Sounds good to me.

My most minimal kitchen had a single sink centered in about 6' of counter, drawers and cupboards underneath. Two gas rings on a teacart. A little 2 shelf strange thing I used for spices. A small fridge, with about the capacity of what are currently being sold as apartment fridges, but a totally different shape. Only a baking pot for an oven. I cooked a heck of a lot in that kitchen, all from scratch.

So if it could eventually be an apartment, I'd say leave room to put in a slightly bigger fridge in that eventuality. A 24" undercounter isn't enough for that. If you live in a city, there's a lot more food available than where I lived, but prepared foods take up as much or more room as ingredients. Plus where I was, the world's best water came cold out of the tap, so unless you have similar, allow for some beverage space.

Will a frozen pizza fit in the freezer and oven? That would be the main concern of the males in my household, if they were the users of the kitchnette.

LOL, timber.j. There are always mini-pizzas!

The house is pretty much in urban territory. It's the suburbs from 70 years ago and a large shopping complex is eventually going in on the other side of the mountain, less than 2 miles away. Still, I wouldn't want a kitchenette in which you *couldn't* cook.

Until my last house, I always had small kitchens. For the most part they were either tiny galleys or a wall, but I think the smallest, if memory serves, was about 6' counter/sink plus fridge plus 24" range, and a wall-mounted table that folded down when not in use. It worked great for basic cooking.

OTOH, the apartment I am in now is an awful small "L" in a big kitchen, which is quite perplexing. If it were a house it would be the poster child for a fabulous kitchen re-do.

If that 24" Leiberherr fridge at a local salvage store drops even lower than the $750 it's currently at, I might have to buy it. :)

If you intend to rent it out, I would add an 18" DW to that list. I also think a 24" range would be better.

Let's see, a 15" sink would fit in an 18" sink base. If the cabs are face framed, that mans a 15" opening. If all that space is taken up w/a trash can, where will the cleaning supplies go? I think a stand-alone trash can in this case would be better.

Do you think a single 24"x12" cabinet will hold all of someone's dishes, glasses, and food? Perhaps if they only have 2 plates, 2 bowls, 4 glasses, & maybe a couple of serving bowls, but not much else if you also have to store food in it. If you live somewhere where people do not store food (i.e., go to the market/store every day to get the day's meals, maybe. But if not, I don't think you have enough storage. I remember my apartment days...and I had more than that. My smallest had: 18" cab + 30" range + 24" cab + 30" sink base + 24" DW. The range had a cheap vent hood w/a cabinet above. My refrigerator was a 30" standard-depth on the wall perpendicular to the sink run & about 30" b/w it and the range. I got a cheap MW cart & put it on the wall opposite the refrigerator (in front of the DW on the other wall perpendicular to the sink run). Upper cabs along the entire sink wall except the sink (there was a light above that).

It was adequate for one person.

I have 18" sink, 18" DW, 30" range and 27" fridge with 21" of counterspace between sink and range and a 54" run of counter in the corner with about 29" of that space that you can stand in front of (the countertop microwave is tucked in that corner... and that is my entire kitchen. (plus it has a stack W/D in cabinet).

With a 24"W fridge and a 24"W range, you could squeeze it down even more. I opted for fullsize range. MAJOR baking (of different cookies recipes by the dozens at same time) gets done in this kitchen, with one extra 30 x 18 set down space. (Live with pastry chef.)

This sounds fine to me as a basic kitchen.

I don't even think you need a 24" fridge (that's my normal fridge!)-- I bought a chin-high fridge for an in-law apartment and it serves the occupant fine. It means they clean it out more often!

You could also consider a 24" stove/oven. Safer than a toaster oven. I think they might even make them in 18"? Though they get disproportionately expensive. The oven doubles for pot/pan storage.

All of my cups, plates and dishes fit into a single small cupboard. But that does seem a bit tight for pantry too.

The answer might be a single furniture-type solution to be added later, like a little pantry/storage cupboard, or a cart with drawers and a work top or something, depending on what the person needs most. Even a bookshelf can work and be attractive. Yes, I've seen it.

It just has to work with the layout you have (like it has to feel like an apartment and the furniture has to be accessible from the cooking area) and suit the needs of the person living there.

I would also alert you to the possible code implications that might exist in your area, just in case nobody has mentioned that. The appearance of a "second kitchen" may cause complications. My in-law status has been there for several owners, but I get occasional questions about it that I have to spend time calming people down about.

(If you're all set and fully informed, ignore me. I just don't want you to build it and THEN wish someone had mentioned it!)

The basement apartment isn't something I plan on doing right away, but want to plan for as much flexibility as is feasible while I am in the design/construction phase. I'm stubbing plumbing for a bath in the basement, which would be a bigger requirement than a kitchen. :) My primary concern now is being sure the electrical and plumbing is roughly where it needs to be so a future add-in wouldn't be a huge expense.

But then I turned philosophical looking at these small kitchens and trying to identify the common must-have features.

In my zoning class, they allow 2nd kitchens only if they are part of the main structure, can be reached from the interior and are a totally separate apartment, and are occupied by a family member. But no one actually checks on who's living in it.

The most likely occupant? Me, actually. When (not if) my Mom is living with me in the future, she'll get the main floor of the house, which is designed for someone with mobility issues. There's 2 bedrooms and a bath upstairs for a living suite. But I might want to have my own kitchen and choose to live in the 2 room + storm shelter suite downstairs instead. (And yes, it has a storage closet. Two, actually, but one is a data closet.)

I like it, Joseph. It's more like a really cool wetbar than a 2nd kitchen, but it certainly gets the job done. It would probably be a budget buster, though!

Here's a link to a thread about tiny NYC apartment kitchens. Personally, I'd rather have a 30" stove than a smaller stove with dishwasher.

Here is a link that might be useful: NYC apartments

The NYC kitchens I have been in have all been dusty. :) But I agree -- to me a dishwasher is just not a necessity, especially if you cook for one.

Aha! Something about which I feel qualified to comment!

Suggestions:

If you offer a single bowl sink (even with a dishwasher, I think), washing dishes requires putting the dish drainer next to the sink (either side). Make sure there's room for that, but also make sure there's room for the drainer to be stored underneath the sink (consider the room available with garbage also under the sink).

Pantry can be anywhere, actually, but the size of the fridge will really determine the usability: can a person store enough healthy groceries [likely to require refrigeration] and/or leftovers for a week. Not saying a small refrigerator wouldn't work, but it would have to be well-chosen.

Agree with the idea of letting the pantry be a piece of furniture in an adjacent room.

Look at RVs also for ideas. For example, they do a good job of having inserts made of countertop material that can cover the sink (extending countertop space) or a chopping board that covers the stove.

I love the armoire thing Joseph showed. It's much more workable as a kitchen, than the smaller MacKenzie-Childs one (which only has a microwave, fridge and sink, and is probably a lot more expensive). :)

The kitchentte depends on who it's for. If you want it as a possible second kitchen for yourself, will you be able to cook enough (thinking of no access to the upstairs kitchen) to live the way you want? As a real kitchen, rather than an efficiency, I agree with the small range being a better choice. But with that also comes the need for a vent hood. If the amount of cooking that can be enacted is limited by two burners and a toaster oven, so will the ambitions of most people you might rent to. But for yourself? Are you happy with a bowl of oatmeal, an omelette, a chicken breast? Or will you want to cook?

Won't a single person who cooks meals at home want to bake occasionally? Maybe have guests? I would...and did when I was single and had a studio apartment. I'm with Buehl on the 24" range...and a 15" sink would drive me nuts. Tight for a baking dish, a casserole pan, or even a small cookie sheet. Yes, there are mini pizzas, but if an apartment kitchen required me to be that limited, I wouldn't rent it. I had a tiny galley with a 24" fridge, 30" range with a little counter to each side, across from a 24" sink with 24" counter on each side, if I remember right. I agree that in a 1-person kitchen a dw is the least important...but nice!

This is like designing a house... things just keep getting added on. :) A couple of people have referred to an adjacent room, but there is no adjacent room except a bedroom.

I'm not saying there isn't room for improvement over a kitchenette or none of us would fret over our kitchens. But by the time you add full sized appliances for everything, it's no longer a living room plus kitchenette, it's just a big kitchen with nowhere to sit. Where does the line get drawn?

There's seems to be a majority here that thinks a full range is a necessity. My experience with 24" ranges has been that the ovens are worse than nothing at all for serious cooking. The temperature is just not stable enough. It's find for cornbread in a cast iron skillet or anything you can cook in a cast iron pot, but cookies and bread? Forget it.

Just to give you an idea of the space I am visualizing, a floor plan is below. The final basement layout may or may not resemble this once we start excavating and discover where all the boulders are. Stubbed bath in the upper right hand corner in the crawlspace area (I hope), so that's where the water is.

