Reflections on minimalism --notes from the laundry room kitchen

13 years ago

with apologies to Mark Bittman. Attended a book signing a couple of months ago and took note when he said he had gotten rid of all his cookbooks because he didn't have space for them. We know it is a badge of honor with him to cook in a little NY apartment kitchen. I admit to the appeal of his asceticism, and even to some nostalgia for those simple grungy grad school digs.

But never thought to be back there. Shortly after we started our demo, came home to find DH in the basement laundry room completing the hook up of the gas rangetop that he had just taken out upstairs. I knew he would be making some kind of little cooking space down there to make his doggie burgers (for the dogs, trust me). But was surprised to find an entire "grad school grade" tiny kitchen -- shelves, bins, a counter, microwave, a drawer, the Breville countertop oven and of course the ancient laundry tubs for water. Two dorm fridges from my son's college days, plastered over with Moon Ska and Stratton stickers, topped by the big box of red wine with a spigot. Room to chop, room to assemble and even a table and chairs. I knew we were in for a long siege then.

The surprise is that it is kind of fun. Kind of. Like camping out. The dishwasher is sorely missed. But I am getting a big lesson (again) in what is really needed and what is not. Sometimes I have to dig through the packed boxes for things I really must have right now -- the Zyliss cheese grater, the mezzaluna and round chop bowl most recently. I had packed almost everything away not expecting to be doing any real cooking, not knowing what was coming.

This may get old quickly. But in the meantime we are eating well and my DH in his wisdom knew that it would be a whole lot less stressful for both of us to have this little kitchen. Oh, and it is even (mostly) white.

Delight in unexpected quarters. Meanwhile, upstairs . . . . .

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

sadiebrooklyn
13 years ago
I have had a very similar experience and likewise revelations after moving into the temporary apartment after our flood. We had no idea how long we would be out of our home, but the apt. we're renting is literally half the sq. ft. of what we were used to - so I directed the movers to send about half of my kitchen stuff into storage. I took the basics - dishes, all clad pots (my 6 le crueset dutch ovens and bakers went to storage) a few baking essentials. I sent my cuisinart into storage but took the blender, the hand mixer, the immersion blender and the panini grill.

After moving into the small apartment someone got me the book "Reducing your clutter with Feng Shui" as sort of a joke (since had reduced most of my clutter thanks to 80 thousand gallons of waters which washed thru my apt) but in one of the most memorable paragraphs the author suggests that you take the things you are having trouble deciding to get rid of in a box. Leave it for a month and at the end of the month - if you can't remember what you put in the box then get rid of it!

I feel that way about much of my kitchenware that went into storage!

what do I miss most? My cast iron skillet (why didn't I bring that with me?????) my all clad lasagna pan which I use for roasting vegetables alot. My two largest le crueset dutch ovens.

what could I live without?

my cuisinart!!!!!!

