Update with photos: What you can fit into a small kitchen

I am re-posting this, but with photos of the ‘innards’ of the kitchen.  Scroll to the bottom if you want to skip it.

Here is my stunningly gorgeous kitchen (yes, I am in LOVE). This post is on what I have behind my six cabinet doors.

 

I cook every day, we prepare three meals a day, albeit simple meals, but prepared nonetheless. We also have company almost every weekend, and I cook for them as well. I have prepared meals for up to 70 people in this small kitchen! For me, I have my favorite items that I use daily, like this vegetable chopper (click images to find one for you):

CANNOT do without this.

I also have:

• six skillets, four cast iron, and two Teflon coated.
• two large soup pots
• two different sized crock pots (one large, one small).
• A large casserole dish I recently acquired from my mother-in-law (all stained and very used, I love thinking how she made meals in it for her family).
• a Jack LaLanne juicer – enormous, but I use it every day
• about thirty pieces of Tupperware – I love their Modular Mates for sugar, flour, cornmeal, oatmeal and beans. These are essential to my having an organized kitchen

• We have two different sized sauce pans
• AND, an absolute MUST for me….. two Mirrow pressure cookers like this:

I learned to use these in South America, they are the Ecuadoran woman's equivalent to a microwave, only MUCH better.

Back to the bullets…..

• I have a basket full of strange gadgets that I never use, like egg slicers and weird peelers, but I can't part with them.
• a cutting board
• a small drawer full of ladles, spoons, and knives. I actually have four good knives
• Three good mixing bowls of different sizes.
• a citrus juicer

My splurge? TWO sets of beautiful dishes! I know! it is crazy! My Mother-in-law gave me her Franciscan Apple Dishes that she had collecting from the '40's, There are 12 place settings plus bowls and other beautiful matching pieces, I use them every day.

My mother gave me her set of beautiful blue and white china. I can't get rid of either! This set is used on special occasions, there are only 8 settings, along with the matching tureens, cake stand, and other pieces.

I just keep them very well organized, and make sure the cabinet is attached very securely to the wall :)

• Also I have a blender, and a mixer. I use them rarely, well, maybe once or twice a month.
• I have FOUR glass baking dishes – I forgot I recently added two more for Natto making : )
• two cookie pans
• two cupcake pans - I cannot remember the word for these.

Here it is, in all it’s glory!  These pictures have not been photoshopped, they are pure, untouched reality – if you look closely you may see crumbs in the silverware organizer (ok – how do they get there?  It is not like I rake the food off the table and PUT them there).

A close-up of that basket in the pantry:

Under the sink – I am not that organized, I just get my exercise by stacking and un-stacking.

Over the kitchen sink.  These cabinets must weigh a hundred lbs.……..very securely screwed to the wall : )

My spices and baking goods, above the stove.  I am still trying to figure out a system for this area….any suggestions?

And lastly, I have these two baskets I use as ‘overflow storage for the serving bowls, platters, bone dishes, and other items that match my mother-in-law’s dishes (they will always be hers, I am just taking care of them).  It may not be the best way to DISPLAY them, but it gets the job done.

Oh, that is funny.  The cheese grater looks like it has cheese hanging off of it.  Those are particles of soap – I use it for soap grating when I make laundry detergent : )

So, there you have it. I love knowing what I own. Every piece is special.

What can you fit in a small Kitchen?

Here is my stunningly gorgeous kitchen (yes, I am in LOVE).  This post is on what I have behind my six cabinet doors.

I must mention something funny here.  Someone wrote me and said that I am putting my family in jeopardy by not having enough food on hand.  I will do a post on that at a later date  

I cook every day, we prepare three meals a day, albeit simple meals, but prepared nonetheless.  We also have company almost every weekend, and I cook for them as well.  I have prepared meals for up to 70 people in this small kitchen!  For me, I have my favorite items that I use daily, like this vegetable chopper (click images to find one for you):

CANNOT do without this.

I also have:

• six skillets, four cast iron, and two Teflon coated. 
• two large soup pots
• two different sized crock pots (one large, one small). 
• A large casserole dish I recently acquired from my mother-in-law (all stained and very used, I love thinking how she made meals in it for her family). 
• a Jack LaLanne juicer – enormous, but I use it every day
• about thirty pieces of Tupperware – I love their Modular Mates for sugar, flour, cornmeal, oatmeal and beans.  These are essential to my having an organized kitchen

• We have two different sized sauce pans
• AND, an absolute MUST for me….. two Mirrow pressure cookers like this:

I learned to use these in South America, they are the Ecuadoran woman's equivalent to a microwave, only MUCH better. 

Back to the bullets…..

