Small-Scale Kitchen Cookware

Environmental Impact of Large Homes

In recent years, the building trend has been to "go big." New homes in the United States have the biggest average square footage compared to any other country in the world. Large houses can be considered a symbol of status. In recent decades, home size has also increased. In 1973, the average square footage of a newly constructed home in the US was 1,660 square feet. In 2017, the average was 2,631 square feet - a 63% increase. 

This substantial increase in home size causes several detrimental environmental impacts. These include loss of land, increased pollution, and ecosystem fragmentation, and many other negative consequences. Building size is one of the most significant predictors of energy consumption for a building.

Meet Ensembl: An Innovative Design Company 

Ensembl is a thought-leader in the home goods industry. They create products that empower homeowners to do more with less. 

I spoke with Kate Swanson, founder and CEO of Ensembl. Kate shared that Ensembl can meet the needs of housing changes by creating multifunctional housewares that fit the spaces where we live. "Ensembl was born to solve my problem – I was living in a tiny, Toronto condo and struggled with storage, especially in the kitchen. But small homes – that is becoming the new normal. It surprised me that I could not find high-quality housewares, especially kitchenware, built to accommodate a smaller space. The industry response was 'just use one pan' or 'wait until you move to a bigger home before you buy the good stuff.' It really irritated me. It was like they were saying, 'if you want a small home, you should accept that you can't do certain things like cook well.' It felt like the industry was telling me not to bother finding a solution because this lifestyle may be temporary'. But this is how I plan to live – and how millions of people live. There is a real limit to what we can do at home without owning more products. And we desperately need something better than what is out there now."

Ensembl's debut product, Stackware, aims to tackle what Kate describes as "the most obvious problem in a small, modern home: pots and pans. We want people to make more food, make food to share, make enough for leftovers. And living in a tiny home – or condo, apartment, townhouse, etc. should not be a barrier."

Stackware features six full-size, fully functional high-performance cooking vessels, made to nest in the footprint of one - taking up just 1/5th of the space required by traditional products.

Ensembl has engineered removable handles and a lid that lies flat – this makes nesting possible. However, unlike camping-style cookware (which also employs a removable handle), Stackware is fully clad. Fully clad means each piece is made using discs of fused stainless steel and aluminum for even, responsive heat. The result: you can cook incredible food. "And isn't that the point? If you can serve a delicious meal, you'll want to cook more!"

Proclamation Goods: A Powerhouse Duo

Based in San Francisco, Proclamation Goods packs the utility of a 10-piece set into 'The Proclamation Duo.' With a hybrid pot, sidekick skillet, and a matching lid for both, this small set packs a punch! Hinge together the pot and skillet, and you've got yourself a dutch oven setup. 

According to its website, Proclamation Goods rejects all chemical coatings, providing toxin-free cookware. They incorporated a nitrogen heat treatment to give an all-natural low-stick cooking solution. They also work with a supply chain that 'prioritizes the environment and fair working conditions. 

If you prefer minimalist cookware, The Proclamation Duo may be an excellent choice for you. The set, designed with stainless steel and an aluminum core, is built to last. It is also dishwasher safe, making the cleanup process easy. Also, the set stacks together to take up a portion of shelf space compared to traditional cookware. Cook more, with less. 

The reviews on the Proclamation Goods website speak for themselves! Consumers seem to love these products. 

Abbio: All Your Kitchen Needs

The Abbio cookware products are engineered for daily use and pain-free cleanup. Similar to Stackware, these products have fully-clad steel and aluminum construction. They are tri-ply, too, meaning that there are multiple layers of steel and aluminum to give a solidly constructed piece. With a natural non-stick surface and scratch-resistant purchase, these products aim to last a lifetime. 

With Abbio, you can buy a full set or individual pieces. While not dishwasher recommended, they are still straightforward to clean. Abbio sells the core items you need to cook a delicious meal, which no unnecessary pieces. 

Unlike Stackware and the Proclamation Duo, however, the Abbio set is not designed to stack together. So, if you are tight on physical space to store your cookware, you may want to look at a stackable set. Alternatively, you could buy individual pieces based on your cooking needs. 

Abbio has been vetted by quite a few groups like Business Insider, Allrecipes, and Travel & Leisure, proving its popularity among reviewers. As Forbes shared, "Best of all, the Abbio Set proves that you don't need to register for that pricey fifteen-piece set when five items will do just fine."'

Stackware, Kate tells me, comes with a lifetime warranty, thanks to the high-quality, fully-clad steel and aluminum used to make each vessel. The Proclamation Duo also comes with a lifetime guarantee, while the Abbio set has a one-year warranty. 

If the aim is to be sustainable, we need to look for products that last.

Sustainable Cookware Supply Chain

When we think about sustainability, we need to think about how our products are made. "When you buy a product, where are the materials sourced from? Where is it made? How is it transported? How is it stored? What is it packed in? Each step here impacts the environment. If you have to buy that product two, three, four, or more times – the impact is continuously repeated," says Kate Swanson of Ensembl.

One of the most visible areas to a consumer is the packaging. Is the packaging made from recycled materials, is it free from single-use plastics, and can it be reused? Kate shared that Ensembl has sourced compostable bags made from corn husks to wrap Stackware in – a new alternative to plastic, poly bags. These bags can be composted or used as compost bags. "We're trying to make as much of the packaging reusable, not just recyclable. And that is an easy step for brands to take, and something everyone should be doing."

Less visible is the source of materials that make up a product. Many companies are creating products out of recycled plastics to reuse and reduce the creation of new plastic. In the context of cookware, the metals used are mined. But where are they mined? What measures have been put in place to minimize adverse environmental impacts? Can sustainably-sourced metals be used? "I'll admit that, at this stage for Ensembl, this is an area we don't have a lot of visibility into. But it's something we want to be transparent about, and our goal is to be able to show customers the mines where the metals that create Stackware come from. No one in the industry does this right now; it would be great to lead that effort."

In between packaging and shipping lies transport and storage – not the most exciting thing to think about, but part of every product's journey. "Customers deserve to know how products are shipped, emissions used in transport, energy used to run a distribution facility, and what the company is doing to minimize impact throughout each of these steps." Kate explained that Stackware's space-efficiency does not just benefit the home it ultimately lives in but makes their shipping easier. "Because we can nest all six pieces together, we're able to use a smaller box, and we're able to ship more sets per container. Our shipping is incredibly efficient, and we maximize every inch of space to make sure we can send as much in each batch as possible." Other stackable sets like the Proclamation Duo accomplish more efficient shipping compared to traditional cookware sets, simply by nature of the stacking feature. 

Understanding the supply chain behind a product helps customers understand the real environmental cost of the purchase – and the cost to repurchase.

Bottom Line

At present, there is a gap in the sustainability argument for tiny and other small-scale homes. For example, their limited space can make cooking at home difficult. This circumstance has led to a marked rise in the consumption of delivery, takeaway, and packaged meals - options that come with adverse environmental effects. 

There is a need for kitchenwares that fit the small-scale home life more appropriately and provide a way to create a genuinely sustainable kitchen. But, this is not merely a need for products that save space. There is a need for high-performance, multifunctional, and built to last products – all while being created to use the least amount of space. In this article, we explored a few brands that may offer solutions for this conundrum: Ensembl and its debut product, Stackware; Proclamation Goods' 'Proclamation Duo,' and Abbio's five-piece set.