[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Apartment Kitchens (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 10/3/2011 10:40:55 PM EDT
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Mine right now is the narrow corridor, closed off at one end; frig, 2 counters, sink, dish washer on one side; two counters, stove, tall closet pantry on the other; pass through over the stove. In short, SMALL.
But what, who are they really designed for? People who cook, people who microwave, or people who eat out a lot or order in? This is, of course, a college region......but then again, not all kitchens are like that. The ones in the common living room, separate bedrooms, have a little bit more room in them, they tend to occupy three walls at the end of the common living room. At any rate, they really are designed only to have the cook in there, nothing else. No director's chairs, no stools, and probably not even any trash or recycling cans. Cooking, it seems to be an encouraged dying art. ________________________________________________________________ ("At the store, can you buy a new frying pan? I'm a little squeamish about using the one we use to kill people."––Mary, (w,stte), "Eating Raoul") |
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Quoted: Quoted: Nobody cooks anymore. Its regional and making a come back. We cook all the time. We don't like prepared food or fast food for our son so we try to produce damned near everything from the basics. Dont get me wrong I cook all the time but I have lost count how many times I have taken for granted that people have pots pans or knives sharper than an ice scraper. It amazes me that people can eat nothing but prepared frozen food and Pizzas. |
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It's not only apartments. Last time we were househunting, we looked at about 30 homes before we found one with a good-sized kitchen. These are homes in good neighborhoods, no more than 15 years old, 2700-3200 square feet, in the $350K-$400K price range (this was back in 2006). We were surprised that the majority had small kitchens, some had average kitchens, but only two (including the one we bought) had what I would call a large kitchen - eating area for 7-8, two pantries, island. As it is, the kitchen isn't even large enough to allow the island to have a few chairs for a snack area. Reminds me of an old joke - what does the suburban, two-income family make for dinner? Reservations. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Nobody cooks anymore. Its regional and making a come back. We cook all the time. We don't like prepared food or fast food for our son so we try to produce damned near everything from the basics. Dont get me wrong I cook all the time but I have lost count how many times I have taken for granted that people have pots pans or knives sharper than an ice scraper. It amazes me that people can eat nothing but prepared frozen food and Pizzas. I lived with a guy who ate frozen crap all the time. Eventually he pitched in for food an I just made extra for him. We do alot of dishes at home as we cook all the time. |
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I think those kitchens were designed to meet the minimum requirements for cramming those components into a space big enough to turn around in that met ancient building codes requiring an apartment to have food storage and preparation capacities...
$15,000 dollars from now we'll have a new, better kitchen that meets OUR requirements for a food storage & preparation space! |
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Eating frozen isn't necessarily bad, provided it isn't processed frozen. Me, I buy 4,5,6 whole salmon when I come across it, cut it up into inch steaks, and stick it in the ice box. Do the same with ground beef, steaks, chicken, and catfish nugget bags.But TV dinners or hot pockets or even baked hamsters (chicken cordon bleu), I tend to stir away from for various reasons.
Not that I didn't do hot pockets in the past. In my rushed life, I saw them as a quick way to get a meal but I think it comes down to more that the time it takes to get one right takes too long.....to say nothing about a tendency to gouge one's self on them. The baked hamsters are no longer microwavable and are too expensive, so they are out anyhow. These days, like today, a busy day for me, I'll probably make myself a salad for lunch and I haven't decided about dinner yet.....the meals in between when I sleep and take off. Quoted:
Dont get me wrong I cook all the time but I have lost count how many times I have taken for granted that people have pots pans or knives sharper than an ice scraper. It amazes me that people can eat nothing but prepared frozen food and Pizzas. I have 4 wok pots, among other pots and pans, two small, one huge, one electric. One has been assigned to my mom's house so when I pass through there, I can cook up at least one decent meal for myself and with my wok cooking, the ingredients are likely to be there since it's not the kind of stuff people munch. The other small one I usually use for cooking up my salmon or beef stir fry; the large usually for boullebaise. Haven't used the electric one in so long I'm not even sure if it still works. I'm bad about doing dishes but I'm working on it. Perfectly, of the four counters, one goes to applicances, two go to the wine racks and dry goods containers, and ideally, the last would go to preparations, but it's often cluttered. If I'm working in flour or cutting meat, I often put a cutting board over the sink and work on that. Which, that was one of thing I figured out early on when I got in the Navy, how much I was spending on delivery pizza........so I got into making my own. Mixing the dough, kneeding it, rolling it out, covering and cooking it. It is something I've gotten out of the habit of doing, have gone back to ordering, but I really should change back.....much to the distress of the delivery people since I'm a nice tipper. But for the time it takes to order and wait for delivery, I could make my own. Quoted:
