The world’s tiniest kitchens

By Katy Salter

The May 2015 issue of delicious. features a behind-the-scenes look at cooking on the Orient Express. Head chef Christian Bodiguel and his team of six prepare gourmet meals from a 4ft by 2ft kitchen… on a moving train! It got us thinking about other tiny kitchens around the world, and some of the talented cooks rustling up delicious food in them…

Rachel Khoo’s Little Paris Kitchen

Sometimes a small kitchen can help a cook rather than hinder them. Rachel Khoo shot to fame with her TV series Little Paris Kitchen, which was inspired by her adventures running a restaurant from her 21m-sq Paris apartment. “I never measured the kitchen, but I’d say it was 1.5m-sq,” Rachel tells us. Her small-space tricks included a step ladder to reach high shelves and using a free-standing island from IKEA for extra work space and storage.

Deb Perelman’s New York kitchen

Manhattan kitchens are notoriously tiny. When I lived – briefly – in NYC, mine consisted of a hot plate, a work surface, a small fridge and a toaster oven. The solution for most New Yorkers is to eat out, but keen home cook Deb Perelman wouldn’t be defeated by her “puny kitchen” which had just 36 inches of counter space. Instead, she started Smitten Kitchen, now one of the world’s biggest food blogs. She kept on top of clutter by banning “single-use kitchen objects” and keeping essential gadgets on top of her fridge and cupboards (like Khoo, she used a step ladder). Perelman has since moved to a bigger apartment but managed to recipe test a best-selling cookbook from this one.

Susan Smillie’s boat galley kitchen

The food editor of The Guardian lives on a small houseboat in London. The diminutive kitchen space means she has to be disciplined (no taking home all those cookbooks that food editors get sent). She uses an Aga-style oven from a company called Heritage Cookers “who specialise in slim cookers for small flats and boats”. Storage is at a premium – pots and pans hang overhead, and an icebox in the fridge makes do as a freezer substitute. “Living on a boat is amazing, but the lack of space on some means you make compromises,” says Susan.

The tiny kitchen tower

Is this gadget the future of cooking in tiny spaces? ECooking is a 2ft x 2ft kitchen tower designed by Italian company Clei. It looks like a Transformer, but with a full kitchen hidden inside: a stovetop, sink, countertops, dishwasher, fridge freezer…and even a coffee machine and a small herb garden.

And finally…this really is the world’s tiniest kitchen

Welcome to your new YouTube obsession. A  Japanese blogger going by the handle Miniature Space uploads videos of ambitious dishes made in a doll’s kitchen. The real food made using the teensy oven (powered by a tealight) includes shrimp tempura, cheeseburgers, cake and this crème brûlée. Mesmerising.

The May 2015 issue of delicious. magazine is on sale now.