P.S. If you have ideas of how to use the real estate above the sink, I'm trying to figure that out, too.

Plate rack above the sink. Maybe one that folds down and serves as a dishdrainer also? And/or a pot rack shelf.

Essentials are some basic storage for foodstuffs and serveware, as well as a fridge.

Water source needs basin, spray faucet, and drain rack of some sort. (See above suggestion.)

You need some area to manipulate the foodstuffs. 24'' would be the bare minimum for that. Between the sink and range. Which you don't even approach having. Move the sink to the left as much as the piping allows. Do a cutting board over the sink to increase that prep space as much as possible. Then you need some small counter space not in the prep zone for a coffee maker and it's acoutrements. And a small microwave.

You need some drawer storage for those couple of paring and chef's knives you need for the prep, and the basic silverware for 4. Doing a few Ikea cabinets with at least one drawer instead of the existing cabinets would add so much more utility to the space. You need some small amount of storage for a 12'' ovensafe skillet and a couple of saucepans and lids. That can go in the storage drawer under the range. Then all you need to complete the cooking is a stockpot that shares the same lid with the skillet and hat hasa pasta insert that doubles as a colander. A wall hook storage system can hang the spatula, spoon, and ladle.

Then you need at least a small trash, probably under the sink. And that's prretty much it. The one gadget that I'd add would be a multicooker that you could slow cook in, or use as a rice cooker. Pretty much all other gadgets don't pay for themselves as far as the space they take up.

Holly pretty much nailed it. It's not what you have, it's how it's put to use.
This is the kitchen in our weekend getaway, which is a 1956 Star travel trailer.
Some of the best meals any one has ever enjoyed were prepared in this 7'x10' kitchen :)

...which also includes the dining area ;)

Personally, I'm fine with having LOTS of kitchen gear, but if you're not, here's a plan:

- Go through your kitchen and put a sticker on EVERY SINGLE THING. Except maybe your silverware. I can't see doing that.

- Keep an eye out for duplicate items. Give them away right away.

- When you use the item, toss the sticker. At the end of a year (or whatever time you choose), THROW AWAY anything that still wears its sticker.

I like Mrs. Pete's idea, ...now if I could only get my wife to do that with the clothes and shoes in her closet! ;)

ctycdm, that is a beautiful kitchen! Makes me miss our cute *little* Argosy. The kitchen was much smaller than yours, but I could never believe all the features they packed into it. And, btw, I need to do the same with my clothes and shoes!

hollysprings, the dish drainer over the sink is definitely on my list. I thought I might do a Julia pegboard with hooks, too. I'm trying to work with the kitchen as-is, but if I can redo base cabinets, moving the sink is no problem. You can see the edge of the fridge on the left and the microwave sits on top. Not the optimum but there's not enough counterspace as it is.

...anyway to try and be more help than posting photos of our trailer...I have a couple vintage cast iron skillets I could not live without in addition to a set of Circulon hard anodized from Costco circa 2002. A dutch oven and casserole dish, a toaster, a blender, a chefs knife, paring knife, bread knife, and set of steak knives. Garlic press and vegetable steamer. Potato masher, cheese grater, of course dishes and glasses and flatware. Try to think of it as a camping trip, where you only need to take what you will actually use :)

I personally wouldn't bother with a coffeemaker. A French press takes up much less space and take less time and maintenance. An electric kettle for boiling water and a toaster would be essentials though.

The kitchen is what you see as you walk through the door, so - modest as it is - I still want it to make a good appearance. Here's a better view of the whole thing, though the stove has been replaced with a glasstop.

In addition to hollysprings suggestions, what I'm trying to get at is: What to you use everyday that you'd be lost without? That's possible to be stored in this kitchen?

There's a toaster there, but I don't use a toaster; I use a toaster oven - for which there is NO room. I'm a knife nut and have a 24" magnetic rack downstairs that is full. If you were stranded on a desert island, what knives would you want? I'm trying to get to that point, otherwise I will still be running up and down the stairs well into next year.

I've never owned a toaster oven, and never missed what I haven't used. Three knives - an 8" chefs (which could be my only if need be) a paring, and a bread. I would want at least one good old cast iron skillet, even if it was the only piece of cookware I had. And certainly don't need a microwave!

