Is it time to start getting creative with kitchens?

[BotusBuild]

3 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Makes you a (expletive deleted)ing giant

At last, I'm tall 😁

[Mike]

8 hours ago, Beau said:

As for 'Kettles/toasters/coffee makers/air fryers'  I'm looking at a separate work area for these away from the main prep space.

A good idea. Do a Google search for 'appliance garage' for some related ideas.

[Mike]

6 hours ago, G and J said:

When thoughts began re living without a hob I started experimenting with non hob cooking, mainly because I think even whizzy induction hobs are v ugly - a big dark lump in my nice light coloured worktop.

You don't have to mount them in a worktop - hang them on the wall or stack them in a rack instead:  https://www.fabita.it/en/products

 

Or inset as many or as few individual induction plates as you like, from Foster: https://www.fosterspa.com/en-ww/modular-induction-7366-020.aspx?ndomain=6

 

[G and J]

3 hours ago, Mike said:

You don't have to mount them in a worktop - hang them on the wall or stack them in a rack instead:  https://www.fabita.it/en/products

 

Or inset as many or as few individual induction plates as you like, from Foster: https://www.fosterspa.com/en-ww/modular-induction-7366-020.aspx?ndomain=6

 

All viable options. But no, no hob in me kitchen, just a little portable one in the utility room for occasional use. 

[G and J]

10 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

Gas cooking is quite inefficient, masked by how hard it is to measure the gas usage.

 

I am intrigued as to why you are reducing hob usage; one pot meals are generally quick and easy, and has to be better than lighting up a 6 kW oven, or even a 2.4 kW microwave.

I have just popped my induction hob on, small 'ring' middle setting, it draws 180W.

Now I don't have a gas hob to compare it to, but my camping stove is 3 kW, so even at 'half power' it is drawing 8 times the amount of power.

I once did a time comparison between a small portable induction hob and my camping stove, but can't remember the results (they are probably buried on this site somewhere, though it may have been on eBuild), was a while back).

It all started with a concerted, sustained effort to reduce ‘stuff’. Our cupboards are now a lot emptier and we are happier for it.  
 

Then Tuck came along. He’s our (air) friar, mostly as an experiment in saving energy.  Quickly realised how many of our meals I can cook with just Tuck and a microwave. 
 

Then came along da bungalow.  When we planned the kitchen, which is visible from everywhere in our single big (comparatively to the rest of the house) room that we will spend most of our time in we thought about how we use our current kitchen and how that could be improved, that’s when I realised I wanted an invisible hob. 
 

Then I saw the price tag.  
 

Then I started thinking about and experimenting with no hob cooking.  For me it’s quicker, cleaner, and suits our diet and psyche.  No frying, some veg batch cook and frozen, no meat, smallish portion for just us two, few simple carbs (especially at home), etc. 

 

In parallel with all that we thought about making our kitchen area pleasing to the eye - for us that meant simplicity - qooker tap, no kettle, virtually nothing out on display; it also meant symmetry.  
 

Then when the question of location of dirty great big smudge of a hob came along our answer formed - it’s a tiny version hidden away till needed. 
 

So it’s not really about energy saving any more.  It’s about how we want to try and live and how we want our environment to look.