Products to make a (very) small kitchen work harder: In photos

Sure, every serious home cook dreams of a restaurant-quality kitchen. But according to food maven Mark Bittman, you need nothing more than "a stove, a sink, a refrigerator, some pots and pans, a knife and some serving spoons."

So how do you cram the essentials into a tiny space -- stylishly? Click through this slideshow for a few possibilities. Or you could just go the high-concept route pictured here: the revolving Circle kitchen from Compact Concepts of Germany. Possibly not entirely practical, but certainly attention-getting.

First, the stove:

Stove: Viking makes a surprisingly sweet 24-inch-wide stove. It comes in a range of colors (ha ha, pun: range?) including this hot little red number.

Next: the sink.

Sink: A small farmhouse sink like the 24-inch London model from Porcher keeps lines clean and uncluttered. It comes in white and stainless steel, with a rack that fits on the bottom to let dishes dry there.

Next: the fridge.

Refrigerator: If you’ve got the kitchen height, your key is to go tall and skinny, because narrower models will have a much smaller footprint. But who says it has to be white, black or metallic? Smeg, an Italian brand, has candy-colored retro-style fridges that are simple enough to blend in with a number of styles.

Next: Storage for your pots and pans.

Pots and pans: Even if you’ve managed to pare your collection to the essentials, you’ll need storage. A rolling island could stand sentry in an adjacent room, if it doesn’t look too kitchen-oriented; when you need to draft it for active duty, just wheel it on in. Bonus: Portable counter space! Catskill Craftsmen makes a 40-inch model that doesn’t scream “kitchen.”

Next: "a knife" (or two, plus a clever space-saving way to keep them).

“A knife”: You’ve saved so much space on the appliances that maybe you can afford to splurge on -- gasp! -- a paring knife and a bread knife in addition to the essential chef's knife. Still, don’t waste precious counter space on a storage block. Instead, mount a knife block under a cabinet. You can rig up something pretty simple and attractive with a magnetic strip, as blogger Kaela of Local Kitchen did in the photo here -- but as she mentions, you can also find off-the-shelf options like one from Wusthof.

And finally: an all-in-one for the truly space-starved.

 

All-in-one: Avanti makes a “complete compact kitchen” that incorporates a (tiny) sink, two electric burners (but no oven), a 3.8-cubic-foot refrigerator (but no freezer) and even a tall, thin storage space.