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As cities become more crowded, and urban real estate becomes less and less affordable, many residents are turning to tiny units as a way to avoid being priced out.
The concept of microliving has its critics and advocates . For some, it’s a creative exercise in adopting a more minimalist lifestyle. For others, it’s a last-stop solution to rising rents in their host city.
This is especially the case in New York City and San Francisco, the two most expensive rental markets in the US.
In these cities, apartments are often sold with tiny kitchens that cram storage and appliances into a single unit. While some units are equipped with high-tech features like motorized cabinets and retractable minibars, others are plagued by cluttered countertops and makeshift stoves.
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A glimpse into these microkitchens reveals the stunning divides of the cities themselves.
Like many neighborhoods in New York and San Francisco, tiny kitchens can be either dazzling or dreary. Take a look.
For many years, New York's 400-square-foot regulation prevented the construction of tiny apartments like this one.
In 2013, though, Mayor Bloomberg announced a city-sponsored contest for developers to create microapartment designs.
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Seth Wenig/AP
That same year, the Museum of the City of New York debuted a 325-square-foot model apartment featuring creative ways to maximize space.
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Spencer Platt/Getty Images
The kitchen included under-the-counter appliances and a foldaway table that could double as an island.
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Spencer Platt/Getty Images
New York City's first microapartment building, Carmel Place, began welcoming residents in 2016.
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Kathy Willens/AP
While the kitchens are small, residents have access to amenities like a rooftop terrace, a gym, grocery delivery, and communal events.
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Leanna Garfield/Tech Insider
Resident Matthew Alexander prefers the minimalist lifestyle of his studio apartment to sharing space with roommates.
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Kathy Willens/AP
The building's developer enlisted Ollie, a co-living and microhousing startup, to help with the design.
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Julie Jacobson/AP
Ollie furnished the apartments with amenities like housekeeping, free WiFi, and a dry-cleaning pickup service.
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Julie Jacobson/AP
After Carmel Place opened in Manhattan, the construction of microunits with tiny kitchens expanded into Brooklyn and other boroughs.
Empire Bath and Kitchen has led many of the microapartment designs in Brooklyn, including the kitchen below.
The company also designs small kitchens for residents in Queens.
Ollie is now providing amenities for a 43-story high-rise in Long Island City, which is considered the largest ground-up collection of shared apartments in the US.
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Ollie
Residents of the building's two- and three-bedroom microsuites often share a kitchen.
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Ollie
Over in Brooklyn, Ollie has partnered with the rental building Caesura, which has tiny kitchens featuring stainless steel appliances and quartz countertops.
This $1.29 million, 790-square-foot micro-apartment features a hidden pantry and motor-powered cabinets.
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Leanna Garfield/Tech Insider
Read more: This tiny New York apartment has a hidden 60-inch flat-screen TV and motor-powered cabinets
The counter includes grooves for drying plates and cups, along with a pullout cutting board that allows residents to toss scraps directly into the trash can below.
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Leanna Garfield/Tech Insider
To conserve space, the loft of ReadyMade magazine Editor-in-Chief Andrew Wagner includes open cabinets instead of full shelves.
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Charles & Hudson/Flickr
This rare tiny kitchen comes equipped with a full oven and stove.
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Daniel X. O'Neil/Flickr
In many cases, having a microkitchen requires residents to get creative with organizing their fridge and freezer.
Others sacrifice storage space to make room for appliances.
For this unit in Brooklyn's Carroll Gardens neighborhood, the developer added as many cabinets as possible to make up for the limited amount of space.
The design team at New York City's eXd-lab created a custom cabinet system called the U-WALL, which folds out to reveal a miniature bar.
The kitchen in this 350-square-foot SoHo penthouse was designed to function like a space twice its size.
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LifeEdited
It includes a built-in speed oven, a dishwasher, and a Franke water filter.
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LifeEdited
The entire apartment was designed by Graham Hill, the founder of the lifestyle and design company LifeEdited.
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LifeEdited
Hill also designed a slightly more spacious unit in SoHo, which sold for $790,000.
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Matthew Williams/LifeEdited
The 420-square-foot apartment cost $365,000 to renovate.
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Matthew Williams/LifeEdited
Like the apartment, the kitchen includes a number of space-saving features such as hidden storage and a microwave tucked into the wall.
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Matthew Williams/LifeEdited
The original listing said the apartment was "designed by geniuses for geniuses," with sliding walls, a built-in sound system, and an air filtration system.
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Matthew Williams/LifeEdited
Source: 6sqft
Microkitchens can also be found in tiny homes like this one, which was displayed in Manhattan's Herald Square for one night in September.
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Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Booking.com
It has since been moved to Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, for a temporary stay at the world's largest tiny home community.
Earlier this year, comedian Kevin Hart curated a tiny home in New York for Booking.com. Hart told USA Today that he partnered with the travel booking site because the design fits his lifestyle.
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Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Booking.com
"I love to do things that coincide with what I do, and the way that I move," Hart said. "Being that I am a guy who is constantly on the road, constantly traveling, where I’m staying becomes a priority."
Source: USA Today
Dunkin Donuts has also debuted a tiny home design in New York City. This one runs entirely on coffee.
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Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Dunkin' Donuts
Read more : Dunkin' Donuts built a tiny home that's powered by coffee — and it cost just $10 a night to stay there
The 275-square-foot structure — which includes a full kitchen — was formerly available for rent for just $10 a night.
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Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Dunkin' Donuts
Even New York City offices can install microkitchens, thanks to designs like this one.
To prevent clutter, the wall on the back of this kitchen features space for hanging or drying pots and pans.
But not all New York microkitchens are quite as sleek. Many are downright dismal, while others are woefully overpriced.
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Aaron Gustafso/Flickr
For around $2,900 a month, New Yorkers can rent this tiny Upper West Side apartment, which has a microkitchen with virtually no counter space.
This kitchen in a Bushwick apartment looks brand-new, but it was not designed with any space for a dishwasher or microwave.
Originally, the kitchen in this Upper West Side apartment was just the space behind the folding doors. An island and full fridge have since been added.
When shelves don't offer enough storage, it's easy for the counters to become cluttered.
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Stacie/Flickr
In his 100-square-foot studio, Chef Grayson Altenberg is forced to cook on a hot plate as he prepares dishes like pasta and risotto.
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Sarah Jacobs/Business Insider
This East Village apartment, which is being marketed to college students, packed a washer/dryer into the kitchen unit.
Though microapartments are not legal in the vast majority of the US, plenty of people rent them in San Francisco. The microkitchen below includes a small fridge hidden underneath the right-side cabinet.
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Nicolás Boullosa/Flickr
San Francisco has gotten so crowded, even its studio penthouses come without full kitchens.
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Glen Bowman/Flickr
Many residents are making the minimalist designs work. This Bay Area professional organizer did wonders with her tiny kitchen.
She even installed a pull-out utensil rack next to her oven.
Two years ago, this 232-square-foot micro apartment in San Francisco sold for nearly $425,000.
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Business Insider
San Francisco has also floated the idea of building "micropads" for the homeless, complete with a full kitchen, including a food prep area, fridge, stovetop, and microwave oven.
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Panoramic Interests
Read more : These 160-square-foot micro-apartments could help end San Francisco's homelessness crisis
A startup called HomeShare is now leasing converted living rooms in luxury units, where the tiny kitchens feel surprisingly spacious.
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HomeShare
For those with the luxury of choosing their housing situation, tiny living comes down to minimizing clutter and maximizing space.
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