I have no space and I must cook

October 13, 2008 5:48 AM

I live in a small flat and have very limited kitchen space. I don't have a conventional oven. I do have a microwave, but want to cook more interesting meals. What kind of cooking equipment should I buy?

So, originally there was a mini-oven on the counter-top, which didn't work that well. I replaced it with a microwave oven. Originally this was mostly processed stuff, but I've become much more versatile and now I mostly use it to cook real food. I've become more interested in cooking, probably because having only a microwave to cook with has forced me to be quite creative. But even so, the meals I can make are fairly limited.

The problem is, I don't have anywhere to put any other cooking appliances. I need the remaining counter-space to actually prepare food. The oven took up a similar amount of space, which is why I had to choose between them. (I briefly considered stacking them, but having hot liquids at awkward heights seems like it'd end in skin-grafts.) I guess a combination microwave would be better, but it would be nice to be able to microwave things at the same time as cooking other stuff. I could be persuaded, though.

I can definitely store something on top of the microwave when not in use, but as I'd probably be using whatever it was on a regular basis, it would need to be light enough that moving it around wasn't a hassle. I'm considering stuff like a small toaster oven, a slow cooker or maybe a pressure cooker, but it's difficult to get an idea of how practical these would be from the information I've seen online. I still have a George Formeman grill somewhere (which was a gift), but I never used it very much and it was always annoying to clean. I don't eat meat very often, so it doesn't seem like it'd get a lot of use anyway.

I'm not all that bothered by exactly how I expand my cooking options, just adding more variety would be nice. I'm on a tight budget - I'd guess the maximum I can spend on this would be £100 - but cheaper is better. Thanks for your ideas!

posted by xchmp to food & drink (25 comments total)

Here's a few options, in the reverse order from what I recommend:


1) A toaster oven that you can put in a cabinet or closet when you don't use it.

2) A microwave safe steamer.

3) Definitely a slow cooker. Thousands of recipes are out there.

4) A rice cooker.
posted by Pants! at 5:56 AM on October 13, 2008

Definitely a crock pot. You can throw some stuff in it in the morning and come home to find your supper all ready. You can bake bread in it. I got mine for $3 at a thrift store six years ago and it's still cooking away.
posted by orange swan at 6:01 AM on October 13, 2008

I get tons of use from my electric griddle.

I use it for everything from pancakes to steak. Yes it takes some counter space to use, but it can store on end easily.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 6:14 AM on October 13, 2008

Just to note that if you do get a combination microwave, the appliance will likely get hot on the outside when used as a conventional oven and that will limit being able to keep stuff on top of it. They are handy though.
posted by mandal at 6:29 AM on October 13, 2008

Get a toaster oven. Personally, I'd even advise clearing out the microwave- there's (almost) nothing it does, really, that a stove or toaster oven can't do, just a little more slowly; it also reduces the impulse to eat packaged, processed frozen foods. Really, once you live without one, you quickly wonder why you bothered in the first place. (caveat: yes, I know they're great if you have kids)

I wouldn't bother with a rice cooker unless you eat a lot of rice. They're nice, but it's a lot of real estate for a single-purpose tool.
posted by mkultra at 6:29 AM on October 13, 2008

Rice cooker and crockpot - I have a fullsize kitchen and still do half my cooking in these appliances.

This post from Just Bento has good tips for the stovetop-challenged/dorm-room cooks as well.
posted by catlet at 6:35 AM on October 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

It sounds as if you have some kind of stovetop cooker if you're considering a pressure cooker. Gas? Electric? How many elements?

If you want something that will bake, roast, crisp and/or brown food, using relatively dry heat. I wouldn't recommend a combo microwave-convection oven because it sounds as if you already have a perfectly serviceable microwave, and the combo units are generally overpriced.

