our house doesn't have a kitchen

[james1995]

our newly built house did not come with a kitchen.  is this common? all we have is just one big living room with some bedrooms attached.  we have put everything out the back, including a stove and a place to clean the dishes.  i really don't mind. i don't see any need to have a kitchen inside anyways.  just a mini fridge for drinks is all i need.  i let the ladies take care of the cooking.

[giddyup]

Depends, in most gated villages the houses tend to have a western style kitchen, but the rural Thais, or should I say traditional, tend to have a kitchen outside, some have both. We have another gas bottle outside that my partner cooks all the smelly stuff like seafood and some Thai dishes on, keeps the strong smells out of the house.

Edited August 30, 2018 by giddyup

[UncleTouchyFingers]

Sounds about right. Thais usually cook outside (rural) due to the smells and chilis and all. Fry up some chili in a wok inside your house and its almost like getting pepper sprayed. 

 

My kitchen is inside though. When I got the house the "kitchen" was nothing more than some tile counter tops and a sink. 

[BEVUP]

Im in a Moo Baan in the middle of Korat (5 yr old ) still building some

 

Have a small kitchen which only came with a 2mtr bench top with a single sink in it 

[Deli]

Look at my avatar... and you understand

[Kerryd]

29 minutes ago, Deli said:

Look at my avatar... and you understand

Can't believe she's wearing flip-flops inside the house !! ?

[Andrew Dwyer]

Yup, seems to be common in new Moobahn houses ( the ones I saw when house hunting anyway ), a small basic kitchen is provided with a tiled worktop and a sink.
It’s adequate for basic needs, a sink, fridge and a ceramic hob .
Outside is where the action is and all the toxic cooking goes on.

[Kerryd]

A friend of mine just had a house built up near Chum Pae (outside of Korat).
Same thing, one big open room, 2 bedrooms and a bathroom and that's it.

 

There is a small counter in one corner of the main room that is the "kitchen". In many cases all the cooking (and washing) is done out back of the house. As others have said, it keeps the smells out (and all the grease, and insects, etc, etc). I think the counter is meant for the rice cooker and whatever dishes they may have. Not even any cupboards !

In a lot of cases, many people may not even cook a lot themselves and may just buy whatever they want for that day from assorted food vendors and then have just a rice cooker in the house (and a couple of bowls and plates with some utensils). 
I saw one house in Sa Kaeo that actually had a nice sized kitchen with a double sink, 2 long counter tops and enough room to put an "island" (or small dining table) in it and they were cooking outside on the back patio and washing all the dishes out there as well.
I shook my head when I looked at the counter tops which were cluttered with assorted plastic bags full of more plastic bags and other junk.
But they were happy with it so what can you do ?

Edited August 31, 2018 by Kerryd

[transam]

As my place design did have a small kitchen I altered it to incorporate that space to the dinning area and built a 40 foot long kitchen on the back of the house with open ends. After one year of wind and rain I blocked the ends up with walls and doors. Fitted an extractor fan over the hob plus can close the door to the dinning area if smelly stuff is going on...?

[Spidey]

I have recently moved into my house and had a, state of the art, European style kitchen fitted before we moved in.

 

My wife is still adamant that she want's a second outside kitchen. On this, I have put my foot down.

 

I took great pains when designing and installing the kitchen that it would be bug proof. I don't want lizard crap, ants, cockroaches and even rats anywhere near my food. Outside kitchens are really unhygienic.

 

With the internal kitchen door shut and extractor fan on, cooking smells pervading the rest of the house don't present a problem.

Edited August 31, 2018 by Spidey

[user564545]

Years ago when I was looking at renting a terraced houses I noticed that many were without a kitchen and those that had a kitchen were all add-ons.

When I asked my partner about this I was told that most terraced housed in rural Thailand were built without a kitchen to keep the price down and the house builders profits to a maximum.

The piece of land at the back of each house is for the new home owner to add their own kitchen on.

 

Chances are that if you are living in a terraced house in the Bangkok region that you will notice that the kitchen is in fact an extension to the house.

[Pilotman]

My house doesn't have a kitchen inside and we didn't want one in the house.  It always makes me laugh when I see westerners trying to build their little western boxes here in Thailand.  Why have a kitchen inside, why cook inside, why have something that, with the blinds drawn,  means you could be at home in the west.  It doesn't make any sense to me.  We built a kitchen area outside and  one under cover in a utility room.  Works great.  All we do it the house is boil water for coffee.  

[BEVUP]

4 minutes ago, Spidey said:

I have recently moved into my house and had a, state of the art, European style kitchen fitted before we moved in.

 

My wife is still adamant that she want's a second outside kitchen. On this, I have put my foot down.

 

I was planning the same thing once, but another expat warned me of this 

ended up with one basic one inside & the main cooking one outside - built ok with doors & Auss shade cloth ect ect 

[transam]

5 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

My house doesn't have a kitchen inside and we didn't want one in the house.  It always makes me laugh when I see westerners trying to build their little western boxes here in Thailand.  Why have a kitchen inside, why cook inside, why have something that, with the blinds drawn,  means you could be at home in the west.  It doesn't make any sense to me.  We built a kitchen area outside and  one under cover in a utility room.  Works great.  All we do it the house is boil water for coffee.  

I would suggest most of the civilised planet has a kitchen inside, if you want ants,rats and snakes visiting your grub that's up to you..?

[Spidey]

11 minutes ago, secondfusilier said:

Years ago when I was looking at renting a terraced houses I noticed that many were without a kitchen and those that had a kitchen were all add-ons.

When I asked my partner about this I was told that most terraced housed in rural Thailand were built without a kitchen to keep the price down and the house builders profits to a maximum.

The piece of land at the back of each house is for the new home owner to add their own kitchen on.