• I have a basket full of strange gadgets that I never use, like egg slicers and weird peelers, but I can't part with them. 
• a cutting board
• a small drawer full of ladles, spoons, and knives.  I actually have four good knives
• Three good mixing bowls of different sizes. 

My splurge?  TWO sets of beautiful dishes!  I know!  it is crazy!  My Mother-in-law gave me her Franciscan Apple Dishes that she had collecting from the '40's,  There are 12 place settings plus bowls and other beautiful matching pieces, I use them every day. 

My mother gave me her set of beautiful blue and white china.  I can't get rid of either!  This set is used on special occasions, there are only 8 settings, along with the matching tureens, cake stand, and other pieces.

I just keep them very well organized, and make sure the cabinet is attached very securely to the wall :) 

• Also I have a blender, and a mixer.  I use them rarely, well, maybe once or twice a month. 
• I have a couple of glass baking dishes
• two cookie pans
• two cupcake pans - I cannot remember the word for these. 

So, there you have it.  I love knowing what I own.  Every piece is special.

Another *Faircompanies Video–thank you Kirsten!

 

Not everyone has to live small, it is a mindset:

Closet Redux

Well, I just cannot get around to the pallet deck…..it is finished, I am just too picky about photos, I want to ‘landscape’ it before I show you : )

So, I bring you a closet upgrade.  As you know, if you have ever been camping in an rv, space is a precious commodity.  Our bathroom/closet thing we had going on just wasn’t working for us.  So, we reconfigured it.  This was before:

Just looking at it gives me hives.  It was about 7 x 4, a nice size, but all three of us shared it.

This is his ‘before’, ‘builder grade’, ladder, now outside in the yard.   It looks like Lowe’s exploded smack dab in the middle of living room, I was in full blown project mode.

Here is a video after we closed of a small section for the bathroom stall, in between our makeover:

Before the makeover

And now:

After

Whew. Now I have to get the Arctic White Glidden paint out of my hair

We have JUST what we need.  What do you need?

Needs vs Wants; I WANT 3 acres in the country, I only NEED a tiny space for my house, a garden, and some flowers.

This is when to buck conventional wisdom.  There are a lot of great books on being mortgage free.  “Buy the best land possible with the least amount of money” is some advice often given.  If you search the phrase “When NOT to buy land” or something similar, your effort would result fruitless.  So I am writing the first article on the web EVER about when NOT to buy land. *disclaimer….I often exaggerate.

When we decided to get our tiny house, the first questions asked was “Where ya gonna put it"?”.  Good question.  I thought I wanted land.  My own land.  You are supposed to own land.  So off we went to look.  Here I what I found:

In our area, where I WANT TO LIVE, land is going for $15,000 to $30,000 an acre!  Thank you Wal-Mart.  20 years ago my parents bought land for $500 an acre, 10 acres total.  That land just sold for $15,000 an acre. 

Our county requires a minimum of three acres per house if you want to build in the country.

To build in the country, often there is no access to water, and you must dig a well.  My parents water well cost them $10,000.  Here is a good article I read on calculating the cost of  digging a water well:  Digging a Well, What You Need To Know

Sometimes the land does not perk.  If you are fortunate, and it does, you have to put in the septic tank.  This will cost between $3,000 to $7,000.

So here is the breakdown:

• $40,000 minimum for land
• $4,500 for septic tank
• $6,500 for water
• Electric hookup, this will vary depending on how far in you want your house.  Up to $75.00 linear foot.
• Property taxes.  We paid $960 a year three years ago on a 2,000 square foot home. 
• Factor into all this our ages.  My husband is 60, I am 45.  I do not need land, I need savings.  My son needs savings for his education.
• These obstacles are not insurmountable, it is just that I do not want to exert that much effort when my real goal is to TRAVEL! 

Now, this is what it ‘costs’ us to rent:

• $125.00 a month.  In the summer we rent for free, since the land we rent has a good garden plot, we are able to grow our own vegetables, saving at least that amount per month.  So, in reality, we only pay about $80.00 per month, (possibly less) for space to park our home. 
• The next reason we do not own land is freedom.  For this reason alone many people rent.  You can pick up and go, not have to deal with selling your land.  If I leave after three years (which I may.  My ageing mother-in-law may need help, we have freedom to go), I only have ‘invested’ $3,000.  If I sell my house and land (supposing I purchased), I will likely have to pay that much in closing costs and fees.
• Property taxes – $0.00 Just because that is the way it is.  The savings on property tax alone would pay a significant part of our rent.
• Low overhead for our business.  I split the rent between our business and our personal expenses.   How many business rent a space for $40.00 a month?

So, this is where I live: