Small Kitchens?!?!

[KiwiHopeful]

As I've looked a real estate listings, a common theme seems to develop. No matter the size of the house, kitchens seem to be tiny--at least by US standards.

Now, you may (or may not) know that the trend here in the US is for bigger and bigger and bigger houses, and the kitchens have grown with them. Believe me, the trend toward the McMansion is one reason I'll be happy to leave the States behind, but by gosh--I like to cook and I hate to cook in a tiny little kitchen!

So, what's the story with the tiny kitchens and itty-bitty stoves? I assume there's something that I'm missing here ... especially since it doesn't seem to me that Kiwis eat dinner out as often as we do here in the US.

(An ironic side note: the average US family now spends 50% of its food buget on meals out, eating out something like 3-4 times per week. Most of those mammoth kitchens and Sub-Zero gourmet stoves don't get much action!)

[pianist]

We are planning on moving to Christchurch the first week of September. We are leaving all our "white goods" behind in the US. One professional mover (a Kiwi here in Florida) told us that our large-sized refrigerators and other appliances may not fit in their kitchens. That is one reason why we are leaving them behind...the other being that there are no Sears in NZ, so if something breaks, who's going to fix it? We saw that prices of all electricals are much higher than what we pay here. I guess it's a personal choice....to bring the US stuff or not.
I am not sure we can afford to eat out as often when we move to NZ....even the "fast food" places are not cheap. So, I am not sure why kitchens are smaller....too bad for people like us who like to cook....we have a huge kitchen with tons of storage and counter space now.... :(

[MotherBear]

There is often an opening left in NZ fitted kitchens where you can fit your refrigerator in and it?s too bad if you have one of the larger ones, like we have. You?d have to find a bit of spare wall space to slot it in then, which isn?t always possible or convenient.

UK kitchens are very often quite small, so I guess the NZ kitchens, the open plan ones anyway, would look quite big in comparison. It would appear that US kitchens are even bigger than NZ ones although I have seen some very spacious and wonderful kitchens on the NZ property sites, so they are about. It would probably depend on the sort/size/age of the house you are looking at.

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[Debd]

Cupboard space? Any space in a kitchen? What's that? !!
I think this is a good subject because I didn't really think whether our fridge, (which is a larger larder one), would fit in or not! We were lucky here as although we had a little 'fridge space', we were able to put ours in a vacant corner. We may have to re-think our plans to ship all our white goods over. My hubby didn't want to really in the first place but I thought it would be cheaper as new appliances seem to be quite pricey in NZ!

[NickampJacky]

KItchens too small?

Simple answer - extend your decking out the back and buy a barbie so big you need to tow it home with a truck.....oh and install a fridge in the garageor sleep out for the beer.......Job sorted!

Not a problem!

Nick

[Debd]

Ha ha Nick, that's food for thought!!!

[gecko]

0ver 1000 years ago the maori arrived in New Zealand, cooking was done outside on open fires or in a hangi (ground oven) Their fridge was a whare kai (food house) on greasy poles to prevent rats invading the food store. Their washing sink was a river or lake, their waste disposal unit was their pigs. The european whalers arrived and copied the maori techniques but also used a cast iron wood stove. The gold rush hit New Zealand and this brought in many chinese prospectors with their woks. When the first european cities developed house kitchens included the dining area. The basic settlers cottage was two bedrooms and another room which served the purpose of being the kitchen/dining room/lounge,bathroom with a wood stove, wash basin, table and chairs, tin bath. The Lavatory (toilet, dunny,loo,longdrop) was down a path at the back of the house and consisted of a small shed, wooden plank with a hole for the buttocks that covered a deep hole or long drop. As the people became more established a laundry room and toilet was built on the back as a lean-to building(leaning against and attached to the back of the house) An ice box was used to store food requiring a cold area or a food safe was used. A food safe was a cupboard on the back porch with ventilation to allow a breeze to flow through. Food scraps were used for garden compost or too feed the families Chooks (laying hens) up to the 1970's it was common for each family to have 6 - 12 hens in a chook run (chicken coop) and also a family vegetable plot in their back garden. After the 1970's it has become popular to have and extra lounge added which was called a family room. In New Zealand the general belief was that why have a big kitchen as usually only two people would use it at one time and it is more convenient if you don't have to walk to far to reach the fridge,stove and sink. It is true that New Zealand families spend more time at home preparing their own food than going out for meals. many New Zealand homes also have a BBQ area and in summer or mild days at other time of the year will cook outside.

[moggy]

My last house had a really big kitchen (16 ft x 11 ft) and it was great, this house has a long thin kitchen and I am longing to have my big kitchen back. So much so that we are budgeting on building on a new kitchen if the house we end up with has a tiny one.

One thing I noticed though is that although the kitchens are small, ususally there is a separate utility room for the washing machine, so you have less items to find spaces for in the kitchen itself.

[moggy]

[quote:8f745f083e="pianist"] I guess it's a personal choice....to bring the US stuff or not.
[/quote:8f745f083e]

I didn't think that it would be worthwhile bringing any US electrical goods as NZ is on a different voltage.

[KiwiHopeful]

Thanks for the insight, gecko! :)

Believe me, I'm pretty sure the size of the kitchen won't be a deal breaker for us ... I'm more than happy to downsize my house to upsize my life! :)