It's not only apartments. Last time we were househunting, we looked at about 30 homes before we found one with a good-sized kitchen. These are homes in good neighborhoods, no more than 15 years old, 2700-3200 square feet, in the $350K-$400K price range (this was back in 2006). We were surprised that the majority had small kitchens, some had average kitchens, but only two (including the one we bought) had what I would call a large kitchen - eating area for 7-8, two pantries, island. As it is, the kitchen isn't even large enough to allow the island to have a few chairs for a snack area. Reminds me of an old joke - what does the suburban, two-income family make for dinner? Reservations. Well, that's discouraging. The brothers have occassionally leaned on me to get out of apartment living and get a house. There's somewhat of pressure there since I am due to inherit the family's dogs and I don't think apartment living is fair to them. As it is, Mom's house is paid for, so there is always that, and it has ample kitchen, freezers, bar, "wine cellars". But living there, 'afterwards', aside from the commuting problem, is not on my list of my favorite things. And I do like to cook. It's one of those things, flour on denim, that's a personal appealing thought to me. Quoted:
I think those kitchens were designed to meet the minimum requirements for cramming those components into a space big enough to turn around in that met ancient building codes requiring an apartment to have food storage and preparation capacities... Probably so. I often feel like I'm on a 747 with its snackbar, only trying to use it for a kitchen.....or onboard a very small ship. _________________________________________________________________________________________ ("Come on, you don't think we'll be 60 and still living together, sharing clothes and a cat."––Phoebe, (w,stte), "Charmed") |
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I got to the point where I could cook four-course meals in our old apartment kitchen. It just takes practice and experimentation... something most people don't want to spend. Well, it may not be a four course dinner today, but I am about to search the net for what I can do with a salmon steak quickly. Non alcohol, mind you, it's that kind of day. Found a quick recipe, 20 minutes, probably switch that for lunch and while it's cooking, make my salad in a baggie for my evening activities. It will probably be with white rice because I don't think I will have the time to cook brown. Eventually, I need to get back into making brownies from scratch. ____________________________________________________________________________ ("And you, you're not La Femme Nikita, you're a Charmed One. Yeah, you don't mind kicking ass when you have to, but otherwise you'd rather be hanging out with your sisters, baking cookies, or knitting booties."––Paige talking to an alternate universe Piper, (w,stte), "Charmed") |
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Quoted: Nobody cooks anymore. I do. Every day. Tonight's dinner was beans and tortillas. I cooked part of a bag of pinto beans I bought back in 08 for SHTF provisions. A little bacon grease and onion, some shredded cheddar and tortillas on sale... we pigged out for pennies. Tomorrow is roast chicken.
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Nobody cooks anymore. I do. Every day. Tonight's dinner was beans and tortillas. I cooked part of a bag of pinto beans I bought back in 08 for SHTF provisions. A little bacon grease and onion, some shredded cheddar and tortillas on sale... we pigged out for pennies. Tomorrow is roast chicken. SIGH, back to Food: Tortured by my FB Friends I use to do beans and rice regularly; my father told me about it as a cheap way to eat. These days, though, I have a container or two of pinto beans but usually use other kinds in the wok pot. Actually, you got me to look up pinto beans recipes......and reminded me of this gentleman. With the NET, I don't need to haul in my cookbooks to work....but it's a nice thought. Not that I would be cooking, eating beans tonight. I've got scuba diving later and there's already enough pressure involved. ____________________________________________________________________________ ("INGENIOUS!"––Dr. Kananga with the CO2 antishark bullet which he struggles with. "Don't....pull the pin out. The air in here is foul enough already."––007, (w,stte), "LALD") |
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my old apartment had a "galley" style kitchen. It was open on both ends but very narrow. ... you couldn't walk through it if the dishwasher was open.
But tiny didn't bother me much. the house i grew up in didn't have an eat-in-kitchen either.... and the dining room was only separated from it by an island counter. |
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How far ahead do you plan what your meals will be? Is it just pot luck to what's available or deciding on Sunday that on Tuesday, it will be beans, on Wednesday, chicken, and so forth.
