Honey, I’ve shrunk the cost of the kitchen . . . to less than $225

It's got the cool minimalist vibe going on - but will Australians embrace a tiny IKEA kitchen made for European habits?

Minimalist cool: The kitchen aimed at encouraging a "playful feeling". Source: IKEA

Flatpack home furnishing whiz IKEA has come up with a sleek new product with strong design appeal – but there could be one (literally) small problem.

Their new Sunnersta mini kitchen certainly has an appealing minimalist vibe. And it might be a hit with young unit dwellers – if their homes didn’t usually come with one. One can’t help but wonder if, for an Australian apartment market at least, they’ve designed the equivalent of a bicycle for a fish.

The Sunnersta is a $224 stainless steel frame with sink that can be tricked out with the basics for cooking – an induction cooktop and a mini fridge, for example.  The fridge and cooktop would add $188 to the price. It can also be paired with a  trolley that can hold foodstuffs and kitchen utensils.

IKEA believes the kitchen - part of the furniture giant’s new 2017 catalogue, launching here on September 1 - will appeal to young renters and unit buyers during a time when living spaces are shrinking and eating out is becoming increasingly popular.

Their Australian home furnishing specialist, Christian Becker, tells SBS Food that part of the company’s product development research included visiting the homes of people from throughout the world.

“We wanted to truly appreciate how people live and to understand their needs,” he says. “Those who lead a young, urban lifestyle told us they wanted a simple kitchen that was easy to buy, to take home, to install and even to move to their next home.”

And the answer to the debut of the mini-kitchen is in that statement, at least if you look beyond Australia. In some parts of Europe, rental properties are presented without kitchens and it is up to the tenant to fit them out.

That’s where the Sunnersta is aimed  – you buy it, install it yourself and take it with you when you leave.

The kitchen provides space for a single-burner induction cooktop, a mini-fridge and a sink, without major planning or intricate installation.

IKEA sees the mini kitchen as a solution for small living spaces. Source: IKEA

IKEA designer Henrik Preutz designed the Sunnersta mini-kitchen and cart hoping to “encourage a creative and playful feeling about cooking” and “create an open and welcoming kitchen”.

And his philosophy is winning some early fans around the world:

It's attracted priase for cute and cleverness, but gizmodo described it as "impractical in almost every sense". " I mean what could you really make in that kitchen? Maybe a salad...and a...I don’t know...a mean PB&J? Pass."

While it remains to be seen whether Australia is the ideal market for the Sunnersta to maximise its potential as a take-it-with-you installation, the number of granny flats, container homes and back-to-basics weekenders around the country may still make IKEA’s decision to bring it to Australia commercially rewarding. 

It does, after all, have that certain Scandinavian something to it.