Have you thought about booking us but fear your kitchen is too tiny or not fancy enough to host us? Are you curious what kind of kitchen two culinary professionals like us come home to every day? Do you want to silently judge our design decisions? Whatever the reason, join me as I walk you through our tiny but functional kitchen.

I’m serious, we hear it a lot from people that they would like to book us but think we would not want to cook in their kitchen. Or we hear from other people that they think people are hesitant because they don’t have the fanciest kitchen and think we will judge them. Before I get into the details of our kitchen, let me tell you, we’ll cook anywhere and you probably will not have the worst kitchen we have seen. I don’t have a picture of it but let me tell you, our first apartment had the worst kitchen and everything has been an upgrade since then. We had a countertop that was wide enough for the dish rack and that was the entirety. If I wanted to bake anything I had to clear off the kitchen table and use that as if it was my counter. Our oven didn’t work properly and we had to open the window when we ran it or else the apartment would fill up with the smell of propane. So trust me, your kitchen is better than that.

With that out of the way, let me show you around!

We live in a small house, a little less than 1000 square feet on the main floor, so all of the rooms are small, the kitchen included. It’s a galley-style kitchen, 8×12 feet and that’s the whole thing. Before we had the counter-depth refrigerator, we couldn’t walk through if the dishwasher was open because it practically hit the fridge. Now you can squeeze through but still, best to just wait until the dishwasher is closed.

I feel obligated to talk a little about the design of the room. We originally had a pretty basic kitchen. The walls were white, the counters were a blue-gray formica, and the cabinets were oak. When we replaced the counters with granite, we painted the walls a light blue and painted the cabinets white. If you’ve ever had white cabinets you will know that the first day of white cabinets is the only good day and then you spend every other day looking at how dirty they are and regretting that decision. A few years ago we got tired of looking at dirty white cabinets and painted them blue, and I thought the yellow would go nicely on the walls to brighten the space, especially knowing we’d have the dark backsplash. It’s already small, I didn’t want the space feeling like a cave.

The outside wall is the one with the granite countertop and we have the sink, dishwasher, and stove along this wall. This isn’t the original dishwasher, but our first one was an addition about three years after we moved in and definitely one of the better things we brought in. My dad helped us install it and we’re pretty sure it’s wired correctly. (that’s a joke, it’s wired correctly, don’t call code enforcement on me!) When we got the granite, we added an undermount sink and that is another thing I recommend if you have the means. Now we can just wipe crumbs directly into the sink, which doesn’t seem like that would matter until you realize what you have been missing.

Our stove is one of our favorite things, a dual-fuel with gas cooktop and electric oven. Bakers love an electric oven and savory cooks want a gas stove. For years we debated which was better until this one came into our price range. It’s been almost 10 years and we have talked about replacing it but at this point we are saving up until we can buy a new version of the exact same thing. We almost bought a cheaper one recently but backed out at the last minute, worried that there must be some corners they cut to hit that price point. This old Bosch is a little glitchy but it’s the devil I know and I’m not ready for a different devil.

Recently, we made a few changes to this wall to make it a little more functional. We previously had all the frying pans in the hall closet and a fair amount of spatulas and spoons in a drawer where they didn’t quite fit. We added the racks and hooks and put everything where it’s in easy reach. We also got rid of our Breville smart oven because it was huge (taking up the whole space to the left of the sink), noisy, didn’t bake better than our oven, and didn’t make very nice toast.

On the other wall, we have a butcher block counter top, our new toaster oven (so small and quiet!), the refrigerator, and on the other side of the fridge is our recycling bins. One of our dogs loves to stick her head in the trash can so that hides behind the door to the basement. For the record, this dog has zero interest in the recycling. Our beloved Vitamix also gets a space on the counter since we use it almost every day. If you have the means, spring for a Vitamix. They’re not paying me to say this, but trust me, they’re expensive but so worth it. I told Clint recently that if I couldn’t have a Vitamix, I’d never blend again, and I meant it. Counter space is at a premium so stuff like my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, the food processor, and a lot of other gadgets have to live in the cupboards.

Speaking of the cupboards, every one of the lower ones has at least one sliding rack inside. When you only have so much space, it’s the only way to use all of it. No more getting down on the floor to reach something from the back, just roll out the rack and grab it. My baking supply cabinet has gone from a total mess to organized chaos.

Now that you’ve seen it, you might be wondering how two people actually cook in here. Carefully! It’s a good thing we like each other. Seriously though, we’ve had a lot of practice and tend to know how the other one is going to move, but paying attention and having good communication is key. We say “behind,” we alert each other when opening the oven, and we never just swing a knife or hot pan around carelessly.

We’ve been in this kitchen for over 20 years and it really has set us up to cook anywhere. When we go to a big kitchen, we will sometimes find ourselves working in a very small corner, practically on top of each other, only for one of us to realize where we are and remind the other that we have way more space than we are used to. I’d rather have it that way than the opposite though!

In the end, I hope you enjoyed this tour of our kitchen, and I hope, if you have any fears about whether your space meets our standards, that I have alleviated them.