In the past, I tried to keep Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to a theme. Friday was Italian, usually pizza, but last week, I threw it to wind and went to the Chinese buffet. Saturday was the wok pot and Sunday would be bouliebase. Though I do get nostalgic for the Sunday meals around the house when I was growing up. Brunch of steak, eggs, hash, bacon and evening dinner of pizza, salad, and a cheese tray. Just with my accelerated weekend schedule, my work day starts at 0000, it really hasn't been practical to try to recreate that, especially for only one person eating. _________________________________________________________________________________ ("Kryten, what's for dinner?"––Lister "Tonight, sir, Asteroid and Lichen Stew followed by Dandelion Sorbet.", (w,stte), Red Dwarf "Rimmerworld") |
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You can`t let your dishes pile up.I put my microwave in storage because it took up to much counter space. Agreed on the dishes. Many years ago, Mom convinced me to buy a super duper, huge microwave that for the most part, just ended up taking too much room. It might had also busted early on, but I don't recall. Anyhow, the follow on microwaves were smaller and are on the appliance counter with the coffee maker, grinder, juicer, and other such things. As I was mentally going through things on the floor that are taking up room, I came across some sort of blender system my Sister in law gave me for my birthday. That's the catch with appliances, people think that they are giving you a great thing, something to make one's life easier, but in a small kitchen, there are certain disadvantages. The recycling is another massive problem. I want to be good to the planet, but my curb side recycling says they want the stuff clean and life is fast enough without trying to clean cans. So it gets bagged until I can get out to the city recycling place. C'est la vie....I suppose I will eventually figure out a way, but galley kitchens weren't made to have additional bins in the walk way. __________________________________________________________________ ("No more waste dumps. We're just gonna have to store it."––Aquarius, (w,stte), "Apollo 13") |
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There's another thing.....ladles. Got one or more?
When I originally was getting one, because I was making a lot of fish stew, a girlfriend told me that she just used a coffee mug. Now, when friends are moving into their first place, it's on the potential gift giving list. ________________________________________________________________________ ("Come on, Fred, if Wilma was going to try to kill you, she'd be subtle, like putting bug spray in your soup."––Barney (distant voice) "Fred! Soup's ready!"––Wilma, (w,stte), "The Flinstones") |
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Quoted: How far ahead do you plan what your meals will be? Is it just pot luck to what's available or deciding on Sunday that on Tuesday, it will be beans, on Wednesday, chicken, and so forth. I plan about 3-4 weeks out. Depends on what I have in my fridge and what interests me from watching Food Network shows or websites or Tv. I have chicken breasts thawing now so I'll make jerk chicken from that and potatoes for starch. I am out of vegetables so I'll get big bags of frozen veggies when I go to Costco because I am also out of paper towels. Have 4 chicken carcasses in the freezer and herbs/vegetables to make stock, need to do that this week. |
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Mine is small but as long as I keep up on the dishes there is enough counter space for a cutting board and a prep area left after the microwave and other counter-top items. Then there's the sink and a stove/oven. With the fridge there's just enough floor space left for one person to move about comfortably.
If it's just me in there cooking for 1-3 people then there's plenty of room. Cooking for more requires more food which typically needs more room the prep everything. The counter space starts getting a little cramped. If anyone wants to help they have to look over my shoulder, and God forbid they want to actually do something. 
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Would probably help if you weren't a packrat and threw all that sh*t you have piled up out. OUCH!.........but somewhat right and wrong. Right in that I've managed to acquire a lot of the family's cooking utensils including a waffle iron, a corn dog iron or two 
pots, pans, brownie bins, bar glass wear, fancy glass wear, crock pot, those pressing things for potatoes, and aluminum griddles to name a few. Then there is what has been given to me such as salad spinners (which I don't use since I prefer to have water on my lettace so spices and parmessan sticks), blenders, dishes, knives, and so forth. Add to it what I buy, from table wear to fondue pots and crepe makes, and I'm fairly well stocked! Could almost feel like Jennifer Marlow! But wrong in that it's really not the kitchen that is cluttered with that but rather, just the recyclables and stuff waiting to be put away. Further, looking around and reconsidering a little, I'm probably not making the best use of storage as I should. Between putting all food in the pantry and compressing things the space between things, I could do better. Further, with all the cooking stuff I have, I actually could do pretty well with various types of meals and the basic of goods. Now, Tuesday, was one of my rushed days, I just had a sandwich in the morning and a can of chili after my evening dives. Quoted:
I cook everything from scratch every weekend. Saves a ton of money. Even bake my own bread. Nothing processed except condiments and cheese. Early in the 90's, I would do that, usually made a fish version of calzone. Got away from it especially after Mom cautioned me about fish after a day or so, but might look at it again and other things. I suppose it saves me money though I must admit, between my tastes, liking of wine, and whim meals, I wonder by how much. But then again, I guess I don't have any figures to compare it to since I got out of buying processed food in the 80's and really haven't done grocery shopping like that forever. Quoted:
