Let me start this post by saying this... I don't cook. This is in no way the best kitchen set up out there, on the contrary, our kitchen is so minimal I'm not sure how functional it will be. Haha.. Before even starting the Tiny House, I had drawn kitchen designs and cabinet layout for what I think will be best for us in terms of storage. But, we got free kitchen cabinet doors and drawers so we use those instead and I threw all my drawings away.

And that's not the only changes we had along the way. As you see in the floor plan below, we're supposed to have the fridge beside the stairs, and build a floor to ceiling shallow pantry cabinet, hiding the fridge from the rest of the space.

LAYOUT

So this is the layout of the original plan. Plus I thought of having a full cabinet beside the counter to house microwave, convection oven, and a whole lot more of storage. But then the bf was not sold to this layout since it would make our small space, smaller, blocking the stair wall and the crystal chandelier we're planning to install there.

He actually got a point. I was only thinking of maximizing storage since the space is small, but I'd love to have a full view of the chandelier and the gallery wall we'll install on the stair wall. Plus the space will feel so much larger without the big pantry storage blocking the view. So here's the revised plan...

Instead of placing the fridge and pantry beside the stairs, we're just putting another counter with drawers on the left, and a hidden side compartment for the microwave and oven. The fridge will go beside the long counter. Even with just the line drawings, you can see how much more spacious the kitchen feels.

Obviously, we loss tons of storage with this changes, and yes I'm planning to learn to cook eventually, but for now, I guess this will be enough. The bf does cook and he said this is enough so I believe him. Haha.. We'll have 6 drawers for pantry needs. One very long open shelf for plates. bowls, glasses, cups, sugar, coffee, tea, and other bottled stuff. 2 drawers for cooking pots / pans. Plan to have rod to hang cooking utensils and such. Also 3 other big drawers for misc items that I still have no idea what to fill with. Under the sink will be the trash, and the other half will house a water filter system. For now that's the plan, hoping that's more than enough for two people. Oh in case you're wondering where our stove will be, we'll be using induction stove. Originally, we're planning to have the counter built-in induction stove but apparently, those are VERY expensive.  So we'll just buy the induction cooker you place on top of the counter, much cheaper. Hehe.. Plus we can keep it in the drawer when not in use. I'll let you know how that we'll work out for us.

DESIGN

As far as the design, the only thing I knew from the start is that I wanted white subway tile. Ooohh subway tiles.... I know, too predictable. It's all the rage in kitchen design this days. But it has a certain charm. It's trendy now, yes. But it's also classic and vintage as well. I wanted something that I would like in the next 5 years, and a simple white subway tile is my best bet.

Since we've got one big element down, the other decision to make is the cabinet color. What color would the bf and I agree on? He doesn't like black for those, and both of us doesn't like white. We like green in relation to our navy walls, but what kind of green? Then I saw this image and knew it would be perfect. 

roomed

I'm talking about the wall color below the subway tile. It's a subtle green, and we both like it, so sold.

Here's the design element board for our kitchen. 

Since our third level is mostly dark with the brick and navy walls, we wanted this area to be bright and the white tile would do the trick. We're loving copper these days, so we'd love to incorporate it throughout the house. We'll try to paint the existing handle that came with our free cabinet doors (I'll share the "free" story some other time) a copper shade, and we'll install three copper lights above the floating shelf.

As for the fridge, originally, we're planning to just purchase any fridge since it will be hidden from view, but with the changes in layout plans, the fridge will be front and center so we wanted something special. We both love a retro looking fridge, and if budget weren't a factor, we'll probably go with a smeg. But the cost of that fridge is the cost of our entire third level so we'll have to find another option. We saw a nice looking vintage fridge but we have no idea how to make it work and oh my old fridge doesn't have much storage. They don't even have shelves on the door. So we'll try to look for any nice fridge that's not stainless, white or black. A great color would be nice but we'll see what we'll find.

This is the kitchen last week. All the cabinets are in place but still not painted and finish. Oh and we have floors! Yay! We'll of course, have a half-wall around the small cabinet on the left because obviously, it's weird to have a floating cabinet beside the stairs.

See how small our kitchen is? I'm now doubting our storage capacities.. haha.. We decided against upper cabinets just because we wanted the tiles to go up to the ceiling and we wanted a very open and airy feel. Down the road, maybe we'll install one, or we'll add some sort of storage beside the fridge, but for now we'll just try to enjoy the minimalism of this space. Ooh, we also had a niche shelves installed, as you can see on upper right of the counter. That would be where our cooking stuff will be (oils, spices, etc) so yeah I though about this a little.

So that is our kitchen. That's where I'll learn how to make food, that's where I'll learn to bake in our small convection oven, that's where I'll make smoothies and salads on days that I feel fat. Haha.. 

And because we're talking about kitchens, I'll leave you with a very non-related photo, the Tiny House at night.

Sometime soon, I'll be curling up on the sofa in that corner, either watching tv or staring at our subway tiles.