Well, I think he got the parameters right: Young, trendy, urban, tech, well off.

When I was a young, uber-rural, and broke, with few made up items available (we got bread, though only about three kinds available, and a few items like mayonnaise, but mostly it was scratch ingredients), I also had a micro kitchen. A half sized fridge, a glove box sized freezer, a sink and two propane burners. No appliances, though I did acquire a few kitchen gadgets, like a whisk. It was a challenge, and always a game of what can we sort of kind of make. I learned a lot.

I'm sure that one of these super well appointed micro kitchens would be a lot nicer to use. My own GWKF decent sized kitchen isn't palatial, but it has the equipment and space to do whatever I want. And I don't rely on Uber to deliver dinner.

I wonder what will happen when these young techies are trying to make their own baby food? Will the trend be to move to the suburbs or exurbs and have a big kitchen with a table?

I think that the size of the kitchen has some relation to how long one expects to live at a particular address. When I was in my 20s in San Francisco, I moved fairly often and generally had very small kitchens and did not do very much cooking, outside of the work I did in a restaurant. What I did cook back then was fairly simple, but it was also very easy for me to go to a lot of different markets to get ingredients just before making a meal. Now, as I am older, I like to have inventory and not have to shop as often. When I was younger, I liked to shop often.

I do not think that the trend has much to do with what generation you are talking about but what age group you are talking about. I was very much like the Millennials when I was the age that they are now. When they get older, they will change as well - otherwise they would stagnate. However, my ex-roommate from San Francisco who visited me last week-end still maintains the lifestyle that we had in our 20s, but he grew up in New York and finds it normal to go to delis every day for food. He still only stocks condiments and beverages in his fridge. He can make tea or coffee, but not much else.

If someone is only cooking, occasionally, for one or two, and the typical dinner is a salad and a simple quick dish, then a small kitchen is fine, and looks streamlined and sleek. I like the modern aesthetic and if I were in my twenties, I'd probably live that way too.

As the old saying goes.... What goes around, comes around. It was called the Hoosier Cabinet in the early 20th Century - the all-in-one kitchen cupboard.

Hubby has been in the cabinet manufacturing business with the same company for 41-years (in Feb), as architect/design, sales, and now as VP/Customer Service. He recently showed me an updated Hoosier Cabinet they built for a customer with an older home with a dinky kitchen that fits the information from the article at the link above. There was also a 4-foot square kitchen "tower" that includes the sink, refrigerator, stove/oven/microwave, prep. surface, that was pretty cool. There are all kinds of small kitchens on the design board all the time - jets, large watercraft, Tiny Houses, RVs.... These modern versions of small living are showing up in the showrooms now, too.