Mine is small but as long as I keep up on the dishes there is enough counter space for a cutting board and a prep area left after the microwave and other counter-top items. Then there's the sink and a stove/oven. With the fridge there's just enough floor space left for one person to move about comfortably. If it's just me in there cooking for 1-3 people then there's plenty of room. Cooking for more requires more food which typically needs more room the prep everything. The counter space starts getting a little cramped. If anyone wants to help they have to look over my shoulder, and God forbid they want to actually do something. Yes, the counter top items take up a lot of room. Four counters here and three are rather taken. Appliances on the cleaning side of the sink, red wine rack and dry goods storage (spaghetti, lentils, split peas, brown rice, various kinds of beans) on the drying side of the sink, white wine and red wine overflow (I'm not really a white wine person) on the next counter with white rice and cookbook stand, which then only leaves one other counter. And who joins me in the kitchen? My girl kitten because she thinks whenever I go in the kitchen, it's a good time to open up a can of cat food. She's all around my ankles. _________________________________________________________________________ ("So why is Sir Lust-A-Lot after you?"––Piper "How should I know?"––Paige "Well, because it's your damn fairy tale and it's alive and frozen in our kitchen.", (w,stte), "Charmed") |
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I cook and hated my old apartment. The reason I cook is for healthy food and fresh taste. Got bored eating out because nothing had any good flavors in my area. Hmmmmm, it doesn't help as I type this that the Levantate commercial (Spanish TV) is showing the young couple entertaining in this huge kitchen. The funny part is that the husband cooks his wife this huge fish with cucumbers and she just rolls her eyes! (it's in Spanish, I have to guess what the story is). I'm not sure why I started cooking. There was the pizza thing, of spending so much on pizza when I could make my own, but rather, I think it goes more to my "playmate upbringing". That is, when I looked at Playboy, two brothers, as a teen, I was inspired, right or wrong, to be independent, to be out on my own. So books that I read, TV and movies I saw, where people were cooking reinforced that. My "flour on denim" comes from 
where the criminal girl Friday "Laura" is cooking late at night to relax. And it just got reinforced from there. ____________________________________________________________________________ ("Now you're sure you didn't leave behind anything important?"––bug out driver and Laura yelps, takes off, and comes back with a filled box, "What's that?" "My cookbooks!"––Laura, (w,stte), Book: The Phantom, The Mystery of the Sea Horse) |
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We have a large kitchen. Last night I prepared homemade beer bread from scratch and potato leek soup from scratch as well. I also sliced some romain lettuce for salad. My wife made homemade Cesar dressing. We used store bought croutons.
I cannot wait for lunch leftover beer bread sammiches. 
You get out of cooking what you put into it. |
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At any rate, they really are designed only to have the cook in there, nothing else. No director's chairs, no stools, and probably not even any trash or recycling cans. I am in the middle of a kitchen renovation myself. I have a small kitchen (9x13'?) and kind of stuck in the same situation. I hired a designer and she mentioned that ideally a kitchen should have room for not only the cook(s) but also provide a good gathering space as the kitchen can (not must) be a focal point of the home. Unfortunately for small homes like mine, this is not an option unless you start knocking down walls and that is not something that I can do in my space. One thing that you might want to consider is to knock down a wall and put an island in its place. The problem is that you will lose a lot of overhead cabinet space if you do that, and for small kitchens that are already short on storage space it's not an option. However, if you rip out a wall and put an island in its place (assuming that the island now faces a dining room or living room area) then you could put some stools on the outer side of the island and have your buddies hang out there as you cook. As for me, I am basically doing a complete teardown of the kitchen to studs and reinstalling new flooring, cabinets, lighting and moving a few appliances around to better take advantage of the "triangle" setup. I do not have an option to replace a wall with an island but those are the breaks. |
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I cook and hated my old apartment. The reason I cook is for healthy food and fresh taste. Got bored eating out because nothing had any good flavors in my area. Hmmmmm, it doesn't help as I type this that the Levantate commercial (Spanish TV) is showing the young couple entertaining in this huge kitchen. The funny part is that the husband cooks his wife this huge fish with cucumbers and she just rolls her eyes! (it's in Spanish, I have to guess what the story is). I'm not sure why I started cooking. There was the pizza thing, of spending so much on pizza when I could make my own, but rather, I think it goes more to my "playmate upbringing". That is, when I looked at Playboy, two brothers, as a teen, I was inspired, right or wrong, to be independent, to be out on my own. So books that I read, TV and movies I saw, where people were cooking reinforced that. My "flour on denim" comes from http://www.schapter.org/wiki/images/thumb/b/b5/Mysteryseahorse.jpg/200px-Mysteryseahorse.jpg where the criminal girl Friday "Laura" is cooking late at night to relax. And it just got reinforced from there. ____________________________________________________________________________ ("Now you're sure you didn't leave behind anything important?"––bug out driver and Laura yelps, takes off, and comes back with a filled box, "What's that?" "My cookbooks!"––Laura, (w,stte), Book: The Phantom, The Mystery of the Sea Horse) For me it was Steaks/Burgers. 20$ for dinner that I could make for 4$ and taste better and not deal with people is a win for me. However without a dishwasher I will not cook at all. |
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Youve described every "run of the mill" kitchen.
