The "kitchenless" house

Right on.

Here is what I think of as the near perfect/perfect setup for someone (like me) who cooks a breakfast, needs stuff in the fridge, wants to pan fry a steak and make veg, and wants to make a pot of coffee or cup of tea. I think that's a dishwasher in the middle. I'd replace it with a fridge.



By todays standards, it's not a kitchen, but a working kitchen area. If you're appalled at the smallness, just remember how 6 of you would pile into the family car, and drive for hours. Now you need a SUV or at least a crossover if it's just you and your toy poodle.

I'm sorry, but this fantasy picture of entertaining in your big kitchen just looks so awkward.

There's the couple on the left that don't know each other, but hope to hook up later on....

The guy holding the bowl of whatever because the woman obviously couldn't figure out how to find the bowl her self, and needs to be helped....

The woman taking a tiny piece of whatever, making sure her fingers don't contaminate another morsel, being so tense, or wanting to play helpless or coy with the guy, she is forced to retract her other hand/arm in response....

The hostess who is overjoyed at cutting up a chicken and so enjoying having other people watch.....

Me, in the background, waiting for the food, and wondering how soon I can escape from these posers. Knowing, at meals end, we will all be expected to "help" cleaning up, which stands for getting in the way of the person who's really going to do it.

you seem to be convinced that this depicts life, ahhh Madison Ave (or wherever that **** gets done), likes you, you will buy their ****.

saad littl space. I like Alton Brown's commitment to owning kitchen gizmos. "Make sure everything you have is used for more than just one thing, otherwise forget it"
We use a sous vide not only for boiling road kill, but also making porridges and rice pudding an carp bait.

Huh?

I think this in no way depicts life. I was making fun of it.

I think that was part of the ploy used to get people to build larger kitchens.

But I don't need any kitchen gizmos.

I tenderize meat with the back of a butter knife for gods sake.

Actually, I lie. I have a total of 2 what you might consider gizmos.

A whadayacallit, um, oh yea, immersion hand blender. I use it to make whip cream, which I do regularly, mush up a few blueberries to put in the whip cream, blend soups and gravies, etc.

A small electric coffee grinder....which I use to grind macadamia nuts, salt, seeds, etc. I gotten my monies worth.

Oh, and I have a vegetti to spiral zucchini, cuz I hate zucchini but I eat it with butter, cheese and ground up macadamia nuts on top of fish.

I mean jeez, I don't think that kitchen is sad, why do you? I like its clean minimal appearance, and it has all the space to cut something up, a stove top, microwave, fridge....what else do you want for cripes sake?

I have to admit though farmer, I like this kitchen counter, a lot....

I think that a cooking unit like you featured might work very well in some homes. especially empty nesters, singles or people who have access to decent restaurants.

This might not be what everyone else would want, but my kitchen is right beside my family room and on the other side is my dining room. We spend a lot of time in the kitchen, maybe because I have my grandmothers lion claw table and we get great light during the day or maybe because we just like the room because our earlier childhood memories are wrapped around our grandmothers and mother's kitchen. Or maybe because we can watch the birds and squirrels and chipmunks and the bunnies. Most likely, it's still special because my granddaughter loves to sit at the table and swap stories. We are Irish American, we love our stories....and they get more elaborate every year.

If I lived in D.C. or downtown Baltimore, the compact kitchen might make sense for us. But, I'm on the outskirts of the city of Annapolis, I don't plan to leave unless they take me out feet first. Hopefully, a family will want to buy the house at a later date....they will want a kitchen.

But your idea about the compact kitchen is valid....especially for small families and singles.

Its the lack of some "gathering space" ,w ith some seats and a table or a counter. The one you posted is more like a wash room. I guess I cant convince you about having a separate pantry then hey?


That modern sink and bottom cabinets thing is really neat. Wonder what its made from? It looks like some kinda tight grained wood like walnut.

Oh I see what you mean farmer. To explain I didn’t mean exactly That particular unit. It was just the closest I could find that was approx the right size that wasn’t a collection of a jerry rigged items.

