The popularity of tiny homes has brought small kitchen design strategies to the forefront, with truly creative solutions for storage, appliance and countertop use.
You may not be in the market for a tiny house, but if you’re downsizing from your empty nest or living in a small studio or one-bedroom apartment, you already know that every inch counts when it comes to making the most of your kitchen counter space.
Induction cooktops — or hobs as they are referred to in the UK — are a great way to address the lack of counter space.
Efficient with a sleek profile, induction cooktops heat the pot, not the
The benefit of this process? The cooktop stays cool. And because the transmission of heat is so direct, the burners perform much faster than standard burners. Induction cooktops are not new, but in this age of reducing our footprint, their use is seeing a surge in popularity.
In fact, seven years ago, when TreeHugger founder Graham Hill designed his LifeEdited Apartment, he decided to ditch the kitchen stove completely and install induction cooktops (or hobs). At the time, many of his colleagues thought he was nuts. But as LifeEdited staffer David Friedlander observed,
“The burners can be stowed away, which makes the kitchen look less kitchen-y, something important in a small space where visual clutter can shrink a room. They give us the flexibility of using the burners wherever we need them, which is nice in a small kitchen where two can be a crowd.”
David Friedlander, LifeEdited.com
And now, as Treehugger reported last week, those hobs that were so convenient to tuck away in a drawer? Well, Adriano Design of Italy has taken it a step further and found a way to mount the hobs to a wall! Convenient and easy to access!
As Treehugger notes, Ordine is a revolution – a deconstruction of the induction hob as we know it today. No longer an irremovable block in your kitchen where the distance between nozzles is never enough when you are cooking with large pots. Ordine allows you to decide at what distance the nozzles need to be while cooking and how to put them back, leaving the surface free when you don’t need to cook.
As designers, we are often challenged to design small efficient spaces. This would be a great option for the client who wants increased functionality from a limited footprint. The tidy design allows you to free up both counter area and the drawer room that storing previous versions of portable induction plates required.”
Marion Cuddie, Monarch Kitchen Bath & Home
What about the fan, you ask? Well, Adriano has that covered, too. In the form of a sleek linear shelf that does double duty.
When less is more, induction cooktops may be the functional, sleek solution you’re looking for.