Depending on your area- apartments are usually geared more towards younger adults and much older adults- both whom might not cook very often, and if they do they arent playing "iron chef". I never felt them to be discourageing or small to cook in and id rather have more room elsewhere instead of being hogged up by the kitchen. IMO a more stupid waste of space are the massive kitchens in McMansions which are never used because the owners eat out 99% of the time. Cooking is a dying art but not because of ecnomoical apartment kitchens. You should see kitchens...well...in every country but the US. In places like Europe and the rest of the Americas the kitchens are microscopic. |
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I'm in my first apartment with a tiny kitchen. Slowly but surely teaching myself how to cook. One of the most useful tools I made sure to get was a crock pot. Cooking a small roast will have me set for dinners for a week or 3.
I am guilty of eating out/eating fast food more often than I should, mainly because of being lazy. I am trying to cook more and looking into trying to eat better, I'm getting fat. Sure, most apartments have a small kitchen, but it's still useful. |
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I prefer small kitchens where everything is in reach. I've been living in my office a lot, and only have a 1x4 working space with an electric pan, microwave, crockpot, small fridge/freezer, and paring knife but it works. Even cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner for six last year with the addition of a Nuwave oven. It's not the easel, it's the artist. |
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At any rate, they really are designed only to have the cook in there, nothing else. No director's chairs, no stools, and probably not even any trash or recycling cans. As for me, I am basically doing a complete teardown of the kitchen to studs and reinstalling new flooring, cabinets, lighting and moving a few appliances around to better take advantage of the "triangle" setup. I do not have an option to replace a wall with an island but those are the breaks. Good luck! Mrs Bill and I embarked on a similar adventure exactly one year ago this week. Some shots of how it turned out: 
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I got to the point where I could cook four-course meals in our old apartment kitchen. It just takes practice and experimentation... something most people don't want to spend. +1 I have little counter space in my kitchen (not counting the breakfast bar that divides it from living room). I was willing to go without a microwave to have more counter space. And not being able to nuke stuff means I eat better than I would otherwise. I love to cook and do it frequently, regardless of my small kitchen. You learn to adapt, like using a large cutting board placed over the sink to give you a bit more room. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Quoted: Nobody cooks anymore? The fuck? You should see some of the chef kitchens I have seen in people houses. Heck most people design their house around the kitchen now a-days. The kitchen is being used more than ever.Quoted: Nobody cooks anymore. Its regional and making a come back. We cook all the time. We don't like prepared food or fast food for our son so we try to produce damned near everything from the basics. |
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I'm a pretty avid cook. I used to have an apartment with the breakfast bar. Kind of fun cooking for your guests and being able to see them. I kind of like the small kitchen style I have. It forces you to be effiecient. I see some of these monster kitchens with the island and everything and I wonder who would need a separate faucet for just chopping vegatables. And what's with the warming drawer? More trouble then it looks if you ask me.
I used to have a tiny kitchen that wrapped around you. You basically pivoted from sink to counter to fridge to stove. You could whip around pretty good in there. |
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We have a large kitchen. Last night I prepared homemade beer bread from scratch and potato leek soup from scratch as well. I also sliced some romain lettuce for salad. My wife made homemade Cesar dressing. We used store bought croutons. I cannot wait for lunch leftover beer bread sammiches.