Between the hand mixer and immersion blender (and because I like chopping things by hand) I really feel like I don't need it!
plllog
13 years ago
Really?? I was just using a kitchen tool the other day (can't remember what just now) that I hadn't touched for years. I was thinking how glad I was to have it. I'm not a real gadget maven--I use an 8" chef's knife for a vast majority of everything--but for certain tasks it's just so great to have exactly the right thing.
Related Discussions
laundry room off kitchen--toilet?
Q
Comments (64)
The original poster and subsequent posters have all indicated, and we would all agree, that in a perfect world toilets would always be closeted and preferably somewhat remote from living spaces. When it comes to compromise, some are more amenable to suboptimal placement than others. To imply in anyway that such a compromise is "trailer trash" is unnecessarily controversial, whether it was overheard by random home buyers or not. And to make fun of the condition of someone's house, who was hardly doing a FKB reveal, seems unfair. The PO here had some unusual compromises as they expanded a 1904 farmhouse while preserving parts of it and complying with wetlands and zoning. I won't say what we paid for the house, but at the peak it appraised for $3 million. It is permanently sited, It does not have a hitch and is not modular. We own the home and also the land it sits on. ; ) The house had two powder rooms on the first floor. It also had his and his bathrooms, with one off either side of the MBR. However, it had a powder room in the kitchen. It appears i did not photograph it but, in the photo below, the doorknob would have been all the way to the right. You couldn't flip your omelette from the seat, but you could see if your tea had boiled. It, and all that you see, is gone. Bad decisions are zip-code-blind. PS The goofy staging is not mine, and neither is the leather armadillo.
...See More
any of you have laundry room off the kitchen area?
Q
Comments (37)
Thanks, justgotabme! I ran it by hubby and while he finally sees the merits of having the powder room close to the garage, he doesn't like that configuration. I'm wondering if we could take part of the pantry away (and half the closet--making it more of a broom storage) and put the powder room door where the current garage door is. The garage door would move to the side between the "mudroom" bench and bathroom door. Is that enough space to put in a more traditionally-styled powder room? While I'm drooling over the master closet space in your renovation, I think I'd still want an "entrance" of some sorts to the master--mostly to keep from coming down the stairs, straight into a wall. If we moved the powder room, I guess half the old one would go to master closet, half to hall closet. The other little coat closet could remain as the central place where the electronics stuff would go, OR, as a tiny nook of shelves in the closet between hanging clothes. You know, I never did think of a service door to the garage that came off the front porch! Thanks for the idea. I'll run it by the person who'd be using it most :-) But, I wonder how attractive that would look. And, if it has a window in it, visitors would see how messy it was....and going by our last garage, that's something to hide! I don't know what measurements are necessary in the laundry room--I just need it wide enough for the washer/dryer on one side, the door in the middle, and a regular-depth counter on the other side. Is there any "extra" room that you see in what the current one is? My copy isn't to a scale that's easily measured. A beginning copy from my builder was easy to read since 1/4" on the plan equaled 2' of floor space, but the one my printer prints out isn't. Thanks for all you've done, but please don't spend too much of your time on this....after all, we supposedly have someone hired (the builder's guy) to do this :-) It's just that he's been a little slow, and he hasn't been helpful with suggestions. And when the laundry room was oriented differently (rotated 90 degrees), it jutted into the breakfast room space significantly but he didn't seem to think it mattered. But, I guess he doesn't know how big a table we have. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. Ours was okay but different. We've moved even further away from family in this relocation, so we were invited to the home of one of hubby's co-workers, who'd also recently relocated here. They built a house, too, and have only been in a couple of months. It was nice to get a feeling of what it's going to be like (they have a sort-of similar plan and similar decor tastes). Better than sitting in a cramped apartment, eating off TV trays! Anyway, lots to be thankful for--especially internet forums and helpful people. I can't imagine building a house and choosing stuff without being able to research online. Tracey
...See More
Small laundry room help
Q
Comments (2)
Do you actually use, want or need the big sink in the laundry room? You could get a smaller sink with a higher faucet or pull-out spray. If you don't need or want the sink, consider capping off the plumbing and putting in a full-length counter-top across that space with maybe some pull out shelves on the far-right bottom instead of cupboards. I see you've got some handles there so maybe leave space at the wall end for sliding those things in. My laundry sink could just as easily be a bar sink since it's used mostly for washing hands or single-item soaking. I don't use it for filling buckets, cleaning fish or draining coolers. Laundry sinks are usually cheaper though.
...See More
Laundry Room in to a Mini Kitchen on second floor?
Q
Comments (17)
"I've only lived in a condo and rarely entertain. I probably only need 3,300 at most. I figure since I am building, why not build as big as possible since that will be the trend?" I am going to ask you to think about things again. When I looked for a new home I measured every cupboard and drawer in my kitchen, every linear foot of hanging space in my wardrobes, every cupboard and drawer in my bathrooms and every room in my home. I then went through my house and noted what I loved about each room, what worked in each room, what was wasted space in each room and what failed to meet my needs in each room (Remember - I am a data analyst). Then I made my list of criteria for the "perfect home". I was planning on building, but visited tons of homes that were new builds and existing homes on the market. I knew about 3 years in advance of my move that I was going to move, so I had time to educate myself and find ideas that I might not have thought of on my own. I happened to visit a home that was a custom build in 1970 and it checked every box (even had a large office with no windows - required by my company for work at home staff - computer cannot be viewable from any window and must not be in a common or shared area of the home.) But my point is that you may be able to afford a 5000 sq ft home, but if it is not needed it will increase the initial cost, it will increase the cost to furnish, it will increase maintenance costs, cost to insure and property tax. Someone also has to clean this space - if you hire someone, that too will cost more. Is this the best use of your money? Could you have less and retire earlier? Will it bring you more joy than spending that money on family vacations? Trends don't matter. We live in our homes, not on the glossy pages of some magazine. What works for the designers may not work for you or your family. What works for your sister or brother or best friend may not work for you and your family. The only important piece of this puzzle is what will be best for your family. My sister had a couple that cleaned her home for years. They drove a beater car, lived in a modest home and raised 2 children and somehow were able to afford to send both through college. Then they came to my sister and told her that they were going to stop cleaning homes at the end of the year. They were still relatively young - late 40s, early 50s. She asked what they were going to do instead of cleaning homes. They told her they were building their forever home, retiring and traveling. They had saved over 1.5 million dollars and no longer needed to work. Only wish I had had some of their foresight.
...See More
leela4
13 years ago
Also-not to be the harbinger of bad news-but speaking from experience I can't chop things forever like I used to even 5 years ago (bad hands and wrists).