 

Chances are that if you are living in a terraced house in the Bangkok region that you will notice that the kitchen is in fact an extension to the house.

Exactly the situation with the first house that I rented in Pattaya. Every morning I would come into the kitchen to be greeted by cockroaches scurrying away and ants covering the worktops. Also had visits from lizards and once found one of those poisonous centipedes on the worktop. The cockroaches were coming from a drain cover, in the kitchen that a Thai had tried to seal with newspaper. Ants from a large crack that ran all around the kitchen between the walls and ceiling. Other visitors came from a crack/gap between the house wall and the kitchen wall, through which I could see the kitchen next door (open kitchen). Sealed all gaps/cracks properly and sprayed with bug killer and eventually got rid of all the guests.

 

Thais just don't seem to have a sense of hygiene and are happy to season their food with lizard crap/ants.

[giddyup]

10 minutes ago, Spidey said:

 Thais just don't seem to have a sense of hygiene and are happy to season their food with lizard crap/ants.

I imagine all the cooked food you buy at the markets and from food carts is prepared under the conditions you describe. I steer clear of it these days for my own well-being. Not prepared to have my green curry seasoned with rat turds.

Edited August 31, 2018 by giddyup

[Laza 45]

18 hours ago, giddyup said:

Depends, in most gated villages the houses tend to have a western style kitchen, but the rural Thais, or should I say traditional, tend to have a kitchen outside, some have both. We have another gas bottle outside that my partner cooks all the smelly stuff like seafood and some Thai dishes on, keeps the strong smells out of the house.

Our kitchen is outside on our back veranda where we eat and socialize   suits me just fine.  We have a spare room inside that my wife would like to make into a ferang kitchen for me.. but why bother? 

 

[malt25]

46 minutes ago, Spidey said:

I have recently moved into my house and had a, state of the art, European style kitchen fitted before we moved in.

 

My wife is still adamant that she want's a second outside kitchen. On this, I have put my foot down.

 

I took great pains when designing and installing the kitchen that it would be bug proof. I don't want lizard crap, ants, cockroaches and even rats anywhere near my food. Outside kitchens are really unhygienic.

 

With the internal kitchen door shut and extractor fan on, cooking smells pervading the rest of the house don't present a problem.

"I don't want lizard crap, ants, cockroaches and even rats anywhere near my food. Outside kitchens are really unhygienic."  I guess you're not into camping.   55555

[Kurtf]

When we had our custom house built, we designed it like a western style home. Inside kitchen and large kitchen at that. Now we want to sell the house but most Thais either can't afford it or they don't see the advantages of an inside kitchen.

[peterb17]

Strange - do you ever cook? Personally I think it’s an enjoyable hobby to have here and a decent , well equipped kitchen is an absolute necessity. 

You can’t make a tarte au citron or roast a piece of pork on a hob- you need an oven.

All is not lost , you can get free standing oven- some look quite good- and get a slow cooker- great for casseroles etc . 

 

 

[sead]

I can see that you have had a good overview of the house lol. Now you ask TV. Perhaps your wife want to tell you that she likes to eat out hahaha 

[rwill]

for most houses the cooking area is outside in the back of the house with just a roof.

[Crossy]

My lady insisted on a full western style kitchen when we designed our home. 

 

We do have an outdoor cooking area (with barbie and charcoal stove), but no food or crockery is kept outside (no cupboards), worktop is a picnic table which is decontaminated each time before use.

[transam]

27 minutes ago, rwill said:

for most houses the cooking area is outside in the back of the house with just a roof.

And this is the recommended cooking attire during the rainy season...

 

 

....and probably one of these nearby....

 

 

 

 

 

?

[Crossy]

1 minute ago, transam said:

And this is the recommended cooking attire during the rainy season...

More by luck than judgement our outdoor cooking area doesn't get blown rain, it's usable even when it's hammering down ?

 

[BigT73]

Hi James be thankful!  There would have been a good chance it wouldnt have been done properly.  The old mantra here is if you own a tool thats your trade.  The usual problems is they dont understand ptraps,  this stops smells coming in your kitchen from drains, only recently I noticed they are strarting to stock them in home depots, second is cheap fittings where your taps screw into the wall, using steel is common and cheap, not until you you renovate and pull them apart you can see the rust build up in them, sometimes its nearly choking the hole.  The advantage is you can design a kitchen to suit your appliances which is how they should be done originally, not forcing you to buy microwaves etc to fit in these tiny holes later.  Fyi in Singapore they have 2 kitchens, the dirty one for cooking fry etc and its near the back of the house.

[Thingamabob]

Yes.

[watcharacters]

1 hour ago, transam said:

I would suggest most of the civilised planet has a kitchen inside, if you want ants,rats and snakes visiting your grub that's up to you..?

 

I'm will you transam.

 

While I respect the choice of others to have a minimalist approach to  living arrangements, I can say full heartedly "better thee than me"

 

Oh yes,     I also don't sleep on the floor.

 

 

[Damrongsak]

In the US, we had a gas stove out on the deck covered by a stand-alone awning.  Wife did all the heavy-duty and stinky frying out there.  There were times when I'd have to shovel a path through 30 cm of snow so she could get there wearing flip-flops.  First two houses I rented in Thailand had no kitchen, maybe a bit of shed attached. One did have a bit of indoor plumbing. Our newish house we built in Loei does have a modest indoor kitchen.

[GreasyFingers]

2 hours ago, transam said:

I would suggest most of the civilised planet has a kitchen inside, if you want ants,rats and snakes visiting your grub that's up to you..?

You forgot the neighborhood cats and dogs that come nearly every night looking for the food their owners don't give them.

Your other post is correct. The outside kitchen is unusable with a southerly thunderstorm; and of course the flying malang.