You get out of cooking what you put into it. Well, I was back in the kitchen tonight, doing more washing, and thinking, "Maybe that's one of the stressors of my life, that I never have breakfast," and was thinking about trying my hand at cooking scrambled eggs. The frying pan was clean, the mixing bowl the next to be washed, I had the recipe, salt, butter. I was really getting into the mood to try it until I remembered.........................no eggs. I had planned to buy some yesterday morning, but after errands, I decided to put off buying them until I had a recipe to actually do. It's kinda hard to get something out cooking some things when you can't put the basic things into them, doncha know? As it was, I had a coffee mug of cold cereal in milk, followed by OJ. Quoted:
One thing that you might want to consider is to knock down a wall and put an island in its place......... Thank you for the suggestion, I know you really mean well, but............................my apartment landlords might take exception to that. Quoted:
For me it was Steaks/Burgers. 20$ for dinner that I could make for 4$ and taste better and not deal with people is a win for me. However without a dishwasher I will not cook at all. I was taught that a restaurant was at least a 3X markup vs what it would cost one to make at home. Further, for me, there is another reason to cook at home. I don't drink and drive and all so often, if I go out to eat, I'm the only one driving my car. As far as the dishwasher, "you're looking at it". I've had poor luck with the machines over the past score, I need to get maintainance in to repair it, but it has been one of those things where I get use to not having it.....and then when it does work, I'm very glad to have it back and wonder why I didn't get them in there sooner. Though, there is one thing to doing dishes. ONCE I actually start doing them, I find it relaxing, settling. It's a chore, yes, but to me, it is like cleaning guns. It clears the mind and it is doing something that reflects what one is in life. Quoted:
Youve described every "run of the mill" kitchen. Depending on your area- apartments are usually geared more towards younger adults and much older adults- both whom might not cook very often, and if they do they arent playing "iron chef". I never felt them to be discourageing or small to cook in and id rather have more room elsewhere instead of being hogged up by the kitchen. IMO a more stupid waste of space are the massive kitchens in McMansions which are never used because the owners eat out 99% of the time. Cooking is a dying art but not because of ecnomoical apartment kitchens. You should see kitchens...well...in every country but the US. In places like Europe and the rest of the Americas the kitchens are microscopic. Hard to say. It is a college region so most of the complexes around here are like that. Newer, wonderful pools, game and exercise rooms, porches, etc.. Mine isn't. Older in construction, not as many frills, population varies. Just as there college students catching the shuttle buses, so there are mothers out there with children for the school buses. As far as run of the mill, I would agree with that. For one thing, until I started this thread, I did not know that the term for my kind of kitchen was a "galley kitchen". I am not familiar with this "iron chef"; I suppose it must be a TV show but that doesn't make it wrong. Just as books influenced my cooking style, so did some TV shows....like "Three's Company" where Jack's bad check writing Uncle is in the kitchen fixing something wonderful. Or in movies, such as "NightFlyers" where the camera man really didn't get the job because of the title but because he can cook. Seems that if one wanted to be somewhere or to live another day, being able to cook was a good bargaining chip...at least in fiction. Microscopic, huh? A girlfriend spent a year in Japan and those pictures were of a small kitchen.....but I thought it was just because it was Japan. Quoted:
I'm in my first apartment with a tiny kitchen. Slowly but surely teaching myself how to cook. One of the most useful tools I made sure to get was a crock pot. Cooking a small roast will have me set for dinners for a week or 3. I am guilty of eating out/eating fast food more often than I should, mainly because of being lazy. I am trying to cook more and looking into trying to eat better, I'm getting fat. Sure, most apartments have a small kitchen, but it's still useful. One can still get fat cooking at home. For one thing, there is no restriction for deciding one wants something more off the menu and going back to the kitchen. Me, a further thing I am trying to do is move more of my meals out of the kitchen to the dining room table, a proper setting. To me, it's a way to reduce stress, but the plan does have its limitations. The dining room is just a nook and it's really not in sight of the TV. It's okay if I want to listen to music or read but for the TV, I'd need a "repeater". I might also want to think about curtains for my ballet barre mirror since that's on the wall that faces into the nook and now that I think about it, watching myself eat doesn't really thrill me. Small kitchen, small apartment. Quoted:
My house is 70 years old. I'm willing to bet that my kichen is smaller than yours. We still make it work and I can cook like a champion. People overexaggerate about what they really need. No bets, but it is a small kitchen so if yours is smaller, you have my sympathies. What would I like? What have I wanted in the past but didn't get because of the room issue? Room for a small chest freezer, room for a standing 40 bottle wine rack. More drawers though as I said yesterday, that might be solved by better utilizing the four I have. I lost one drawer to a suggestion of Mom's when I moved in, to make that my emergency drawer (flashlights, chemlights, batteries, matches, buck knives, sterno, etc..) but in a small apartment, maybe that's not such a great notion for that but instead, maybe a bugout daypack somewhere. Room for the trash can, room for the cats' water and food, more floor space so when the kitten entwines herself around my ankles, I am not ready to fall because I have to swivel instead of stepping, and real room for the tall director's chair so I can pick up the kitten and put her on that instead....not that she will probably stay. My available width floor space is about half of this. Quoted:
