The latest stories from Remodelista

by Remodelista Team

Welcome to The Editors’ Cut, our monthly column dedicated to beautiful and useful finds for all over the house. In this installment: August is for icebox cakes, tomato sandwiches, cartons of berries on the counter, and ice cream dinners. Time to lean into the unplugged, old-fashioned, slightly retro kitchen, where you can toss together a meal from summer’s bounty and call it a day. — The R/G Editors

Enamel Colander

Above: For rinsing big hauls of summer berries (and eating them leaning over the sink). Shop now.

Stainless Steel Ice Cube Tray

Above: Go into the icebox for this buy-it-once, plastic-free tray; the XL cubes make even a glass of lemonade feel fancy. Shop now.

Gingham Kitchen Hand Towels

Above: We love Caravan’s thick linen kitchen towels, hardy but sweet in a mix of ginghams. Shop now.

Mechanical Kitchen Scale

Above: This analog scale comes in handy for baking summer pies and tarts—and adds a certain old-fashioned delight to the process. Shop now.

Metal Cookbook Stand

Above: For cooking from an actual cookbook—drips, splatters, and dog-ears included. Shop now.

Ceramic Egg Holder

Above: Made in Portugal exclusively for Nickey Kehoe, this stoneware tray holds a dozen eggs and can go from fridge to counter to table. Shop now.

Shortwave Dish Rack

Above: There’s something appealingly retro about this all-stainless drying rack, designed by Leon Ransmeier for Hay. Shop now.

Also On Our Radar

• Put down your phone; use a retro kitchen timer instead.
• A pretty butter keeper, anyone?
• Start a kitchen garden right on your windowsill with these vintage-y pots.
• And colorful clips to keep chips fresh for tack a note to the fridge (“Gone for a swim; back soon”).

by Annie Quigley

Who says you can’t go home? A while back we dropped in on an off-grid cabin in eastern Ohio; designed and built by Greg Dutton (then of Midland Architecture, now of Greg Dutton Studio) on his parents’ 2,000-acre property, it serves as a guest quarters for him and his siblings. Today we’re taking a closer look at the cabin’s small-space kitchen, with a few budget elements, Etsy finds, and a countertop built by a childhood friend.

Read on:

Photography by Alexandra Ribar, courtesy of Greg Dutton.

Above: The 600-square-foot guest cabin is perched on a ridge on Greg’s parents’ farm, which was once a strip mine and has now re-wilded with forests and meadows. Here, in the petite kitchen, unadorned windows connect indoors to out and the walls are paneled in Ponderosa pine shiplap, painted in Sherwin Williams’ Pearly White.

“The pine flooring was a steal,” says Greg. “At less than $2 per square foot, it was a huge budget saver and allowed us to splurge in other areas of the project.” The pegs along the wall were an Etsy find.

Above: The interiors nod to farming traditions. Greg designed the cabinets and had them built by makers in Ohio’s Amish country; they—and the wooden knobs from JBplusDG on Etsy—are painted in Sherwin Williams’ Greenblack.

The cabin was a labor of love: The white oak countertop and shelving was made by Greg’s best friend from elementary school, and Greg’s brother, father, and friends pitched in to help with the building process.

Above: The two-basin undermount sink. The cabin is fully off-grid, fitted with solar panels for electricity and a rainwater collection system for the kitchen and bath.
Above: A look at the guest cabin, tucked in the woods.

For a look at the full project, see Hygge in Ohio: An Architect’s Scandi-Inspired Off-the-Grid Hut.

And for more off-grid kitchens, see:

• Unplugged: A Young Couple’s DIY, Totally Off-the-Grid Cabin in the New Hampshire Woods
• A Hollywood Director’s Refined Off-the-Grid Cabin by Commune Design
• An Off-the-Grid Retreat Designed as “a Piece of Furniture with Everything Built In”

N.B.: This story originally ran on March 17, 2022 and has been updated with new information and links.