Homestead Kitchen Layout

A homestead kitchen should be a place that allows for comfortable working with ease. Most homesteaders do a lot of from scratch cooking so a homesteading kitchen must be functional for the user!

The Ideal Homestead Kitchen

Everyone’s ideal kitchen looks a little bit different- especially among homesteaders. For some the ideal homestead kitchen is off-grid with a wood cookstove, gas or solar powered refrigerator, and basic tools. While other homesteaders may not mind using electricity and having tools to simplify the job. And still others may prefer to do most of their cooking outdoors, camping style!

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There is no one size fits all homestead kitchen. You need to determine your budget and favorite style. Below you’ll find some examples of my current kitchen and our previous one because that is my experience. It’s not going to work for everyone but hopefully it gives you some ideas.

General Kitchen Layout Tips

If you are truly spending a lot of time in the kitchen, efficiency and a comfortable work area is key. As such, these kitchen tips apply to any home but especially homesteads because of the time in the kitchen.

Tip #1 Utilize a work triangle

The work triangle in a kitchen is the placement of the sink, refrigerator, and range/oven.  Each of those should form a triangle. Below is an example from my kitchen.

There is recommend guidelines but keep in mind they aren’t absolutely set it stone. According to Cliq Studios:

• The sum of the three sides of the triangle should not exceed 26 feet.
• Each leg should measure between 4 and 9 feet.
• No side of the triangle should cut through a kitchen island or peninsula by more than 12 inches.
• No major traffic patterns should cross through the triangle.
• A second triangle can be created by adding a second sink to an island or fourth-wall peninsula. This is also a way to create a specialty workstation for baking or vegetable prep.

Tip #2 Space out kitchen aisles

Have plenty of space in kitchen aisles. This is not talked about much but it is HUGELY important. 

In a previous home, before we remodeled the space between the island and the cabinets was 32 inches. It was SO tight.

If you want an island I recommend at least 4 feet  of space between the island and the adjacent wall or countertop. 

Ours has 5 feet and I love it. I enjoy the extra space because it’s enough room to open the dishwasher and load and someone can still pass by. See photo above for an idea of how wide 5 feet is between the space.

It’s also enough room for multiple cooks to be in the kitchen at one time. Five feet is not a magic number, it’s just my personal preference. I recommend testing somehow to find your ideal aisle space. 

I will also say that it really works with the scale of our home. With a smaller home, smaller walkways and aisles could fit the space better. Just make sure you don’t find yourself too cramped.

Put tape on the ground or set up a table and next to counter tops so you can visualize and get a good idea of what kind of walkways are comfortable for you.

Tip #3 Keep the Dishwasher and Dinnerware next to the Sink

Dishwasher should be right next to the sink. Plates, bowls, cups, and silverware should be very close to the dishwasher. Even if you don’t have or want a dishwasher, store all dinnerware close to the sink so it’s easy to put away. 

Of course there will be a few large pots and pans that may be stored in another area, but all long as all the small stuff is stored close, you’ll save yourself a lot of steps.

Homestead Kitchen Layout- examples from experience

Below you’ll see our current kitchen and the kitchen from our previous home that we remodeled. They are different but both functioned so well. 

Current Home

Homestead Kitchen Layout Decisions

Here are some layout decisions we made in the kitchen that we prioritized for lots of cooking from scratch. 

This list is mostly luxuries, not necessities. Some of these we could only do once we moved to a larger home. So keep in mind, these are examples, not an essentials list. If you are building, remodeling, or dreaming, hopefully this helps spark ideas!

1. Two ranges

We bought two standard size 30 inch wide GE Cafe ranges and placed them side by side. This is by far, the best choice we made for the kitchen. We use both pretty much every day, especially during preserving season. 

It was cheaper to purchase two standard sizes rather than a 60 inch range. The other nice part is that if something breaks only one would need to be replaced.

By the way, we did break one of the cooktops on a range. We had a cast iron lid slide off the side of a pan and it cracked the cooktop. GE sent us a new cooktop since we were still under warranty and Cam installed it himself. It was an easy fix!

2. A Large Sink

Back when we lived in a house that was 2000 square feet, we remodeled the kitchen. One of my priorities was getting a large sink. I didn’t care if it looked out of place in a smaller kitchen, I knew it would be functional. 

When we installed it, it looked HUGE but after using it a while, I determined I couldn’t live without it! We bought the exact same sink for our new home.

The functional part of the large farmhouse sink for me as a homesteader is that I can fit a 30 quart pot in this sink with ease. Larger pots are used for canning and a big, one basin sink allows for easy washing without having water spill all over.

3. Keep the Pantry Close

The pantry should be as close to the kitchen as possible. As a child and for the first 15 years of my marriage, we never had a pantry. We used cabinets and stored all our jars and dry storage food in the basement. It was inconvenient but we had to make it work.

Fast forward to our current situation and we prioritized the pantry. We have two pantries off the kitchen with different storage temperatures for food. 

I miss the basement sometimes for the natural cool temperatures but I still prefer the convenience of having a pantry just steps away from the kitchen. 

4. Lots of Storage

If you’re a kitchen gadget lover like me, having lots of storage space is important. It doesn’t necessarily need to all be in cabinets. You could store things in a hutch or buffet table or add open shelving to the kitchen.

5. Sufficient Counter Top Work Space 

You’ll never be disappointed about having too much countertop space in a kitchen. Oftentimes I find myself working on one side of the island preserving something, while the kids decide its time for their fifth snack of the day (I’m only half joking).  Then take over the other side of the island to prepare some food. 

Usually the “snack” is homemade breadsticks, paninis, a fruit smoothie, etc. Remember I said we cook from scratch a lot? The kids don’t warm up pizza bites or corn dogs. Which is good, except for the mess of making food from scratch, haha! 

Almost every snack and meal is a production with lots of ingredients, time, and cookware involved. That is why we utilize almost all our countertops every single day.

Hopefully that helps explain why counter top space is important especially on a homestead. 

If you are an empty nester or single person the counter top space needed would look different than ours. However, one good helpful thing to remember for a kitchen no matter what the size, is it’s more useful to have a long run or section of countertop space rather than lots of short, small areas.

Options for adding countertop space without adding more counters

If you don’t have a lot of countertop space and can’t remodel, consider adding a movable cart, island, or table. In the summer when preserving a lot and there is no extra room in the house, set a table in a shady spot or on a covered porch and prep vegetables there.

Even though I have enough countertop space, we love being outside when the weather allows it. We set up a table on the back porch and prepare dinners there sometimes in the summer.

Want to see more than the kitchen? Here are the house plans for our homestead, with details of what we did and why.