The Three-Step Kitchen

Our casita has a three-step kitchen. As I enter the kitchen area, my first step takes me to the refrigerator on my right. The second step takes me to the stove, and the third step takes me to the sink.

If I turn to my left, there’s the kitchen peninsula where I prepare and serve food to the dining table beyond.

Our Kansas kitchen is so big that I’ve worn a path around its wooden floor. There are cabinets and countertops aplenty for various small appliances, baking pans, pots and skillets of all sizes, supplies of ingredients, and utensils for every purpose, as well as plenty of table service pieces. I also keep seldom-used things such as a pressure canner on a shelf in the basement. The basement also is home to our big freezer and five long shelves we use as a pantry. Baskets of potatoes, sweet potatoes, shallots, and garlic also reside there.

The Kansas kitchen where I have cooked for forty years would hold four of our casita’s kitchens. Instead of having basement storage galore I now have a tiny shed attached to the casita, that already holds a dog food tin and a recycling tub.

Clearly I would have to dramatically change my cooking routines. This kitchen would have to be minimal and streamlined but also sufficient to prepare all the foods we love.

I worked out a couple of guiding principles for equipping this tiny kitchen.

1. Everything should be as small as feasible.
2. When possible, equipment should serve more than one purpose.

 Then I began to list the things I could not do without. (That was easier than starting from what I’m accustomed to.) Surprisingly, this approach is working out pretty well. For example, I bought one medium-size stainless steel bowl that serves several purposes. It makes a decent salad bowl, I can mix granola in it, and it is large enough for raising bread dough. I can even use it as a dish pan if I won’t want to fill the sink for a big dish-washing. 

I'm sure you noticed there's no dishwasher. We couldn't use one anyway, because we have only six plates, eight soup/cereal bowls, two serving bowls, and a 24-piece set of flatware. We have one-, two-, and 3-quart saucepans, a 10-inch iron skillet, a plastic mixing bowl, a 9”x13” and an 8”-square baking pan, 2 bread pans, 1 set of measuring cups, four spatulas (too many), wine opener, wooden spoon, soup ladle, turning spatula, some knives (too many, really), and a few cooking staples such as flours, grains, beans, and dried fruit. A stand mixer, though large, is essential for baking and well worth the space it takes up.

Luckily for me, Blair and Grant bought a small freezer and I can store some supplies there. The freezer will quickly pay for itself through our stocking up when frequently used things, such as coffee, are on sale.

The best part of a tiny kitchen is its convenience. Everything is close at hand. The small space also aids in character development for it demands tidiness, something I am belatedly and reluctantly learning.

Copyright 2016 by Shirley Domer