The pressure cooker is a neat tool, and I certainly use mine, but while it will speed up a lot of cooking, especially beans, it's not an oven substitute. This book, which I use for all sorts of things, promises things like cheesecake, but I haven't tried any of those recipes yet. I'd recommend a small toaster oven and/or an electric frying pan first. Slow cookers are also great overall, but look for a good recipe book like this one that shows you how to prep things for a few minutes first for better results. The author has several other books available.

You may be able to find a toaster oven that will hang from the top cabinet, but you do need some clearance to make this happen.
posted by maudlin at 6:37 AM on October 13, 2008

You could get something like this multicooker that does slow cooking, steaming and rice. I've also seen similar shallow ones that do frying as well.

I used to have a baby belling mini oven and it worked brilliantly, so don't be put off if you've got the money for one.
posted by Not Supplied at 6:40 AM on October 13, 2008

A slow cooker/crock pot will do everything from stews to steamed sponge puddings.

An electric griddle will do everything from grilled vegetables to a fry up.

We use both of ours all the time.

You could get this (simple, all you need) and this (the 'outside' griddle is good for doing eggs for Sunday morning fry-ups) for way under a hundred, leaving you spare change for some cookbooks!

They can be put away when you don't need them and between them, will cook almost anything unless it needs baked.
posted by dowcrag at 6:46 AM on October 13, 2008

Do you have a conventional gas or electric or induction cooktop? If so, have you considered getting no new appliances at all, and instead exploring what you can do with the cooktop you've got? You can do a great variety of cooking with ordinary pots and pans and a source of intense heat. You can boil, saute, fry, braise, steam. No new appliance is going to expand your horizons as much as would simply learning more about cooking would.
posted by jon1270 at 6:52 AM on October 13, 2008

Personally, I'd even advise clearing out the microwave- there's (almost) nothing it does, really, that a stove or toaster oven can't do, just a little more slowly; it also reduces the impulse to eat packaged, processed frozen foods.

A dissent: I often make big pots of soup, dole them out into single-serving containers, and freeze them, and use my microwave to reheat them a lot. True, you're still eating frozen food, but it's frozen food that you made yourself...

Seconding toaster oven and crock pot.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:53 AM on October 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

Oops. Strike the extra 'would.'
posted by jon1270 at 6:53 AM on October 13, 2008

Ditch the microwave.

Get a toaster over. You can bake in it as long as you find pans that can fit in it. Consider pans when you buy the toaster oven. If you can get a taller toaster oven, some things cook better if the elements are farther from the food -- however, toast is not one of these things. Aluminum foil can be placed over foods that have cooked enough on top but need more time in the oven.

If you don´t have a stove top, consider getting a single electric burner, a small frying pan, and a taller pan you can cook pasta and the like in. Don´t get one if you are klutzy or have children around, as they have an exposed horribly hot heating element. You will need a little space around it when it is in use, but after it cools off you can easily put it away in a cabinet. You´ll be able to cook most things that you could on a stove top, but it´s not safe to use for really gigantic pots that would be fine on a regular stove.

Crock pots are nice for certain things that take a long time to cook, and you can store one in a cabinet when not in use. If you have a full size fridge, you can do larger batches and reheat things later. This might be a reason to keep the microwave.
posted by yohko at 6:57 AM on October 13, 2008

It sounds as if you have some kind of stovetop cooker if you're considering a pressure cooker.

No stovetop, unfortunately. I think you can get electric pressure cookers, though.
posted by xchmp at 7:09 AM on October 13, 2008

You operate in pounds, so you're in the UK, right? Ditch the microwave and get this. It maxes out your budget, but it will enable you to cook much more creatively than you could with a rice cooker or mini-grill. You'll be able to do almost anything you want to.

The only possible problems I can think of are:
-You won't have any creativity-enhancing constraints any more, and will have nothing to stop you doing endless stir-fries and pasta-pesto meals
-You probably have very cheap pans, if any, and cooking on flat hotplates with cheap pans can be very frustrating for fiddly things like pancakes. It's doable - I had such a combo for much of my time at university, and managed some pretty fancy fare - but annoying, as the pans don't hold or distribute heat properly (for some reason this is worse than it is with gas hobs).