I'm a pretty avid cook. I used to have an apartment with the breakfast bar. Kind of fun cooking for your guests and being able to see them. I kind of like the small kitchen style I have. It forces you to be effiecient. I see some of these monster kitchens with the island and everything and I wonder who would need a separate faucet for just chopping vegatables. And what's with the warming drawer? More trouble then it looks if you ask me. I used to have a tiny kitchen that wrapped around you. You basically pivoted from sink to counter to fridge to stove. You could whip around pretty good in there. Haven't cooked for guests in a long time. While I might dream of it, being Charmed oriented as I am, it's just that. When I did, it was a pizza from scratch for another diver after a day of diving. At a pot luck in a prof's house one year, I came in ready to make fondue. Well, the fondue turned out okay, but I spent all my time in the kitchen and not socializing. Learning from that, the next year I brought in a bin of spaghetti and socialized a bit more. _______________________________________________________________________ ("Well, old man, if you are going to spend the rest of your life here, you better be able to do something useful."––Cortez "Oh, Senor, I can cook!"––Artemis Gordon disguised as the damsel in distress father "No doubt dishes seasoned heavily with chili powder." "Oh, no, Senor! I know of several French recipes!", (w,stte), The Wild Wild West, "The Night of the Spanish Curse") |
| We call them galley kitchens here. Most of them have a wall opening into a dinning area or living room area. The setup never bothered me when I was an apartment dweller and yes, I cooked all the time as it's another hobby of mine. As for company, as I said, mine always had the wall opening (4 different ones, same basic design) and I would set up my bar area on the other side of it. I kinda preferred just myself in the kitchen as I could do my thing without side stepping people and still carry on with the conversations. I guess it's what you do with what you have. |
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Lived in an apartment with a galley kitchens in the youth of my marriage. Never again not with as much time as I spend in my kitchen I will never go back. At the risk of potentially id'ing myself as a well on the way, always living in an apartment, cat lady type....... .......what's your kitchen like now, who cooks in your marriage (or who cooks more), and what were the qualities that made an apartment kitchen a no way back option? ___________________________________________________________________________ ("Does it do anything else?"––M after being introduced to 007's espresso maker in the latter's kitchen, (w,stte), "LALD") |
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I cook in my marriage. I am a male, I have been married to my wife for ten years. She is a pediatrician. I am a construction worker that works about 12 to 15 days a month. The days i play stay at home husband i clean the house and cook my wife the best meals i can. I go the "whole nine yards" I prefer an open kitchen that has a movable island . I am fortunate enough to have been able to have "married up". My wife is the primary monetary earner in our house hold. I take care of the other primary duties in our marriage . I-E i keep the house clean, cook her dinner and have it done when she walks in the door. I enjoy having my wife walk in from a hard days work and laying out a spread. This may not work for all men out there but for our family it works out quite well.
My kitchen is larger than our dining room. Vast open area with minimal clutter. While possible to work within the means of a galley kitchen i would never go back to it since i have been blessed with cooking in a large spacious kitchen. |
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I cook in my marriage. I am a male, I have been married to my wife for ten years. She is a pediatrician. I am a construction worker that works about 12 to 15 days a month. The days i play stay at home husband i clean the house and cook my wife the best meals i can. I go the "whole nine yards" I prefer an open kitchen that has a movable island . I am fortunate enough to have been able to have "married up". My wife is the primary monetary earner in our house hold. I take care of the other primary duties in our marriage . I-E i keep the house clean, cook her dinner and have it done when she walks in the door. I enjoy having my wife walk in from a hard days work and laying out a spread. This may not work for all men out there but for our family it works out quite well. My kitchen is larger than our dining room. Vast open area with minimal clutter. While possible to work within the means of a galley kitchen i would never go back to it since i have been blessed with cooking in a large spacious kitchen. W O W..........................................I think at this point I'm suppose to ask if you have an unmarried brother...................... Sounds like Hearst Castle. ______________________________________________________________ (Phoebe is trying to convince Prue not to go away with Andy for the weekend, "Plus, you need a week to prepare for a weekend away. I mean, there’s lingerie shopping, waxing, manicure, pedicure. I mean, it’s basically a full time job and you’ve already got one. So you’ll never be ready, not even if you started packing this second." "Wow.......,"––Piper, (w,stte), Charmed "Dead Man Dating") |
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One thing that you might want to consider is to knock down a wall and put an island in its place......... Thank you for the suggestion, I know you really mean well, but............................my apartment landlords might take exception to that. No problem. Some landlords are extremely permissive when it comes to alterations, so you never know. The big management companies will automatically say "no" to any alteration but smaller landlords can sometimes appreciate that some alterations can add value to their rental property. If the kitchen is as tight as you say, adding a pass through or knocking down a wall for an island can really benefit a rental unit. After all, common wisdom says that you get the most bang for your buck upgrading the "rooms with water" (i.e. kitchens and bathrooms). But if they say no, the answer is no. 
