OFFGRID KITCHEN WHERE YOU WANT TO COOK
Our offgrid kitchen consisted of one utility sink when we moved. The utility sink could be used in the laundry room once the kitchen was finished. We had no hot water. We were deciding if we could afford a solar hot water system for our house offgrid, which is what I really wanted. Seems like everything we did was "pay me now or pay me later". Solar hot water systems are very expensive. I could not get a grasp on how to build one myself beyond a big rig tire tube and a garden hose with a nozzle strategically place on the roof. I did think this was a great idea. The water heats up in the tube building up pressure. It would really be an offgrid kitchen. I would like to do more research in the future.
The offgrid kitchen was built in a galley style to take advantage of the open area and have access to the dining area as well as the living room. The one who cooks or cleans is usually left out of the conversations during gatherings. That usually meant that they were not going to enjoy themselves and not be able to join in with our family and friends.
Unfinished cabinets that were supposed to go on the wall were put together and two pieces of marble that my mom had given me from coffee table were put in an "L" shape to make the offgrid kitchen prep area. The marble makes a clean work surface to cut and prepare food. This gave us four more cabinets for storage. I put a cutting board with torquise inlay that was custom made for us on top with the knives. The cabinets were the right height not to obstruct views from the dining area or the offgrid kitchen. I was putting up some shelves with my mom one day and I could not get the correct length. So, my mom measured and cut the board and it was also too short. I had a similar experience with my sister. That's when I noticed it-I have a genetic defect, none of the women in my family can measure and cut accurately. It is always too short no matter how much longer we cut a board.
We got a three well bar sink from one of our neighbors that was laying outside. I sprayed rubber from a can on the underneath side of the wells to absorb the noise from the water hitting the sinks. They are pretty deep. I love this sink. It was difficult to find a base cabinet for the oversized sink well in our offgrid kitchen. This base cabinet is 6 ft in length. It has two drawers and 4 doors. The hole for the sink was larger than the standard size so it worked well. Ron cut the plywood and the cement backer board. He attached the top so that if it could be taken off if needed. I tiled the top with tile my sister took out of her house. Thanks again Sis. There is no back splash as yet as Ron has to finish the pony wall or I am going to have to improve my carpentry skills. Right now they are pretty bad. The other side of the sink will be a tiled breakfast bar. We found a new propane stove with no electronics. No clock, timer or any gadgets of any kind. Electronics need a pure sine wave inverter to run they will not run on the modified sine. It is perfect for an off grid application.
Update 08/03/07: The half wall between the kitchen and dining area is up. This will probably be a temperary wall, it is not anchored to the floor. I was tired of looking through the counter tops and the trash containers. The wall creates a back drop for the items on the counter. It also defines the offgrid kitchen area from the dining area. It was stained the same color as the cabinets pulling it all together. Wood was used to soften the look of the concrete block. August 20, 2007: Oh, I forgot to tell you, I borrowed an electric planer from a neighbor. Thinking I was going to shave down the pony wall where I did not make a straight cut. I turned on the planer and rested it on the wood. Wood shavings started to fly. I had not cleaned off the counter before I had started so I had wood shavings in the sugar bowl, all over the counter and in the napkins. In a matter of seconds I was down to the framing wood. Then I had more to even out. Well, I created a couple more crevices that I was hoping would be covered up by the finish wood. It sort of did. I would have been better off leaving it alone. I figured, yeah, it looks rustic. When my neighbor came over and I was giving him the planer back he says to me "Do you have a wall left?". He could have told me that it eats the wood up like Pac-Man. He thought it was funny.
I tacked 6 mil clear plastic my mom got to each shelf because there are no doors. Otherwise, the dishes needed to be washed before each use. My aunt gave us an armoir that we use for a broom closet and bottles in the shelf side. It worked out perfectly. I think it will add character to our off the grid kitchen.
The top of the table is made from finish pine. It has been stained island blue. The legs are 4 x 4's and there are cross beams every 24". It is glued and screwed together with deck screws.
I had tried the stain but no matter how well I had prepared the floors the stain would scuff up. I got tired of trying to mop bare concrete floors. It was time to get something down on the floors before they were ruined. I went to the store to look for garage floor paint. I knew with the bright colors in our house that beige wasn't going to look good. Of course now this has turned into a quest. I was looking for a specific brand name. I bought it and came home and something just wasn't feeling right. When I read the instructions on how to apply it, I realized I had bought a concrete floor sealer. Now I am not a very patient person when I want to get something done. I had a long weekend off from work, it is night time and I don't have the right stuff. I wanted to paint the floors when everyone was asleep so that it could dry. Well, I had to wait until the following weekend. I had to go back to the store to return the sealer. Of course that store did not have garage floor paint exept in beige and grey. Anyway, I went to every store in town. I finally decided on this other brand. It came in forest green and brick red. The brick red would do just fine. The next week end I took the table and chairs out of the kitchen. I cleaned the floors several times. I opened up the can of garage floor paint and it was hot pink. OMG how is hot pink going to look with the rest of the house. I was goint to paint these floors no matter what. Luckily as I stirred the paint the brown pigments started to mix in and it was turning darker.