I could throw away almost every knife in the block other than a good paring knife and my chef's knife. And a shrpener. Maybe a filet knife, as that can double as a carving knife. If I need to cut bread though, a serrated steak knife will sub for a dedicated bread knife. Couldn't live without a decent Y peeler and a box grater though. You can do almost anything with those tools.

While I own a garlic press, I never use it. I'm a smash and dice person for that. A multi cooker can steam veggies, and make rice at the same time. A wok wouldn't make the list, even though I do a lot of stirfry. The big skillet can handle that, especially on an electric top rage. A casserole dish would only be needed if I was worried about presentation. The oven safe skillet can handle that type of covered baking. Would need a broiler rack and and cookie sheet though. And a polypropylene cutting boards. Although I could do without that too, and just cut on a plate. Don't do cakes or pies, so none of that. No mixer. Can use a fork. Or a foldable whisk.

You'd be surprised at what you can really do without. Spice stotrage isn't on the list though. Need a good plan for somethig beyond just salt and pepper. Magnetic holders on sheet steel or on the side of the fridge maybe.

Good move on exploiting the height by putting the MW over the fridge. That's what I did in my first apartment with a giant Amana RadarRange that was as big as the whole top of the fridge. MW's were bigger back then. And fridges were smaller. Today, I'd put in an OTR. It would free up the top of the fridge for pot rack hung from the ceiling or for large cannister storage.

Great practical advice from hollysprings. Here's some EXTREME downsizing (and EXTREME moneysaving) advice. I always marvel at it, at all the advice on this "early retirement extreme" blog. A lot of it is a little TOO extreme for me; I think I like "stuff" a little too much, but it's interesting to read and get a new perspective on consumption.

Here is a link that might be useful: Extremely Downsized Kitchen

We have been using a makeshift kitchen for months now, and we have the bare minimum dishes because that is all we have room for, so I actually have a pretty good handle on this.

1) 4 plates
2) 4 cereal bowls
3) one large salad bowl (if we had the room, I'd upgrade this to a whole set of stacking mixing bowls)
4) a handful each of spoons, forks, and butter knives
5) 2 steak knives for cutting up small things (one is actually a paring knife)
6) a large chopping knife
7) a cutting board
8) 4 empty peanut butter/jam jars and lids that we use as tupperware and drinking glasses
9) 2 tall glasses

10. two mugs
11. a set of measuring cups
12. a set of measuring spoons
13. a can opener with built-in beer bottle opener
14. a peeler
15. a frying pan
16. a saucepan
17. a colander
18. a big pot for soups and stuff -- preferably a dutch oven because that has so many other uses
19. a baking sheet with a rim
20. a grilling rack that fits in the baking sheet (doubles as a cooling rack)
21. a set of Pyrex glass dishes (or oven-safe ceramic dishes) with lids to use as Tupperware and as baking dishes in the oven
22. a metal spatula
23. a rubber spatula
24. a wooden spoon for stirring
25. two Ove Gloves (trust me -- you will never get burned again) to use as oven mitts and trivets
26. a dish drainer if you don't have a dishwasher

And if you want to get at all fancy, optional things:

27. a food processor (optional)
28. a hand mixer or KitchenAid Mixer (optional)
29. wine bottle opener and/or reusable corks (optional)
30. grater (optional) -- I have one small enough to double as a zester
31. a bread knife (optional, although we use ours surprisingly often)
32. a salad spinner (optional)
33. a cake pan (optional)
34. a garlic press (optional)
35. a hand juicer/reamer (optional)

This post was edited by Jillius on Sun, Dec 7, 14 at 12:36

Is this a furnished guest house for a tenant? A get away for you or a place for visitors to stay?

Seems to me all three of those have different needs and with out knowing the use, it more comes down to what the people replying need

For example if for a tenant you would need a small collection of a normal everyday kitchen. For guests, maybe mostly what they might need for breakfast or lunch and coffee/tea snacks etc. for you, depends on what you like eating. If it is a get away, what do you want to do on your vacation?

We stayed in a motel with full kitchen...I would guess that the " kitchen" items were all stored in a 2'x2' cabinet and what I noticed was that every single item did at least double if not triple duty. Bowls for instance, nested, were sized from quite large to very small, metal rounded at edges but not much, would work as salad bowls, mixing bowls, side dish serving bowls and ramekin type bowls, smallest bowls were dry measure cups, I think that they all had measurement marks, were oven capable, and most had pour spouts, and all of them had lids, the lids also nested-but could not have been used in the oven. The turner had an edge that could be used like a spatula, etc.

