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As we all know, the kitchen is really the heart of the home, and unfortunately it’s also the room that has the most, um, stuff, in it. Stuff isn’t great in a small home, so designing a kitchen that is attractive, functional, and small is always a challenge. I find it difficult to pick out appliances, cupboards, countertops and accessories individually, I get overwhelmed, so I’m loving that more companies are designing entire kitchens that come as a package with everything thought out in detail.

The Touch Tatoo Kitchen from TM Italia, one of my favorite companies, is compact, functional, and stylishly modern. When closed, everything is hidden in compartments. Cabinets and drawers open electronically with just a touch, and doors disappear so they aren’t in the way, important in a small house. The outside and inside are available in different colors so you can customize the kitchen to your decor.

Building a tiny house for a family is a challenge when it comes to having enough room for food. Currently we have 2 fridge/freezer combinations in our main house, and a single side-by-side in the cottage. I don’t like side-by-sides because there is never enough room for large trays, we have a lot of company and buy in bulk since we have 4 kids. While I love the idea of the drawer fridge, I still wonder where we would put the milk, large juice containers, pitchers, etc.

The corner fridge by Norcool is ingenious for two reasons. The first is that it’s HUGE without taking up a lot of floor space. The inside is the size of 4 normal refrigerators, amazing. The second reason I love the Norcool is that it takes advantage of the dead corner design issue that occurs in kitchens all across America. No more lazy susans, cabinets at weird angles, or dead space that can’t be used at all. Now small kitchens can handle big appetites!

I’m hungry, so let’s talk kitchens! I’m not the cook in the family, but I definitely have final say on what is included in the kitchen since I clean it, it’s a rule. There are so many cool things I can’t wait to show you, but unfortunately you can’t include all of them in one kitchen, so I think it’s important to start with an overall kitchen design and then fit everything into it. (Or start with one way cool appliance and build your kitchen around that, but I digress.)

This compact kitchen from TM Italia (Warning, site plays pseudo porn music!) keeps the lines clean, has a lot of storage which is important when building a tiny house for a family, and I love that it has a built in breakfast bar, because I’ve been toying with the idea of not having a dining table at all, just a built in. I love the curves, especially the end cabinet, I think it could work even with a doorway right there. The open cubes would be great for displaying beautiful dishes or a glass bottle collection, or cookbooks if that’s your thing.

Remember living with just a hot plate during college? Well get ready to move on up in your tiny house with this mini kitchen designed by Russell Hobbs.

The Russell Hobbs 13824 Mini Kitchen is a multi-function electric compact cooker, with hotplates for grilling, roasting, baking, frying and boiling. The fan-assisted oven has a good size 26L capacity, and is thermostatically controlled. There are 2 hotplates on top – one large (1kW), one medium (0.7kW) – which you can use at the same time as the oven. The interior of the 13824 is self cleaning, and there’s a main oven light. The Mini Kitchen is also supplied with a baking tray and grill rack with handle.

Brilliant idea for small spaces! I love the idea of a grill rack because I can’t really function a real grill, I know, sad. The mini kitchen is available online from England, not sure what type of outlet it needs, but maybe someone designs something similar in the U.S., I’m on the lookout!

When I look at our two kitchens right now I realize how much space we waste, especially in our refrigerator. First, I need to get control of my bottled water habit, I know, yes, we have a filter, but dammit, I love bottled water. Ahem. Anyway, our fridge rarely has a lot of food in it because we have to shop weekly due to switching houses every week, and of course wanting to buy fresh fruits, veggies and meats and not eat a lot of prepared foods. Right now we have a freezer that is a drawer and I think it works really well, so I’m leaning towards a kitchen based on drawers in our tiny house. I think it’s a better use of space and actually better for energy costs.

So far I’m loving this 3 drawer fridge from Summit. It’s compact, stainless which I adore, and with 3 drawers I think you would avoid the problem of having to really dig for things as you could separate your produce by having one drawer for fruits/veggies, one for meats/cheeses and one for condiments and other foods. I also love the bars because we have a fight in our house over where the tea towel hangs! I still haven’t figured out where the milk container goes though, hmmmm.

It’s also available at one of my favorite small appliance websites with easy online ordering, which makes it perfect: Summit 3 Drawer Fridge with Towelbar Handles