In the March 13th edition of THE WEEK, one of the insightful articles outlined the severity of our current housing crisis. In summary, the lack of existing homes on the market raises prices and the high cost of building new homes is making the American dream of owning a home less attainable. And income is not keeping pace. Even the affordable rental market is in short supply, jacking up the rents. To illustrate the severity of the problem, the only picture in the article was that of a lonely tent pitched in an urban setting.
In San Francisco for example the cost to build each new apartment unit averages $700,000.00. To alleviate this extreme housing crisis, California legislators now allow (and encourage) homeowners to convert garages into small residential units. They are finally allowing small freestanding Granny Flats, Casitas and Tiny Homes known as ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units) to be built on residential properties and rented out. Among others, Oregon and Washington state have preceded California with ADU zoning as we noted previously in this article.
A Backyard ADU
Zoning like this needs to be adopted across the country as one way to combat the high cost of housing. Living in less space saves the cost of materials, high priced labor as well as the costs of maintenance including resources like power and water. Saving and/or conserving resources is one of the most ‘Green’ strategies of all!
And this is where YesterTec fits into the picture.
A Complete Kitchen in a Foyer?!
Our complete mini-kitchens that are hidden inside beautiful armoires save space, materials, labor and resources, and are a perfect fit for any of the open plan ADUs noted above. Not having an exposed, messy kitchen staring at you in your smaller multi-functional living space is a new option that designers simply have not had.
Our Stealth Kitchen Modules are designed to conceal themselves flawlessly into the background of any room. Ranging from modest compact kitchens to full sized kitchens, the module’s styling can range from minimalistic to period design themes. So again, for multi-functional living rooms, the modules consume less space and resources, often reducing the overall cost of building.
And though our Kitchen Workstation Furniture line may not reduce the space of a full sized kitchen, it has the potential to reduce the size of the home, again saving space and resources. By having pieces of furniture that can hide ALL of the high tech appliances, large and small, these furnished kitchens can blend into adjacent great rooms like never before. And separate, seldom used living rooms and dining rooms can be eliminated. Many articles in our Press Room and Learning Center on our website illustrate this design advantage.
In almost every case, our products are more costly than standard cabinetry that can only accommodate exposed appliances and countertops. But for the reasons noted above, the overall costs of creating well designed homes incorporating the space saving attributes of Workstation design can be very competitive and in many cases the costs may be reduced.
