Source for small / compact appliances ?

[cbc58]

Where is a good place to find small /compact appliances for small buildings?  Stoves, fridges, heaters, etc.  There must be someone who specializes in this type of thing.

[MountainDon]

How small is small? 20" wide 4 burner ranges are available from numerous suppliers. Ditto small "dorm" size fridges. One thing about the small frisges, from what I've seen most sre not very energy efficient; no Energy Stars.   

[glenn kangiser]

RV stuff is generally pretty small.

[MountainDon]

RV stuff won't meet building codes, if that is applicable. Also they are generally more costly, although now may be a time to seek out bargains.

[cbc58]

I was looking for stuff like this guy has:

http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

[MountainDon]

Try asking them?

[cbc58]

I tried to contact them but they charge $$ to get any info out of them. 

I'll look around and if I find anything I'll post it here.  There is a site called "compactappliances.com" but I'm after something more diversified so that I can see all that's available including foreign mfgs.     

[FrankInWI]

I bought a little apartment electric stove for $100.  It was someone's grandmas "last stove-oven" and it was like new.  Works great and fits right in.  Bought a refridgerator about 2/3 size at my nephews garage sale, $25.  All the big box stores have small refridgerators, pretty cheap too. 

I got full size non stackable washer and dryer outside sitting on pallets.  I kind of resent how big they are...but my boys and I are big and the big wet winter ice fishing and hunting closes need the bigger ones anyway I guess.   

bought a BIG tube TV.  Nice Sony, cheap in todays market.   I would have liked the flat panel for space saving, but ain't spending something like that for something we should be watching up there anyway! 

[soomb]

Possibly seek out a company that handles appliances in a city like NYC and if they have a web site you can find the vendors and models you are looking for.  After all they are living in the small footprint as well, just paying a lot more per sq ft.

[MikeOnBike]

I don't know anything about these companies, haven't done business with them, just found them during my own search for small appliances. We are going to use RV appliances for my brother's 16x24 cabin but we don't have to deal with a building code.

http://www.summitappliance.com/

http://www.caraudiovideosystems.com/apsiap.html

http://www.ajmadison.com/

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com has quite a bit of stuff but it is not consolidated.  You will have to do some searching.  They have a lot of good ideas for living in small spaces.

[ballen]

In the video, he says that the sink is a "bar sink".  In my experience shopping, if I walk into a store and say I want a "really small main sink", I get nothing but stares.  If I speak their language and say I want a "bar sink", they show me 10 models.  Go figure.  I also bought a propane camping stove made by Century that looks a lot like his stove.  I guess what I'm saying is that these things are right under our noses if you can be a little imaginative and identify "main uses" for them.

[MountainDon]

http://www.compactappliance.com/Ranges-Cooktops/Appliances-Ranges_Cooktops,default,sc.html

[wirasi]

Check this out: http://www.yestertec.com/details.asp?cat=The_Press_Room&id=40

They use: "Subzero Refrig/Freezer, Kenyon 2-burner cooktop, Fisher/ Paykel single drawer dishwasher, Elkay stainless steel sink, Moen faucet with pull-out spray" and either GE "Microwave/hood or GE Advantium Microwave/ hood, with convection, warming and speed cooking cycles".

[diyfrank]

I like the one Don posted, if only it were propane.

[BobHHowell]

http://www.lehmans.com/

Lehman's caters to the Amish.  So, they have several appliance selections which run on natural gas or propane.  Below is a small 20 inch range and a smallish sized gas refrigerator.  They have a lot more than I am showing -- these are just examples.

Besides shopping on-line, you can get order a hard-copy catalog.  Plus, they have a very nice store in Kidron, OH, which is about 20 miles north of Berlin, OH.  Berlin has a very large Amish population -- for those that want to see the original "green", back-to-the-simple life folks in action. 

I do not believe these two photos are on the same scale.  The refrigerator is taller than these two pictures indicate.

[John_C]

Good Grief it's a small world.  I went to the Lehman's web site and was poking around the cast iron page and found the book Cooking in Cast Iron. 

I photographed the author for the back cover of that book in 2001.  I don't think I had ever seen the book before. 

[considerations]

This thread is, of course, all about choices.  I am always watching for ways to save space, but...when I considered the kitchen situation, I came to the conclusion that I needed to balance the small size of the cabin with functionality.  Since I'll be living there full time, and because I have a vegetable garden and a small, but growing orchard, I'll be canning and drying and freezing foods.  These activities take counter space and sinks that can handle larger pots, other vessels, and functions.  So, in the end, I decided to let my "kitchen" take up the majority of one long wall, and to have a large double sink, and a "normal" stove and oven.  I've been cooking on a 20" propane range in the 5th wheel for a long time, and 2 - 12" pots on adjacent burners get into a less than friendly competition on too small of a cook top.  In the oven, a roasting a full size turkey is pretty much out of the question.

Eventually, I want to have a summer kitchen with the wood cook stove in it, but that is unfortunately way out in the future.

As for the laundry, I am looking for alternatives.  I have a wonderful full size washer/dryer set in storage, but the electrical load they require and the space they would take means I cannot use them.  So I'm looking for a set up that balances the space and electricity available with the need to be sturdy enough to handle the constant use washing really dirty jeans etc.  I haven't finalized that set of decisions yet, but the combination of a propane drier, a clothesline, and a rack near the wood stove and perhaps a separate spinner to really dry things before actually drying them is part of the solution. 

Lots to think about.

[MountainDon]

LG make a combo unit. Not like the old American made stacked units you find a lot in apartments or condos, but wash and dry all in one front load unit. There are others as well that are frequently used in upscale RV's.



I think it's all electric though... bummer for small off grid systems

[considerations]

Yes Mountain Don, it's a nice one.  I think the laundry will end up being a set of compromises.  I could set up the big gen and run something like that LG unit directly.  A stacker with a propane drier is a possibility, again powered by the big gen. In the summer I love using a clothes line.  But all in all it's hard to beat the lint removing properties of some kind of dryer.