You want a table and chairs? Make it so Number One. Don’t like the colors or materials? Change it.

Like glitter pointed out, it’s not for everyone. However for a lot of lifestyles, it would be perfect. Those who have expressed the opinion it would not work for them have a valid point. However, a lot of people would look at a small, useful to their lifestyle setup and feel relief of not having this entire room they don’t consider the center of their lives. You need a table to eat at? Consider a wall mounted drop leaf. Want to listen to the boids? Now you have the square footage for a comfy armchair or two. Comfy armchairs feel more like a heart and soul thing or a library area, nap or cuddle nook, etc.

A “kitchenless” house isn’t for everyone, but I don’t believe it’s for insignificant demographic.

where is the work space? where am I going to roll out dough, chop things into freezer portions, prep stuff for pickling?

Parts of that make sense to me, but I need more counter space than that. It's a bit depressing to look at.

yikes

the wood is pretty but that is a godawful looking space

Well, again, no one is asking you to give up either what you have, or what you would get. I'm presenting a viewpoint that I think many people just accept todays concept as it stands. Accept and don't think about they will probably never need half the space, but will need to fill it up with something kitchenesque so it doesn't look like an empty shell. For those that have no need for that space, why not make what you actually need 99% of the time, and put the rest of the space to better use for them?

It isn't one thing or another. For me, and I'm sure many others, I'm done with rolling out bread dough (others never had the desire to roll out anything), I don't chop things into freezer portions, because the only thing is my freezer are bags of frozen spinach and broc, and I've never pickled a thing in my life.

I personally don't find that little kitchen thing depressing at all. For what I do, there's plenty of space to cut up things. I can't remember when I last needed more than 2 burners at any one time. There's no extra space to collect stuff that truly isn't needed. This kitchen area only has space for a very small fridge, with a proportionately small freezer section. Maybe big enough for a couple/three bags of veg. I actually think it looks cheery. It's small enough that I wouldn't be tempted to fill it with needless gizmos, or tchotchkes. It looks efficient and purpose driven.

It's fine for making breakfast, pan frying a nice New York Strip (love the what looks like an decent vent hood) or other meat or fish, stir frying some vegetables, making a cup of tea or pot of coffee etc.

Actually, I wouldn't want this work area to be just sitting up again a wall staring out into where most of my actual livng is done. Now that would be depressing...and ugly. Like sitting in my living room and staring into the garage. I would definately have a wall about 4.5 feet across from it, so the view of it would be blocked, but there would still be the ability to see over the barrier. On the inside of the wall is where you could put a drop down countertop for dicing and slicing. You put it up or down as needed. You could have a slide out work area under part of the counter, and you could pull it in or out as needed. The cabinets under the microwave and silverware drawer could have a roll out system so all your sundrys, extra cookware, whatever else you need, could be easily accessed.

There's tons of things that could be done to adapt to ones individual needs.

I certainly didn't mean this one picture to represent the alpha and omega of what would be available in an efficiently made work area.

If it feels depressing to some, it's because you haven't thought how it can be adapted/fitted to supply the space for the things one may do on the occassional, which to me means once a week or less.

Maybe it's not that some people need more space, just more efficient use of that space.

I'm guessing my great grandmother or something didn't have a 200 squre foot kitchen with an island in the middle to roll out her pierogi dough. I'm guessing she used the kitchen table, in her probably 50 square foot or less kitchen, or area in the middle of the only room in the house anyway.

Bottom line is, if you someone who cooks enough to make something like this impractical, then you wouldn't be interested.

If you're one of many various groups of people, that when you really look at it, regularly make use of half or less of the space or appliances/tools there, then why do you want that much space?

Similarly, many have been convinced they need a garage, when their car is fine in the driveway, and they fill the garage up with stuff that's never, or very rarely used.

Same concept of why have a car if you realize it's better to just call Uber, and forgo the car insurance, gas, repairs and so forth.

