Wall St. Jnl 6-11-14 Personal Journal Section

[tomturbomatic]

How Everything Plus the Kitchen Sink Fits in a Teeny Home by Ellen Byron

Anticipating greater demand for appliances that will fit in so-called micro-apartments or living spaces of around 450 sq ft, General Electric Co. designed an entire kitchen inside a 6-foot-long chest of drawers.

The micro-kitchen is hard working with an induction cooktop, two ovens, a sink, a dishwasher and two cooling drawers, each able to function as a refrigerator or freezer and all contained in a module no taller than a standard kitchen counter. A separate module contains a washer and dryer.

A boom in high-rise construction is boosting demand for compact kitchen appliances as 20-somethings and empty-nester baby boomers move to cities, says Lou lenzi, GE Appliances director of industrial design. "That led us to know that we needed to change the design of our appliances." Builders like that the module needs just one water line. Draining a sink placed directly above a dishwasher was a challenge, though. A pump was required.

GE plans to share the design with an online community of consumers and desgners later this month so they can suggest modifications and create their own designs. GE plans to start producing the final version by year-end with an expected price tag of $15000.00

From the photo captions:

MULTITASKER: A glass cooktop surface accommodates induction-compatible pans of all sizes. The groove running along the top of the splash guard is an inductive charging station for smartphones and tablets. Appliance timers are displayed on the front-facing counter edge, and controls and energy-use monitors are on top.

CHILL AND CHILLER: Two cooling drawers can be programmed to function independently as a refrigerator or freezer. The lower drawer is deep enough for a one gallon milk jug.

HOT ZONE: The top drawer is a GE Advantium oven with microwave, convection, 'speedcook" and warming options. The lower drawer is a regular convection oven.

PREP STATION: A touch-sensor on the faucet controls water temperature. The walnut cutting board fits inside the rim of the sink, freeing up counter space.

IT'S A WASH: The 24-inch-wide dishwasher drawer holds several place settings' worth of dishes.

 

[tolivac]

There is NO WAY THIS "Baby boomer" is moving to a city-HAD ENOUGH of city life-the further I can get from big cities--the BETTER-and still want a real HOUSE-not some overgrown homeless shelter.I so much like the QUIET of the countrysides!

 

[abcomatic]

tolivac

I agree! This "Baby boomer" likes the country too. I live in a village of 850 people in rural Illinois, north of Peoria. Not much in the line of services, but we do have electricity, water, natural gas, cable and hard roads. lol Low taxes and a 10 room house is a far cry from a condo somewhere.

 

[hydralique]

A GE Unit Kitchen?

Cool, sure hope they offer it in turquoise!

 

[jeffg]

"Anticipating greater demand for appliances that will fit in so-called micro-apartments or living spaces of around 450 sq ft, General Electric Co."

Over my cold dead body.

Once again, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN CAPITALISM IS FORCED TO COMPETE WITH COMMUNIST SOCIALISM.

 

[tolivac]

Micro-homes and apartments?You have LESS space than a basic camper--this is STUPID-what sort of DUMB "planner" comes up with this noise?HE can live in that undersized home-a place that doesn't have much more room than a fridge box a homeless person lives in!!thanks I will stay in my REAL home in the country!!!I say AMEN to Jeffs comment!!!NO big city micro box for me!! Forget it!!!I want to live where a guy can BREATHE!!!I am also claustrophobic!

 

[hydralique]

There is nothing stupid about a small apartment, anymore than a larger home is stupid. As an architect I’ve learned that different people have different preferences with regard to spaces. While I will comment on the merits of different floorplans I won’t tell someone how much space they should have based only on my own personal preferences.

 

Right now I have clients who are purchasing a 9000 sf house. We added some space to their old 5000 sf house recently but they still felt tight; when the third child came along they started househunting in earnest. On the other hand many years ago my grandfather sold his boat and a pretty nice house located a mile from the beach to buy a larger boat so he could live aboard. It was his dream and he loved it until he was too old to live there even though it meant getting rid of lots of possessions. Plenty of other people would rather live in a small space than spend time commuting every day. I live in a suburban part of the city by choice but back when I worked for someone else I had to allot an hour each way to make the 17 miles from my house to the office in Brentwood. I put up with the drive to live in a place with a backyard but not everyone would make the same choice.

