notes from our kitchen table
DESCRIPTION
The evolution of our Nano Workshop KitchenTRANSCRIPT
Notes from our Kitchen Table. A Picture Story
Imagine you’d gone and bought yourself a kitchen like this.
All of 4.6 m2…
How would you set about making the most of a tiny space?
What would you want to eat in it?
Spring..
Summer..
Autumn..
And winter?
How would you want to cook?
How many tools would you need?
What about those pesky appliances?
And just to double check, can you actually cook, or are you better off eating out?
Or maybe even takeaways?
Well having spent many an hour thinking about all that, here goes….
But hang on, isn’t that too much stuff?
This seems to be about right..
Specification:
Flooring Grey porcelain floor tiles 300x300mm
Walls Tiles – white gloss 600x300mm Paint – white kitchens paint emulsion
Kitchen worktop Made to measure stainless steel worktop & sink, with inset gas two ring hob935x800mm
Shelves Ikea Grundtal stainless steel wall shelving units, modified / simplified to fit space.950x240mm
Rails & hooks Ikea Grundtal stainless steel rails, modified to fit space and make more elegant810mmIkea Grundtal S-hooks x15
Magnetic knife rack Ikea Grudtal magnetic knife rack 400mmExtractor Falmec 900mm wide Tap Armatura HarmonicOven Solac HO6019 ex display modelHob Whirlpool AKT 301 IXFridge MPM 46-CJ-02 – wheels added to base
500x430x470mmWashing Machine Zanussi ZWO 3101Under sink trolley Packing crate - wheels added to base
600x360x350mmKitchen ‘door’ Marine ply wood
930x810x16mmOiled with white Osmo Hard Wax Oil
Wooden trolley Habitat style beech trolley on wheels870x750x560mmPurchased second hand
Chairs Folding wooden chairsPurchased second hand
‘Secret’ Shelves Hidden in nook above wooden trolley, despite slope of the roof, space for four narrow shelvesPlywood 650x250mmOiled with Osmo Hard Wax Oil
Budget (Second fix):
£ equivalentFlooring 40Wall tiles & adhesives 71Wall paint – approx 11Stainless steel worktop 386Shelving & rails 90Tap & sink fixtures 71Extractor 91Gas hob 95Oven 21Fridge 87Washing Machine 295Wooden trolley 62Kitchen ‘door’ & fixtures 32Chairs 4Secret shelves 14Lighting 28Total £1398
List of utensils:
Plates x 2Small Duralex bowls x 3Large Duralex bowl Duralex Glasses x 2Insulated stainless steel mug
Forks x 2Desert spoons x 2 Teaspoon x 1Prestige paring knife Global 7” vegetable knife Whetstone and honeWooden spoons x 2 Wooden masherWooden spatula
KettleCoffee grinder Coffee sievePestle & MortarEnamel milk jugChinese Zhang Xiaoquan scissors
Chopping board Aluminium pan 24cmAluminium pan lid / frying panPyrex glass pan lidCast iron frying panStainless steel steamerSilicone pot grabsGlass storage jars large x 6, small x 6
Worksurf
Worksurface area:
Wooden trolley: 750x560mm = 0.42 m2
Stainless steel worktop: 939x800mm (minus sink & hob) = 0.48 m2
Total worksurface area = 0.9 m2
Storage area and volume:
Wooden trolley – 2 shelves: 2 x (720x420) = 0.6 m2 x 280 = 0.17 m3
Stainless steel - 2 shelves: 2 x (950x240) = 0.46 m2 x 300 = 0.14 m3
Hanging rails – 2 rails: 2 x (810x370) = 0.6 m2 x 100 = 0.06 m3
Under shelf hanging area: 950x300 = 0.29 m2 x 120 = 0.03 m3
Grey under-sink crate: 560x350 = 0.2 m2 x 340 = 0.07 m3
Fridge: (190x350)+(300x350) = 0.77 m2 x 150 = 0.12 m3
‘Secret shelves’: 4 x (650x240) = 0.62 m2 x 190 = 0.12 m3
Total Storage Area: = 3.5m2
Total Storage Volume: = 0.71m3
Well it work’s for us….