Here's how I'd stock a basic kitchen from scratch-

Knives: a serrated bread knife, which can also be used for tomatoes, a paring knife (3") and/or small utility knife (blade no less than four inches no more than six) and an 8 or 10 inch chefs knife, depending on personal preference.

Cutting board

Set of measuring cups and spoons, set of nesting bowls, 2 cup glass liquid measuring cup.
Wooden spoon, silicone spatula, slotted metal spatula, two metal spoons, one of which is slotted. A whisk.
A box grater, a colander and (optional) a sieve.

Two or three saucepans. I'd get three, 6 quart, 2-3 quart and 1 quart. A 10-12 inch sauté or skillet or cast iron frying pan and an 8" non stick pan for eggs.

A cookie sheet or two (buy half sheet pans, not pans labelled as cookie sheets)
An 8" square baking dish, a 9x11" baking dish, a casserole pan and two cookie sheets. A pie pan (a good sized deep dish one can be used for small casseroles and savory pies as well as sweet ones)
A cooling rack
Oven mitts

Dinner service for four, four mugs, six drinking glasses, six wine glasses. Set of flatware for four. If you plan on entertaining get service for 8 plus extra glasses.
A small platter and a couple of round bowls (all plain white) for serving if desired. If your nesting bowls are pretty you can use those.
A sugar bowl and creamer, a butter dish.

Surprised no mention of a strainer. You can drain pasta and sift flour with it; anything that does two tasks well is well worth considering.
Casey

That's what the pasta insert for the stockpot is included for. I find it more useful than a separate strainer as it can store nested in the stock pot. Depends on what kinds of meals are planned for though and how the pantry is configured.

for your own kitchen -- things do accumulate. I'd box up everything but the essentials mentioned . . . then see if you go back into the boxes for anything.

there are a few items I only use a few times of year, such as the deviled egg holder, and potato masher. Find a place to store seldom used, but still needed items.

Did anyone mention a baking sheet? Also, my most used tool in the kitchen -- scissors! aka kitchen shears.

This post was edited by Violet.West on Sun, Dec 7, 14 at 10:40

There was a thought experiment posted by Plllog an the Cooking Forum a few months ago about outfitting minimalist kitchens. I cannot locate it via google, at least not quickly. I will post over there and ask.

A rice cooker, a microwave, one saucepan, and a single bowl, spoon, plate and fork could do for my sister. She'd order Chinese takeout, make her own rice, and do the occasional ramen noodle soup with the leftovers added.

I think I found it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Minimum needed thread

Since it is on the same property as your own home and you have lots of excess kitchenware, why don't you bring over what you think are the essentials and cook and eat there exclusively for 4 weeks? That is one way to be sure what the bare essentials are. We learned that during our kitchen remodel when we moved to a basement ktchenette. I realized that if I did not use my electric small appliances during that time, they would never be used when I had a full kitchen back. So those will be donated or given away shortly. We could not have done without our microwave, coffeemaker, and toaster though!

"I've never .... missed what I haven't used." ~~ ctycdm
Apparently, neither have I. As I go through the cupboards, there's an aha! moment in just about every one as I find a thing I thought would be useful and is, instead, gathering dust.

Kippy-the-Hippy, good question about the purpose. My downstairs kitchen is in urgent need of a makeover; however, as much as we discuss what to do, we seem to be stuck in a puddle of indecision and procastination. I want to equip the upstairs kitchen to be completely functional on a very basic level. That way, I can store what I want to keep, donate or sell what I don't and dismantle the downstairs kitchen. In other words, force decisions.

kiko, your link to the extremely downsized kitchen made me realize I've done without most of this stuff at one time or another in my life. I once went on vacation and didn't go home for three months. During that time, I got by with practically nothing.

Thank you all for the lists. Silly as it sounds, I am combining them all into a master list, then I'll try to figure out what I need most and what I use least. It is helping me focus, something I'm having trouble doing.

I intended to make a longer response but I just got a call that my dinner invite has been moved to 'linner time' and now I'm late. ;o)