life in a tiny apartment.

Tip #60: Your stovetop is not your countertop. Even if you want it to be.

I was going to take a photograph of my sandwich sitting on this charred wooden cutting board. But then I realized that I was more interested in eating the oozing cheddar-cheese and hot sauce-covered egg sandy than I was in photographing it. So. You get this instead.

I have developed a habit of making myself lunchtime egg sandwiches and serving them to myself on this slim board. Ever in search of a way to do fewer dishes, eating off the cutting board means one less dish to wash and if you ask me, it’s the perfect combination of pretty and practical.

The routine goes like this: I take my toaster down from its perch on the refrigerator and place it on the 12 inches of counter space we call ours. Then I pop in my toast, fire up my pan and ready my board for receiving the sandwich. (I like to imagine that the operation looks something like this, only I’m the moving parts). To make things easy, I balance my board somewhere between the inch or two of available counter space and the electric burner on the stovetop. It’s not perfectly flush, but it works.

Until I turn on the wrong burner.

And then I char my cutting board, alarm my neighbors, and remind myself to get renter’s insurance. Again.

It’s tempting, in this kind of small apartment to use your stove as countertop, but this week I was reminded that it’s also not very wise. Just in case you’ve been similarly tempted, here’s a friendly reminder to move the operation elsewhere. Preferably someplace that won’t catch fire. Oops.