For the Space-Conscious Gourmand: "Liberty Island" Fold-Out Stove
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 09. 4.07
If your kitchen suffers from a lack of prep and counter space, you feel like your stove is hogging too much space, and the Fold Flat BBQ won't do it for you, then we present another space-saving concept: ALNO's "Liberty Island" mobile cooking unit.
Use it as a table or island when not cooking, and it just flips up when you're ready to unleash your inner Iron Chef. At 32 inches wide and 16 inches deep, it's fairly compact, but it still provides a four-zone electric induction cooktop and even has a glass backsplash to prevent splattering onto your table.
Sadly, this is still but a concept, so, if you've already started dragging the oven out of your kitchen, you probably ought to put it back. ::ALNO via ::SciFI Tech
I remain perplexed what the writers of Treehugger have against a decent kitchen. Is having a decent gas 4 burner bad for the environment?
I know that if I want to create a nice environment in my house, then the kitchen is the best place to do that. It is a space where people can gather and feel warm, loved, nurtured. There is no other room in the house that does all of that in the same way.
Yet on treehugger, not a week goes by without a post about tiny kitchens that hide inside a hat-box and don't take up any space because nobody cares about them any way.
Do you guys eat out all the time or something? Cooking at home is probably the greener choice.
Also, the device above in the article is an electric stove. Electric stoves are less efficient.
With a gas stove, all of the energy from the burning gas goes directly to cooking food. With an electric, the cances are that the electricity was generated by burning gas, then some large percent of that energy was lost from transmitting over wires, then it cooks your food. A waste.
@Alex: It's about encouraging people to cook regardless of the limitations of space they may have. Also, smaller homes are more environmentally friendly than McMansions, and space-saving appliances and furniture help provide a comparable quality of life without all that waste and expense.
Although I understand that other people have other space availabilites and aesthetic preferences, I agree that the kitchen is pretty much the living room in a home. Our floorplan for our cob house takes that into account and the majority of the living space in our small home will be the kitchen and indoor greenhouse. Who doesn't like sitting in the kitchen while preparing dinner or canning food? Even if it is just to sit with a cup of tea, the kitchen is a comfortable place to be.
I happen to have a 'small' kitchen. I also spend much time in my kitchen. That is why my kitchen uses space as efficiently as possible. I have a small two-burner gas stove. In my case 4 burners is really a ridiculous waste. Maybe if I had a family of five or more, it would be justified. But I don't. But even though I have a gas stove, I am seriously interested in buying a small electric induction stove. Why? Because I get my electricity from PV and a wind generator. And most days I have a significant excess of electrical energy that I can use for cooking. I already have a small electric toaster oven that uses 800W max, toaster, electric water kettle, microwave, etc. An induction stove would be nice since it is extremely energy-efficient in comparison with typical electric stovetops and would be an appropriate dump load for my excess electrical energy. Hint to TH: put some posts on affordable, reliable one or two burner induction stovetops.