I am no home designer but if you are faced with a small kitchen that cannot be structurally changed then I would suggest making another room in your place the focal point instead of the kitchen. You can then add features to your kitchen to open up the space visually –– this creates the perception of more space. Lighter colored walls, cabinets and flooring will help. The biggest improvement to increase the perception of space I have found is to add lighting. Not just more lighting overhead, but consider work area lighting and under-counter lighting. These are minor alterations that might be done without intervention from your landlord. I just finished a master bathroom remodel in my place and the place was extremely small so we were looking to squeeze as much as possible out of the space. We even knocked down one wall to gain a grand total of six inches in the tile shower stall. We replaced the overhead vent fan with one that had two light bulbs to add lighting; one is a standard light for adding more light to the shower stall but the other is a small wattage nightlight that you can use to prevent your eyes from being blasted if you have to visit the john in the middle of the night. Adding the overhead vent light made a huge difference in a previously cramped bathroom. The same effect can be had with kitchen lighting and as I am just starting the kitchen renovation I am getting recessed lighting and under-counter lighting to try and open up my tiny kichen.
As an aside, have a friend who is a big wine fanatic so he too wanted a dedicated wine fridge in his tiny kitchen but it was not possible so he moved it outside to the living room, and he made the living room their focal point (main gathering area) instead of the kitchen. A wine fridge is a luxury so you have to consider whether you can take up valuable space in your already-tiny kitchen to accommodate it. Better to use your limited space with something else and move the wine fridge to your new gathering area. |
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Good luck! Mrs Bill and I embarked on a similar adventure exactly one year ago this week. Very cool! I am thinking of a similar setup with the tile floor. I am currently sitting on three layers of ugly vinyl tile –– the previous owners decided to save time by piling up layers of tile upon each other instead of removing the old flooring.  I want something low maintenance so I'm probably going with something similar to yours ... darker tile with darker grout so I don't have to scrub as much, with lighter colored cabinets and stainless appliances.
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We wanted a 4-bed, 2-bath kitchen. At least 70% of the houses we looked at, we immediately ruled out because the kitchen was too small. The house we chose has a kitchen a little smaller than we'd wanted, but we loved everything else so much that we could deal with it. I love the farmhouse-style kitchen with the big dining table in the room. Those are rare as hens' teeth in modern houses. It was even worse when we looked at apartments. We wound up renting a house. |
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My house is 70 years old. I'm willing to bet that my kichen is smaller than yours. We still make it work and I can cook like a champion. People overexaggerate about what they really need. My house is over 70 years old too,my kitchen is a little bigger though. I think the idea of entertaining in a large kitcen is a fairly new one. In the past kitchens were made for 1-2 people to cook in and cook only,extra people were in the dining or living room until the food was served. They were also designed by guys who probably couldn't make a grilled cheese never mind think about what goes into making a huge meal and how the space is used while doing so. |
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Good luck! Mrs Bill and I embarked on a similar adventure exactly one year ago this week. Very cool! I am thinking of a similar setup with the tile floor. I am currently sitting on three layers of ugly vinyl tile –– the previous owners decided to save time by piling up layers of tile upon each other instead of removing the old flooring. I want something low maintenance so I'm probably going with something similar to yours ... darker tile with darker grout so I don't have to scrub as much, with lighter colored cabinets and stainless appliances.Here's a better shot of the floor. 
The tile is Lea Ceramiche "Tropical Storm" It's slightly darker than that in real life. The flash washed it out a bit in that picture. We originally weren't going to go with stainless appliances. But the refrigerator we decided we wanted is only available in stainless, so we changed and went stainless for everything. |