Same as the concept of the importance of everyone sitting down at some designated spot, known as the dining room table, because of some engrained belief from our childhood. A table doesn't make loving relationships, people do. An official kitchen doesn't give a home a heart and soul, the people living there do.

Do you mean the wood of the cabinets? I really didn't notice that. I totally dig the shape of that counter.

If you need a pantry, have a pantry.

If you don't need one, don't have one.

Ok, here's something I realized when we went to Mexico in May for a couple weeks. I'm going down there again in August, so I can verify.

The place down there actually has a very nice kitchen. I was really happy that I found a place where the kitchen is a separate room. It's basically square in shape, probably around 80 square feet. It's very light an airy, with a full glass door going out onto the patio, and a window opposite. With an eye toward Airbnb'ing it, I bought a Kerig (I don't want to use it so I later also bought a regular drip pot), maybe 3 fry pans, not sure about a saucepan, 4 or 6 dishes a couple of cutting boards, a dozen glasses, a set of silverware from BB&B, spatulas, ladles, potholder, dish towels, place mats etc. from the dollar store. Also brought from home a bunch of sugar can fiber paper plates, sturdy plastic cutlery, paper coffe cups I buy by the sleeve for $4 each from a local restaurant supply store, trash bags, aluminum foil, baggies and paper towels. All those things, except for the drip coffee pot, easily fit into 2 big pull out cabinets. Under the sink was a bottle of bleach, glass cleaner, vinegar, dishwasher detergent and Comet. The only thing I found I forgot was knives. I will buy a set of cheap steak knives, as that is good enough for cutting up what I need to cut up.

While there, most of the time I made breakfast at the house. Breakfast means eggs, avocado, cheese, maybe ham, tomato or some other veg, juice, black coffee. We are both totally happy with that.
For a 2nd meal, we were either out and about, or brought home something like dinners from Pollo Felez (there's an express Pollo Felez at the entrance to our neighborhood), which tastes homemade and is very good (they're not just chicken), or something similar like tacos (do NOT think Taco Bell). The local grocery store, La Comer, has a prepared food section too. In the fridge, besides breakfast items, we had mustard, mayo, ketchup, lots of water, some soda, butter, salsa that came with the Pollo Felez, some berries, cucumbers. On the counter was the coffee cannister (now in the freezer) the drip coffee pot, a container of nuts, some jerky left over from the road trip, a bottle of avocado oil, salt, palmolive dish detergent, a small microwave and paper towels.

We ate like kings, and the only items used that needed to be cleaned daily were 1 pan (used the same on every day), 1 spatula, drinking glasses, the heavy duty plastic cutlery, coffee carafe and a couple of dishes once or twice. I didn't even use the infamous dishwasher, which I'm still glad I got.
It never felt Spartan, we ate wonderful meals. We had everything we needed, and wanted.

For a situation of a household that consists of 2 competent adults, doing anything different would have been wasteful, and would have deprived the local economy of our money, which helps supports families. It was incredibly sensible and cost effective.

however , you read as an advocate.Sooo, this being a debator board , we all reconize that youre a masterd'bator.

Yeah yeah yeah. Still, I remember what you went through trying to get and install a dish washer. I think you even rejected the countertop version.

Not an advocate for, more of a "has this occured to you?" type thing. It occurs to me we (including me) do things without questioning if it's the best thing for them.

I guess then I am advocating to wonder if we are getting our monies worth out of the far and away most expensive part of our living environment.

I guess it was just the odds that the people who have responded are all really into cooking and/or need want the space dedicated to that, and not to another purpose.
I do know there's lots of people who really don't utilize that space, and for them, it's an extremely expensive place to put a ceramic rooster.

Yes, but I did say in a previous post I'm still glad I got it. If I rent the place, that'll be important, and I'm not saying there won't be times I'll use it.

I know you're joking about the countertop version. What a horrible concept that was.

Even if I did regret getting it, hey, we don't get through this life without them.