Otherwise, get the largest, fanciest slow cooker you can. The small ones with only a few heat settings are fine as a supplemental cooking device, but if you want to do a range of cooking - steaming, roasting, and so forth - you'll find yourself really using the size (think about being able to fit in an entire small chicken, loaf of bread or cake tin) and the different temperatures.
posted by Acheman at 7:15 AM on October 13, 2008

With no cooktop, I'd get a good quality hotplate before investing in more specialized equipment. Induction models are probably best, but they don't work with all types of cookware.
posted by jon1270 at 7:16 AM on October 13, 2008

You can do things other than meat on a George Foreman grill. (Believe me, it's a lot less hassle to clean after you've used it to grill zuchini than when it's covered in bacon grease!)

Since you have one already, I'd suggest looking for alternate uses of the Foreman. Otherwise, I'm Nthing the crockpot/slow cooker.
posted by the latin mouse at 7:24 AM on October 13, 2008

Also.
posted by mandal at 7:31 AM on October 13, 2008

Great advice everyone. Thanks! So here's what I'm thinking at the minute:

I should dig out my old George Foreman grill and see what I can do with it. I also like the look of the multicooker that Not Supplied linked to. And I'll be thinking about getting an electric griddle in the future.

Other suggestions are definitely still welcome.
posted by xchmp at 7:53 AM on October 13, 2008

It's a little over your price range but if you have no hob you might want to consider the Baby Belling Pronto a table top induction hob. The problem with most table top hobs, especially the ones that are a solid piece of cast iron, is that they heat up and cool down slowly, which makes temperature control difficult. Worse still the solid cast iron one do so by switching a thermostat on and off .

An induction hob should give you a similar responsiveness and should work well in combination with a microwave used to cook rice or steam veg for example.
posted by tallus at 8:34 AM on October 13, 2008

Sorry, totally missed the bit about already having a Foreman grill and not eating much meat. In which case get a table-top induction hob and/or multicooker.
posted by dowcrag at 9:03 AM on October 13, 2008

Rice Cooker... here is a good collection of recipes. You could get pretty creative with alternate ingredients as well as herbs/spices/sauces. I'm just learning to branch out with mine beyond rice only. The simplest complete meal I make is steaming rice, placing fish or chicken breasts and a vegetable layer (frozen stir-fry type vegs or a single veg like broccoli) in the steamer above...I reduce the water in the rice by about 1/4. i.e. 2 cups rice, 1 1/2 cups water, to allow for the liquids from the steamer that drain into the rice as it all cooks. Adding a few herbs and some lemon to the top steamer before starting cooker is great. With an electric skillet, this meal can be recycled in a day or two into a great rice/veg/fish stir-fry--and that would be my other appliance of choice...The electric skillet can do just about anything you can't do in the rice cooker. And both can be easily stowed.
posted by mumstheword at 9:08 AM on October 13, 2008

1) Crock pot. Awesome invention! Tons of stuff you can do with it.
2) Foreman grill. great for burgers, sandwiches, steaks, chicken, etc.
3). Microwave steamer.

This is all I could think of off the top of my head. Hope it helps.
posted by Mastercheddaar at 9:27 AM on October 13, 2008

Thanks so much everyone! I've just ordered one of those Tefal 4-in-1 cookers (does rice, slow cooking, steaming and, uh, porridge). I eat a lot of rice anyway, even though it can be annoying to cook in the microwave, so that helps. If I could afford it, I'd definitely go for the Baby Belling stuff that a couple of people have suggested, but it's just a bit outside my price range right now. The other suggestions definitely give me things to consider in the future as funds allow, though. But I have to admit, I'm kind of curious to find out how far I can take this no-conventional-oven thing.
posted by xchmp at 11:42 AM on October 13, 2008

Induction hotplates can be had for quite cheap these days (e.g.) and I can't recomend them highly enough.
posted by primer_dimer at 4:47 AM on October 14, 2008