So going back to my original list, with modifications... I think this is too much stuff for the space.

-Single bowl sink... size? I say at least 15", some folks say they want to fit a cookie sheet but that's 27"
-Trash can
-24" refrigerator
-Toaster oven/microwave combo
-30" range
-24" of clear counter for workspace
-24" base cabinet for pots & silverware
-24" upper cabinet (or open shelves) for dishes/glasses
-pantry cabinet

You don't need the toaster oven with the range. If you would prefer to use a toaster oven/MW combo unit right now, just leave a hookup and place you could put a range, and just have the toaster/MW on a shelf, and a portable induction burner (or two, or double) on the counter. That's really quite adequate for most things.

When I lived abroad with my tiny kitchen I was desperate for an oven, but for your plans, so long as you put in the service for the range, and leave the space for it, I don't see why you should have to figure that out now. Leave your options open and make the decision when it comes up. Oh! And check your local code about whether you need a vent hood for a range.

On the sink, I think 18" is big enough for sure. It's the size of one of the bowls on my old, huge sink, and I don't think my sink in the tiny kitchen was much bigger. Someone posted having just a bar sink, I think maybe 18" round, in their kitchen and being very happy with it. But a good sized sink is useful in a workshop too. You should really think about what you want now in a sink, and what you will want, and settle that for yourself.

If you like an unfitted look you could get an inexpensive armoire with shelves for all the dishes, pots, and dry goods. Then just have large sink cabinet with a drainboard that can serve as a prep area, the fridge and the range/space for range. I'm sure if it becomes an apartment there will also be a table which can provide additional workspace. Plus, in a small place, one puts a board on top of the cooktop and makes that workspace too.

But any way you slice it, I think we're still talking about one whole wall. If that's just too, too much, you can get one of those dorm fridges with the built-in microwave on top, and a sink, and call it done.

True, there's such as thing as planning TOO much. I kinda veered ofdf on a philosophical tangent. I did come up with a mini-galley about 6'-6 x 8'-0 which included all of the above (24" range) and a bar for eating. There was room left for some basic LR furniture. In my younger years in LA I had entire apartments that were smaller.

For the immediate future my mad scientist workshop will be getting a large utility sink, micro fridge/freezer, Habitat ReStore cabinets and a cheap Lumber Liquidators butcherblock counter. A microwave is also useful for sterilizing water.

Sadly, our local code doesn't require any kind of ventilation for anything. But I'm not building "too code." :p

Joseph, thanks for the link--those yestertech kitchens are great. Pillog, I never knew MacKenzie-Childs had anything like that.

Acme has some, too -- you can see them on the AJMadison site.

Thanks, alabamanicole. Those look more like the ones I've encountered over the years. I had a studio apt in New Haven years ago that had the kitchen in the closet. :)

You draw the line where it makes sense to YOU. You draw the line around what YOU value.

I don't know what stage you are in your life, or what your plans are for moving into this apartment are.

Being a "serious cook" is something that many people on this forum value. Maybe that's even you. By the time you're ready to move into this apartment, is that going to be a core value? Who is REALLY going to eat here?

Who is going to live upstairs? If you want to entertain, is there a possibility of, say, roasting a chicken or baking a cake in their oven, neighbor style? Or at a friend's? Then you'd have 30 inches to play with the other 350 other days a year, or whatever.

I also think an 18" sink is fine. You may have to maneuver things around a little, but it still holds water. And if you decide to go without an oven, then you'll never have cookie sheets anyway!

I would go see some of the sizes of these things in real life. As I said, I think my 24" fridge is big

You're either putting this kitchen in for yourself, so you should please yourself, or you're putting it in for the average apartment dweller, and most apartment dwellers aren't on this forum (though they have very good ideas and good taste). So I wouldn't put in a big sink and big appliances to please them. My opinion. I made do with all kinds in my time.

A tenant will self-select. They'll either like the setup and move in or not. You don't have to appeal to every single one.

Since this is new construction and the apartment usage is in the "maybe" senario: Why don't you just put in the 15" sink in a spot that there is at least 2 ft of counter on one side and then multiple outlets, of decent amperage, on different breakers? Put in the appliances you need now, and leave it at that. So long as the plumbing and electrical are in place, changing things later will be a snap, and deductible against the rental income.

Just to thow in my 2 cents: dishwasher is not needed. If this is a small efficiency apartment, the person who wants to cook and throw parties, won't rent from you anyway. Keep it appropriate for a college student.