I’m delighted to see a major American appliance manufacturer try to think beyond the box in terms of what they can build. There was plenty of creativity in the ‘50s and ‘60s but that petered out in the ‘70s and left us with a limited number of appliance sizes and configurations. A compact unit kitchen would not only suit a small apartment but also be attractive for poolhouses and guesthouses on a larger property.

 

[arbilab]

I live in a 15yo (government) overgrown homeless shelter. Trust me, you're right, you don't want that. If there is any other option.

It's very near the sq ft but still manages (minimum) standard stove and fridge. The worst/most marginal I have EVER had to tolerate, but a healthy cut above a refrigerator crate. Lot to be said for aircon and running hot water when that's all you can afford INCLUDING g'ment assistance.

Think the best suite in a Howard Johnson motel, plus an encyclopedic rulebook of things you CAN'T do. You have no idea until/unless it happens to you.

 

[jeffg]

Hydralique, 450 sq. ft. is a studio, or at most a 1-bedroom apartment. Fine for one or two people but unsuitable for any typical American family. My point is that no bottom exists to the pit of lowered expectations, e.g. in large Japanese cities people sleep in morgue-like chambers inside walls. Sound good?

 

[davey7]

Baby Boomers/empty nesters

My soon-to-be new neighbors are moving from somewhere in suburban Texas (San Antonio iirc) to our inner-city building, so some people certainly are doing it upon retirement. And they're keeping the one remaining 1950's air conditioning unit in their unit. For now.

 

[mattl]

Why all the knee jerk reactions?  What is wrong with a broad marketplace where products are available to fit whatever need might arise?  The latest generation have made it clear they are not into big homes and lots of stuff.  A smart manufacturer will plan for this and position themselves for that.  How is that socialism?  Communism?

 

[jeffg]

"The latest generation have made it clear they are not into big homes and lots of stuff. A smart manufacturer will plan for this and position themselves for that."

Best of luck to them. Currently the average new home size in the U.S. is ~2400 sq ft., close to its all-time high of 2600. Even the charts don't go lower than 800 sq ft.

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kbenfield/us_home_size_preferences_final.html

 

[hydralique]

Jeff,

I know exactly how large 450 sf is but you made the most important point: in many cases it’s adequate for one or two people who are happy with small scale living. To make such a small space really liveable everything needs to be properly scaled; standard furniture and appliances are often wasteful in this circumstance so I applaud GE for taking some action on this point. I’ve spent time in Japan and while they generally live in smaller spaces than we do they have also developed lots of ingenious designs to reduce size while maintaining function.

As your linked Trulia chart indicates, shortly after the end of WWII when homebuilding on an industrial scale became a major American industry there was a huge market for 1000-1300 sf “starter” homes that were seen as suitable for a typical family of a working husband, stay at home wife and two or three small children. There was one bedroom for the parents, one for the boys and one for the girls, but no home offices, studies, home theater rooms, great rooms, etc. It may have been a little cramped but plenty of families happily survived and thrived. On a sf/person basis these homes were often in the same ballpark as two people in 450-500 sf. Average new home sizes gradually increased through the ‘70s until things started to get a lot bigger in the ‘80s and beyond, accompanied by corresponding growth in exurbs at the fringe of large metro areas since there wasn’t building space left in many established suburbs.

What we are now seeing is renewed interest in urban living and these small scale units are great for people who don’t have huge budgets but want to be near desirable parts of a city for reasons of work or entertainment. They’re not for everybody but it makes more sense for some people to live in 450 sf where they prefer to be than pay the same for double that in a suburb or exurb and then spend 10-15 hours each week commuting. Choosing small scale urban living doesn’t necessarily indicate lowered expectations but can in fact be the opposite for people who place more value on having lots of urban amenities and their work close by than on how much sheer space they can afford.

 

[tomturbomatic]

A small urban studio might also be just the thing for someone who has to be near the workplace for 3 or 4 days a week, but then can go to the country place for the rest of the workweek and the weekend. This could fit the pattern of lots of those people making BIG BUCKS in the corporate world. It's called a pied a terre.

 

[davey7]

I have friends who have chosen to live in small one-bedroom apartments and even studios (adult friends, not Millenials, I should add) or to have roommates in bigger units.

One thing I've noticed is that in multi-family housing the space standards have dropped (maybe overall square footages not, but effective living space) and room sizes are smaller than in older apartments (i.e. 1980's versus today), particularly in places like Chicago, which once had much larger housing sizes than the national average, don't know where we rank today.