I found at my local IKEA. Total cost? I am estimating, with a stove, under $1000. 

Here is the table I am going to make into a work space after painting with a satin black, adding a butcher-block counter top, and some decorative curtain: 

These are the new knobs and the fabric for the curtain. The current dangling pulls will be removed, the holes filled, and the new larger porcelain knobs installed. The drawers will be lined with cork and have a knife block in one of them. The other will hold other supplies as needed: 

Below are the kitchen components I talked about during the podcast that I plan on purchasing from IKEA. You can click on the link to go to the IKEA site if you like:

Numerar Counter Top 

Sundvik Changing Table (need 3) 

Fintorp Collection

Liatorp Wall Bridge/Shelf

Steinstorp Wall Shelf w/Storage 

More of the Fintorp Collection

As you can see, these combined with the re-purposed table should make a very Country/French Country style kitchen. The table, because it will be on rollers, will be able to be moved to be cleaned behind. The curtains can be washed as needed and the knobs are porcelain so they can be wiped with disinfectant too. They are also large enough to hang towels on. I am really quite excited to see how this turns out, so check back next week. I plan to sew the curtains and paint the table this weekend. I cannot yet get the butcher block counter, but that will be purchased as soon as a) I can afford it and, b) when I have a transport vehicle at my disposal. 

Again, the chest freezer will have a portion of the butcher block top installed on its lid, which will be level with the table and its butcher block top. The stove unit will sit between the table and the chest freezer.

What do you think? Is 14' of counter space (I subtracted some for the sink) enough counter space in a kitchen?