7 Problem-Solving Amazon Products Tiny House Dwellers Swear By
If you’re living in a tiny house—or are just squeezed into a micro-studio—there’s no room for oversized anything. To that end, we asked some folks who are square foot-challenged to share their fave space-saving and/or double-duty Amazon purchases. All seven are excellent small-space problem solvers you can steal if your real estate is relatively tiny, too:
Find one kitchen appliance with endless uses
Ah, the Instant Pot. It’s the ‘can’t live without’ item, thanks to its versatility, says Lindsay McKenzie, a blogger who lives in a motorhome with her husband and two dogs.
“It’s a pressure cooker, slow cooker, yogurt maker, and steamer—and so much more—all in one handy pot,” she says. “That means fewer appliances to store, one pot to clean, and it allows us to stay healthy even though cooking at home is challenging in a tiny kitchen!”
Seek out a collapsible basket
When space is at a premium, you want to find items that deliver maximum usage and use up minimum real estate. Michelle Young de Ron of We and the Three, who lives on a Bluewater yacht with her family of five in Islamorada, Florida, recommends this foldable market basket in her home.
“We love using this when we go shopping for produce at the farmer’s market,” she says.
Source a cute—but powerful—mini grill
“A big part of living tiny is enjoying the outside,” says Joshua Engberg, co-author of “Tiny House Basics: Living the Good Life in Small Spaces.” And that means moving some of your indoor activities, like cooking, out of doors.
Engberg has been using this pellet grill for two-plus years, and uses it, among other things, to smoke meats and grill veggies. He especially likes that it compactly folds up for storage, can be powered with a car’s power adapter, and is controllable via a WiFi-enabled smartphone app.
Make cleaning a compact chore
“We love this cordless Dyson vacuum,” de Ron says. “It’s compact, powerful and versatile.”
Seek out a good quality pan to do it all
“Good quality pans eliminate the need for a big set of pots,” Engberg says. “We do all our cooking on these FINEX non-stick cast iron pans that have a milled bottom and have cut down on the need for a lot of [extra] cookware.”
Use vertical space efficiently—and decoratively
“Two things that were very important to me while I was designing my house were space efficiency and greenery,” says Annie Colpitts, who designed and built a 8.5-foot by 20-foot home on wheels and blogs about her experiences on Pocket Manor.
“I use macrame plant hangers and some simple plant hanging hooks. They ensure that my plants don’t take up valuable counter top space while also putting them in range of more sunlight.”
Save your counter space
“When it comes to tiny living, counter and table-top space is incredibly valuable,” Colpitts says. “I designed my kitchen to be as efficient as possible, trying to use the vertical space for as much storage as I could manage to avoid a lot of digging around in drawers. I used a set of spice shelves from IKEA, on which I put a quick coat of stain to help them match my other shelves and I added cup hooks to the underside of half of my shelves to store my collection of coffee cups.”
