Saving Money With A Small, Yet Efficient,
Kitchen Design in a Straw Bale House

    The kitchen is very compact, yet easy to work in. The straw bale walls are unpainted gypsum plaster on top of earth plaster. This makes the walls waterproof and easy to clean. The large kitchen sink was purchased for $25.00 from a salvage yard. The tiles were leftovers from another construction project. The counters are cast-in-place concrete. They were stained black with concrete acid-stain after the counters had cured. The surface to the right receives some direct sunlight from the south-facing windows in the winter for additional heating. When the time comes, these counters could be reused in another building project. Note the inexpensive open shelves. The money saved with the low-cost do-it-yourself counters and shelves paid for the entire photovoltaic electrical system.