We have a south-facing house with an enclosed unheated porch near the garage. Over the years we've lived here I've found this space to be so useful. It gets full sun most of the day and no matter how cold it gets the temperature in the room doesn't fall below freezing. I can put the cooked remnants of the Thanksgiving turkey out there if my refrigerator is full, or start soup stock, cool it off on the porch overnight and complete it the next day. For a large upcoming dinner if I find myself with too many fresh vegetables to squeeze into the refrigerator bins, they stay out in the cold porch.
This space functions very much like one my grandmother had in her house - an unheated staircase next to her kitchen. She used this constantly for such things as cooling off pies, storing apples and I'm sure, keeping the turkey after its debut at the holiday table.
The cold porch also allows me to over-winter container plants from the summer deck and store dried hydrangeas. I've got a large rosemary plant and two Swedish ivy plants out there, all of which have been flowering since August!
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