On Eating and Cooking in a Small Space
By Rachel Ravitch
Having useful items that are also beautiful means you can leave them out and they add to the space as an accent.
My mom was a chef before finishing her degree when I was 5 years old (my brother Sam was 10 and my sister Jenny was 15). As a family, we have spent most of our time together around cooking and eating, usually both at the same time. There are always elaborate appetizers including my sister’s famous stuffed mushrooms and onion dip along with some platter overspilling with meats, cheeses, nuts, and olives. Whether or not you wanted to participate in cooking (or at least eating) was not an option. Everyone was in some way involved even if just to peel potatoes or be responsible for dishes. In a single parent household, there is no room for opting out. It’s all for one and one for all. We would wrap wontons by dipping our fingers in water to seal the dough around the steak, ginger, scallion, garlic and oyster sauce filling, placed scoop by scoop in the center before folding each side toward the middle. My brother still asks me & my sister whenever we speak over the phone what we are cooking for dinner, just to live vicariously. I have carried the tradition of communal cooking and eating into my youth and young adulthood and into adulthood, always cooking and eating in tandem. Never cook on an empty stomach.
My step grandmother Anna had 4 children with my grandpa Abe and had 5 children with her late husband before marrying Abe. They had at times up to 5 kids all under the same roof and Anna cooked for all of them in her tiny kitchen. We made pancakes together on Sunday mornings for my mom, grandpa and anyone else who decided to stop by.
I was also a chef and the experience taught me a lot about how much can be created in small spaces with good planning and efficiency in food prep, active cooking, and serving. I love hosting large dinner parties with friends and family, especially informal dinner parties with unexpected guests - and I mean this sincerely! There are several dishes I make for a crowd that can be easily modified and scaled depending on what’s on hand and how many will join. The more the merrier. I’ve never had a large kitchen and in fact all of my kitchen spaces have been laughably small. Though the trend in design has been toward a large open concept kitchen, I tend to prefer a smaller kitchen footprint & have adapted space planning and storage concepts to support a smaller kitchen footprint.
There are many overlooked storage opportunities to be considered when planning your kitchen. Often, the kitchen is overloaded with functions - providing dry and cold food storage, storage for cooking and baking, active workspace, and as a space to store serving ware.
There are other spaces we can utilize and create in our homes to better support the kitchen space’s main function, especially if you have or prefer a smaller footprint kitchen space.
One dish that I make often is risotto cakes. I make risotto typically in the oven vs. on the stove based on a Martha Stewart recipe from her book Favorite Comfort Foods. There’s no one chef that I follow religiously but I like this particular Martha Stewart cookbook - lots of simple meals that can be made on a weeknight and mostly using only one pot / pan for the cooking which is the true test of weeknight cooking applicability.
We use our regular tableware for eating outside. Again, nothing is precious so we aren’t really concerned about damage. These plates were found at Goodwill and are super high quality china made in Japan. The textured amber glasses belonged to my grandparents. In Spring and early Summer we tend to eat lunches and dinners in the front yard as it is South facing and warmer during these seasons.
Create a pantry closet
Infrequently used small appliances
Large pantry items
Bake ware
Add a hutch to a dining space or adjacent living space
Serving ware
Flatware
Infrequently used bake ware (tart pans, cookie and muffin tins)
Dishware
Table Linens
Add a beverage station to a living space. This makes guests feel at ease and keeps the relaxed entertaining out of the chaos of the cooking space. I don’t know about you, but I don’t always keep the kitchen tidy while I’m cooking and sometimes I need to be able to focus on the immediacy of the task at hand.
Countertop for serving
Glassware
Mixers
Mini fridge
Buy objects that serve multiple functions
Yes, aesthetic appreciation is a function
Serving bowl / fruit bowl / decorative bowl
Serving tray / coffee tray
From experience, here are some tips that can make cooking with friends & family fun without a giant kitchen space:
Plan a meal that creates opportunities for participation
Dumplings
I have done this on many occasions with friends. Many hands makes light work!
Skewers
Pizza
…
Co-cook with your friends
Make a plan to each prepare a dish in the kitchen together
A friend hosted a brunch birthday and everyone made some brunch oriented dish in the tiniest kitchen (scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, sausages, fruit, pancakes & mimosas). It was super fun and collaborative!
Cook outdoors with friends
BBQ pizza is a fun one!
Prepare parts of the meal at the dining table
More relaxed vibe than a kitchen setting
Everyone gets a seat
Serve appetizers & beverages
Roasting foods is a great way to reduce the amount of prep required for hosting and be able to cook for a lot of people in a small space.
I found this Art deco buffet cabinet on Craigslist for $400. It is currently storing excess bake ware, serving ware and table linens. Lamp from Jacob Willard Home. Sculpture by Ria Leigh. Painting on loan by Kelly Bjork - inquire with Kelly for purchasing.
Open shelving and hooks create efficiency in the kitchen for items you need to access frequently while cooking. Between the hooks and the (2) 3’-0” wide shelves, I have plenty of space for the items I am most likely to need.
Drawers make great storage. You can see everything. Nothing gets lost like in a cabinet. All of the items in the Dining Room hutch are infrequently used and don’t need a home in valuable Kitchen space where pantry and cookware storage is more critical.
We have found this chalk paint board to be super useful for especially reminders for grocery and hardware items.
Enamelware tray from Butter Home doubles on the daily as a coffee tray. I also use it as a serving tray. Vase by The Granite. Anywhere Vase by Fruitsuper. Lemon drawings by Derek Erdman. Shout out to Dorothea Coffee for their delivery service. And yes, we love the Aeropress.
The previous owner put in this Ikea cabinet about 15 years ago. It’s held up really well. We put heavy items in these drawers and the glides still work great. Pretty plates in lowest drawer by The Pursuits of Happiness.