But I love the idea of placing things in a box for a month and then trying to remember what's in the box (although that may be a memory exercise as much as anything-speaking personally, of course).
sadiebrooklyn
13 years ago
For some reason I took only half of my spring release baking pan (it comes with two bottoms and I only found the bunt pan bottom not the flat one). So I had to go out and buy another cheap one so I could bake. So much for de-cluttering!
formerlyflorantha
13 years ago
I didn't go into this remodel to remodel my personality as well. That's a task for another day. The same old me has moved into the new kitchen.

So is it minimalist or Material Girl if I have a food processor whose chopping and shredding blades have gone missing but the unit is sitting unusable on the new countertop next to the new outlet?

On a less cynical note, have uncovered the lost glass plates which double as lids for my casseroles, etc. so I can use them in the microwave and refrigerator to keep leftovers discrete and fresh and grouped efficiently.

Each day things get a little better. I just remain the same but I smile a lot.
leela4
13 years ago
Oh florantha I could no more get rid of that food processor than my first born child (who actually has been out of the house for years) because you KNOW that as soon as you do you'll find those missing parts!
midwifekim
13 years ago
I keep hoping that I'll open another box -after 19 months in a temporary, smaller kitchen (and home), and say, "oh, golly, i haven't missed that!" and toss it. It happens sometimes (why did I save the mismatched, but beautiful bowls all those years?), but more often i think, "yeah! now we can make star shaped popsicles again!" or "i KNEW I had tongs."

So much for remodeling myself in the process.

Glad you are optimistic about your romantic, makeshift kitchen. Many happy meals to you.
marcydc
13 years ago
LOL, loved your description of your temporary kitchen! My favorite part was the box of red wine with the spigot:) Since my temp kitchen was next to the wine cellar, now that is pretty empty! i could have saved some $ had I gotten a box!!

The really great thing about the basement laundry sink kitchen we set up was now my children (11 and 13) know how to do dishes the old fashioned way. I made a rule that no one was to leave me all alone in the pink basement cleaning after dinner. No one could leave until it was all cleaned up. We all got a lot better at sharing kitchen tasks. My friend remarked today that they will be worshipping the new dishwasher, lovingly polishing it and protecting it from all harm :)

Reflections on minimalism --notes from the laundry room kitchen

Comments (8)

sadiebrooklyn

plllog

Related Discussions

leela4

sadiebrooklyn

formerlyflorantha

leela4

midwifekim

marcydc

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US