How so?
What did we want from our kitchen? Simple, healthy food, easily prepared in a functional, easy-to-clean kitchen.
And where is this kitchen?In a city centre, round the corner from an outdoor market, an indoor market, several mid-size supermarkets, and numerous convenience stores.
What do we eat?Lots of fruit and veg! Grains and oats, some diary and fish every now and again.
So how does it work?
Just in time Morning shopping at the market to get what’s fresh. Apart from oodles of compost, there’s no waste. Food doesn’t have time to go off, and any odd carrots lurking about in the basket still meet their fate.
Everything to handLike a workshop, all the tools are to hand, quick to grab and have their own special place.
Work surface at the readyYou can’t put the trolley away with stuff on it! So no junk builds up on our work surface – need to chop some veg, just pull and go.
Dishes always cleanIf you want a plate to eat off, you’ve only got one – so it better be clean. Washing up doesn’tfeel like a hassle – only a few things – quick and easy to do.
Easy to cleanWho dusts the back of their fridge? We do! We’re not obsessed – far from it – it’s just easy to do. Washing the floor – roll out the fridge (on wheels), mop the tiles and hey, why not give the fridge a two second dust?
No smellsWith the kitchen acting like a fume cupboard and an extractor that pulls like a good-un, happily there are no lingering dinner smells in a small flat.
DurableSo far so good. The top quality stainless steel will probably outlast us.
Night nightWell, as the proud makers, we think our kitchen baby is beautiful. But shut the door, push the trolley in, and our kitchen is ‘at rest’, creating less visual noise in our small flat.
Sounds good. What doesn’t work?
Well we don’t bother having the fridge on – its noisy gurgles and non stop need for electricaljuice are rather antisocial. But happily our local shops keep yogurt and the odd pint of milk chilled for us, and we do live in a culture where you can buy half a packet of butter. (The localshop doesn’t mind cutting a pack in half for you!) Plus in winter the window sill is cold enough to keep the yogurt happy. The oven seems more hassle than it’s worth - nothing fancy, it doesn’t have much insulation. Besides, we don’t bake much. How do you bake a slice of cake? A whole one and we’d only eat it!
Given our time again, we’d try having a powerful solo gas hob, one not integrated into the stainless worktop, but rather with its own stand that can be hung out the way.
But what about entertaining?
Well to have dinner parties, you need people to come round. Who knows why exactly, but in our kitchen’s place of residence that doesn’t seem to be the done thing. People socialise in other ways. But for a cuppa, some nibbles, an afternoon chat – no problem. We have a ‘secret cupboard’ – shhh… Above the trolley, inside the little nook, despite the roof’s downward slant we have a few shelves put up. They take spare glasses, some jars, back up bags of oats and such like. The little nook also houses the world’s shallowest washing machine, all of 30cm deep, which keeps it tucked quietly away.
It might not work for everyone, but our workshop kitchen works for us. We popped a laptop on the trolley and it even put together this story!
Further reading:
The Cooked Kitchen: A Poetical Analysis, by EOOS (Author), G. Eder (Designer), R. Beier (Designer), M. Neundörfer (Designer), 21 April 2008http://www.eoos.com/cms/?id=72
Bulthaup Kitchen – B2 Kitchen workshop modelDesigned following the poetical analysis by EOOShttp://www.en.bulthaup.com/#/07C4D6F93C654AE0C1257738003D58B3
Interactive display of Julia Child’s kitchen at the Smithsonian:http://amhistory.si.edu/juliachild/
Permanent camping:http://www.archdaily.com/339400/permanent-camping-casey-brown-architecture/
As part of the research process we were inspired by plenty of clever designers. Cllick on an image for referencs...
