The Perfect Tiny Home Kitchen
Tiny homes all have one thing in common. Despite being the most important room in the house, there never seems to be room for everything you need in the kitchen. Refrigerators, dishwashers, ovens, and stoves are among the bulkiest appliances in any home so cramming them all in a tiny kitchen is quite the challenge. Fortunately, tiny homers across the country have answered the call and come up with some ingenious ways of keeping their kitchens classy and functional.
Compact Cooktops for Tiny Homes
First things first, in order to save some counter space, we’re going to need to lose a few burners and look at some two-burner cooktop options. Fortunately, there are gas and electric options on the market built with everyone from the casual cook to the dedicated foodie in mind. Two major decisions you will have to make are: “Do I want gas or electric?” and “Do I want installed or portable?”.
Portable cooktops offer the versatility of serving as a fixed position, two-burner stove or being stored away when not in use. Many tiny homers enjoy the option of increasing their counter space when the stove is not in use.
Our pick for a portable electric cooktop: Dual Control Infrared Cooktop
Our pick for a portable gas cooktop: Camplux Propane Gas Cooktop
Installed cooktops are permanently fixed in your counter and hard wired to your electrical system. An installed cooktop can make a kitchen feel much more like a kitchen and not a campsite.
Our pick for an installed electric cooktop: Karinear 2 Burner Electric Cooktop
Our pick for an installed gas cooktop: Ramblewood GC2-37P (LPG/Propane Gas) high efficiency 2 burner gas cooktop
Oven Alternatives for Tiny Homes
A typical kitchen dedicates a ton of floor or wall space to an oven. And while some home chefs may want to up the ante to dual ovens, how often do you really need to cook a 20lb turkey in your kitchen? The following appliances can go a long way towards meeting your daily cooking needs without taking up all of your precious kitchen space. Check out these countertop units that toast, bake, air fry, and more!
Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro
Ninja DT251 Foodi 10-in-1 Smart XL Air Fry Oven
Space Saving Kitchen Ideas
Eat Out Kitchen
Since almost any tiny home is going to be “open-concept”, it makes sense to push dining out of the food prep space a bit and into the living area. We often don’t have the luxury of seating for dedicated purposes in a tiny home. Instead, it makes sense to lay out a versatile seating area in a way that is conducive to eating, recreating, and relaxing.
Stud Pantry
If your tiny home kitchen contains an interior wall, you are sitting on a goldmine of untapped storage! The spaces between the studs in a tiny home are perfect for canned goods, herbs, and spices. A standard soup can is 3.25” while the actual width of your 2×4 studs is 3.5”. Think about that for a minute and check the images below to get your “recessed shelves” wheels turning! Don’t want to see your contents? Add flush-mount doors.
Hanging Produce
Potatoes, onions, apples, bananas, etc. are staples that typically claim precious countertop space. A vented cabinet can be a solution, but cabinet space is in short supply too. A great alternative is to hang your produce in baskets or netting. Of all the space we have to work with, ceiling space is probably the most abundant. Let’s utilize it!
Home Intuition 3-Tier Hanging Fruit Produce Basket
Not So Mini Fridge
Ok, so between a tiny dorm fridge and a standard size fridge that find in most homes, did you know that there are dozens of semi-standard sizes from “little giants” to ”almost a full-size”? Every tiny home kitchen layout is a compromise. Check out the list of oddball sizes below to give yourself that extra 8” of counter you need to make your layout work. I have never had an issue with DOA refrigerators and don’t necessarily recommend or not recommend any specific brand. You are pretty safe picking based on the size you need.
RCA RFR725 2 Door Apartment Size Refrigerator with Freezer
Frigidaire 11.6 Cu. Ft. Compact ADA Top Freezer Refrigerator
Outdoor Kitchens for Tiny Homes
If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen…to the outdoor kitchen. One aspect of a great tiny home is that it seamlessly blends indoor and outdoor living. A great application of this is outdoor kitchens. An outdoor kitchen set up allows you to do a lot of your heavy duty cooking outside. For example, no oven to cook that 20lb turkey? No problem, throw it in the outdoor smoker. This is the binge part of setting up your tiny home. After purging your behemoth Kitchen Aid mixer, treat yourself to an outdoor pizza oven! Check out these ideas to inspire your own outdoor kitchen space:
Traeger Grills Ironwood 885 Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker
Royal Gourmet GA5404S Stainless Steel 5 Gas Grill with Rotisserie Kit
Pellethead PoBoy Wood Fired Pizza Oven
As with all aspects of tiny life, planning your kitchen in advance can make your life much easier down the road. For forth with your knowledge and dare to live tiny!
