I was reading a one of those "let's cut-and-paste random Reddit posts into an article" about people's memories of their first apartment in NYC, and one person mentioned they used to have a 3-in-1 appliance that was a stove/sink/fridge. I had never heard of that sort of thing before--- so about five seconds on the internet brought up places like

www.kitchenlav.com/compact_kitchens.htm

I thought that was really cool, especially for trying to come up with a basic kitchenette in a situation where space is at a premium and your tenant lives a ramen lifestyle?

Interesting.

I was thinking about it some more. I figured you could get a sink base for about $100, a stretch of countertop for under $50, a prep sink for $150, a double-burner hot plate for $50, and a dorm fridge with freezer for $250. It would be about $600'ish.

Obviously, it's not ideal--- hot plates are banned from dorms for a reason--- but it's still an efficient use of space, and I do like the all-metal-ness of it. But doing things individually would make it easier to replace, so that if the fridge or a stove element went out in six years, you were only out the $x of that component, and not $1500 + freight for a whole new unit.

We looked at them for our studios but individually was cheaper and easier and more practical from a repair/replace standpoint.

Nice. I hadn't heard about induction burners. Like you said, it seems they heat with electromagnetism-- so only magnetic-bottomed cookware will function with it.

You can buy a 2 burner stovetop of your preferred type from the bigbox stores. They have induction, electric coil, electric smoothtop, and even gas. Easy to set the stovetop into a counter of your choice, and use a sink of your choice, then put a regular 3 cubic ft refrigerator into the counter under the cooktop (or a 9 cu ft next to it). No need for a custom piece like the Acme one that is difficult and expensive to fix.

Deanna, it's what we cook with in our own house. I bought a single burner on Amazon, then another at Walmart, then a double-one at Amazon.

They are great - MUCH more adjustable than electric, more like gas. You can use cast iron pans on them. It does limit your choice of cookware - can't use cheap pans - but long ago a tenant left behind a whole set of induction-ready pans!!!! Didn't know it at the time what a great deal that was for us LOL! And I picked up some good speciality ones (soup pot for instance) at TJ Maxx for cheap.