I am committed now. I knew that you could not lay tile over this stuff because it would not adhere. I painted it again over top of the paint flakes. Turns out it is a very forgiving way to do a floor. My kitchen floor now has texture as well a moderately sprinkled flakes.
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Update offgrid kitchen April 2010 Please scroll down to see how it all began.
The bottom of the screen is wire mesh and since the dog food is kept in there, I thought that would be a good thing. Bella our pitbull mix and Mya our Ridgeback like to steal. Bella (a pound puppy) has food issues....love issues, closeness issues, possessive issues, space issues...well she has issues. They cannot get into the dog food which would cause hard feelings for someone. The screen door frames were stained teal blue. We installed magnets at the top so that the doors would stay closed. Since I repainted the house in lighter colors, I think it adds some color back to the kitchen.
As you can see we took out the cabinets and making a large offgrid kitchen instead of a galley style. It opened up everything in the kitchen. The dimensions are 16' X 17'. We now have plenty of room for our 8' table and guests.
We also tiled the kitchen giving it a more finished look. Since Ron and I are both unemployed right now it will be awhile before we are able to complete the kitchen. All the time and no money. But we like what we have done so far. We have enough room so we do not feel closed in. And I still have view of the mountain.
Update: July 25, 2007-I finished the back of the pony wall today. I left a shelf up for plants and possibly some mason jars that I use. The back is stained the same color as the cabinets. Since this is a sealer I may not urethane them. I don't like the shiney look. It is more rustic to just stain. It took me about 4 hours to complete this. As I have said before my measuring and cutting is not very good. Also to hold this up and nail by myself was difficult. I had to take some of it down twice before it lined up correctly. The only thing I have left to do is the back splash. I think I am going to try stainless steel. I have a roll that I had bought to make my solar oven. If you would like to see the other side of the pony wall go to
I built the kitchen spice rack August 20, 2007. I used 1 x 4's to close the gap on the top of the cabinets. This makes cooking easier to have the spices next to the prep area. Two inch finish nails were used to nail to the cabinet and to the pony wall on the side.
1 x 2's were used to make a small divider for the spices to rest and to cover the end of the marble. I used 1 1/4 inch brad nails so that the nails did not go through the cabinets. Then it was stained the same as the cabinets. All that is left to do is the finish wood on the sides.
Update 9/04/07: I cut and attached the cement backer board for the back splash. Backer board does not cut easily. Then cut the tiles and applied the mastic. Pressed the tiles into place. Let dry for 24 hours and grouted the tiles. We had a 6 ft. oak strip for a doorway that was used to cover the top of the tiles. It had pre-drilled holes and created a small ledge for the shelf.
An old step back hutch from the Salvation Army is currently being refinished for our offgrid kitchen. It houses our dishes and pots and pans.
November 2007-We were having 10 people over for Thanksgiving and realized that we could not seat them together. With the help of one of our neighbors, we built an 8 foot table that would fit in our dining area.
This is the finished product. The table measures 8' x 32". It is solid yet light weight and very easy to move. I love this table. It is a wonderful addition to our offgrid kitchen.
Okay so it really is brick red. I had bought the paint flakes before so all I had to do was cut away the edges of the floor and roll on the paint. It went pretty quickly. I put on the first coat and let it dry for twelve hours. I put on the second coat the next day and threw the paint flakes on the floor. Naaa, it didn't look like enough flakes so I put on more. The next morning when I went out to look at the floor, it looked like it had snowed in the kitchen.
Update November 1, 2008: Oops, sorry for the interuption. I had to let the dogs in.... I am painting their room today and they still want to come in the doggie doorThis is a close up of the paint flakes in the dogs' room. I am still a bit heavy handed with the flakes, but still it is better than bare concrete. But every home is suit to taste. I have to suit to my skill level as well. It is still a very comfortable home for Ron and me.
This is the hallway that I did today. I will have to wait to put the clear epoxy over it. The reason that I ended up clear coating with epoxy is that the flakes were coming up every time I washed the kitchen floor. They kind of smeared. Finding the epoxy is another story. But in the end I did find it. The only issue that I really had is you have to mix the entire gallon of epoxy and use it all at once. It is water thin and I used very little and had to throw the rest away. At $100.00 a gallon I was a little preturbed.
