Tiny kitchen gets too hot in the summer

PeanutMama

Mon, May 23 2022, 9:58 am

^basically.

We have an ac in the dining room but our apt is laid out in a way so the kitchen is not getting ac air in it.
Our dining room and kitchen windows are on the same side of the building and when I am cooking in the summer it gets hot really quick and we all get cranky and sweaty lol.
No place for a fan. Our kitchen is crammed with the fridge, washing and drying machine oven fridge and cabinets. Honestly my husband and I have to walk sideways (for example he’s cooking some eggs and I’m taking out a load from the washing machine) to fit in there so it’s really better for everyone around to go one person at a time.

I would get a bit claustrophobic when my kids and my husband are in the kitchen with me haha but that’s not so important right now.

What would you do to keep cool?

Elfrida

Mon, May 23 2022, 10:07 am

I'd put up some kind of blind over the windows to stop the sun coming in.

Is there room for a wall fan? Or a ceiling fan?That helps move the air a bit and doesn't take up floor space.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, May 23 2022, 10:10 am

Why no room for a ceiling fan? Take out whatever light fixture is there and replace it with a fixture that has a light AND a fan. We have a tiny kitchen and thats what we did.

Cheiny

Mon, May 23 2022, 11:19 am

Always LOL wrote:

Put in an ac in the kitchen, what else?

goodmorning

Mon, May 23 2022, 11:51 am

If you have room for a wall-mounted fan, we have this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod.....psc=1 and it made a big difference to our kitchen.

Bnei Berak 10

Mon, May 23 2022, 11:58 am

Wall mounted fan. We got one last year (after having a floorfan in the kitchen)
We do have an AC but a fan gives you the breeze.
Yes, sometimes I need to adjust the fan because of the gas flames

Not_in_my_town

Mon, May 23 2022, 12:48 pm

If you have room in the hallway you can get a stand fan that blows into the kitchen. Also position one so that it sucks up the ac and blows it to the fan closest to kitchen. It might not work magic, but it will move some of the AC that way.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, May 23 2022, 2:28 pm

Always LOL wrote:

There are tiny fans to fit a small kitchen?

(Also I’m not sure if we’re supposed to do these types of improvements since we rent)

We have the smallest size ceiling fan in our tiny kitchen. There are small fans.
Also, why not ask your landlord. Maybe they will fit the kitchen with something.

PeanutMama

Mon, May 23 2022, 2:30 pm

Not_in_my_town wrote:

So the dining room has a doorway directly into the kitchen and basically when you turn left there’s the kitchen but right in front there’s the sinks fridge and cabinets against the 2 walls. It’s literally like a rectangle. Then right out of the kitchen is the dining room and the ac is on the right side facing diagonally to the other corner. There’s a little part that moves the blades so the air can go in other directions but it just never reaches the kitchen.

We have blinds both windows but when summer is here it’s already humid and hot and when the stove and oven is hot it gets hotter

Last edited by PeanutMama on Mon, May 23 2022, 2:32 pm; edited 1 time in total

PeanutMama

Mon, May 23 2022, 2:31 pm

shabbatiscoming wrote:

We have the smallest size ceiling fan in our tiny kitchen. There are small fans.
Also, why not ask your landlord. Maybe they will fit the kitchen with something.

Thanks!

We’ll ask iyH.

Blessing1

Mon, May 23 2022, 9:06 pm

Always LOL wrote:

No the window is barred through

We used to have the kitchen you're describing. I put in an exhaust fan in the window, it made a huge huge difference. It sucked out all the hot air. I also didn't spend much time in the kitchen in the summer and we ate in the dining room.

Amarante

Mon, May 23 2022, 9:59 pm

As others have posted. a small exhaust fan can help.

However the reality is that the kitchen in summer will be hot whatever you do unless you have central air conditioning.

If you look at cooking articles from the time people cooked a different way - much more seasonally and not just in terms of what produce was in season.

They didn't cook stuff that heated up the kitchen like an oven would do and they didn't cook stuff that required someone to spend a lot of time in the kitchen over the stove.

If possible people would try to make things that could be made early in the day when things were cooler in the kitchen. People ate cold dishes - side salads that were cooked in advance. Even cold soups

And certain appliances don't heat up the kitchen like a crockpot.

And of course it isn't feasible for everyone but cooking outside on the grill is the classic summer cooking thing to avoid the heat of the kitchen.

icebreaker

Mon, May 23 2022, 10:06 pm

I only cooked during the cooler parts of the day. So early morning and later when the sun went down (made dinner for the next day at night). The kitchen was still hot, but I didn’t really go in there during the day, so it didn’t bother me too much.

PeanutMama

Mon, May 23 2022, 10:38 pm

icebreaker wrote:

That’s really smart. I will start cooking at night.

Sometimes my brain just isn’t cooperating with me so I’m completely out of ideas most days 😂