Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, Happy Moon Homestay may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only list the kinds of items we use at our own homestay in Aldona, North Goa.

By Ulhas Polle, host at Happy Moon Homestay, Aldona, North Goa, since 2024 · Updated 2 October 2026

Our track record: Google 4.9★ (130 reviews) · Airbnb 4.88★ Guest Favourite (41 reviews) · Booking.com 9.8/10 Exceptional

At Happy Moon, guests use the kitchen on their own. Families cook dinner, long-stay and workation guests cook every day, and groups make tea at midnight. That shapes every choice below: it has to be safe for strangers to use, hard to break, and easy for you to clean between guests. The list works for a homestay, a guest house, a villa or a single room with a kitchenette.

The question guests ask us most in the kitchen is not about equipment at all: it is where is the nearest grocery shop? Put that in your guidebook and you will save yourself a dozen phone calls a week.

How to use this list: every orange View on Amazon button is a link. “Our pick” opens the exact product we chose for a real setup, so you can add it to your cart without searching or comparing hundreds of listings. Where we recommend a brand rather than one model, the button opens a filtered Amazon.in search. Prices are what we paid in October 2025 and will have moved a little.

1. Cooking: induction, not gas

We avoid gas stoves in the guest kitchen. Guests forget to turn knobs off, cylinders run out on Sundays, and a gas leak in a house full of strangers is not a risk worth taking. Induction switches itself off, is easy to wipe clean, and runs on solar power if you have it.

2. Eating: choose unbreakable

Use melamine plates and plastic or steel glasses. Glass and ceramic break, and broken crockery means cuts, complaints and a constant shopping list. Steel is fine for breakfast plates and katoris.

3. Drinking water

Most guests will not drink tap water in Goa. An RO purifier pays for itself against bottled water. Add a transparent sediment pre-filter before it: you can see when it is dirty, change it cheaply, and the expensive RO filters last much longer.

  • RO water purifier (Aquaguard)good to haveone-time₹9,499 (Oct 2025)
    Safe drinking water for every guest. The model we picked has a 2-year filter life.
    Our pick: View on Amazon →
  • Transparent sediment pre-filterneededone-time
    Catches mud and rust before the RO, so its filters last longer. You can see when it needs changing.
    View on Amazon →

4. Washing up: keep it easy

A dishwasher is not essential, but if your guests cook a lot it ends the “who left the dishes” problem. We recommend Bosch.

5. Storage and cooling

For the fridge, choose frost-free (auto defrost), so nobody has to defrost it by hand. I prefer LG. For a smaller setup, the 5-star Haier below is what we picked for a client to keep the electricity bill down.

  • LG frost-free refrigeratorneededone-time
    No manual defrosting, ever.
    View on Amazon →
  • 5-star refrigerator (Haier)good to haveone-time₹14,990 (Oct 2025)
    Lower electricity bill for a single-room setup.
    Our pick: View on Amazon →
  • Vegetable rackneededone-time₹249 (Oct 2025)
    Our pick: View on Amazon →
  • Airtight containers for sugar, tea and saltneededone-time
    Goa’s humidity turns open sugar and salt into lumps within days.
    View on Amazon →
  • Filterless kitchen chimneyoptionalone-time
    No filters to clean, which means far less maintenance.
    View on Amazon →
  • Motion sensor light for the kitchenoptionalone-time
    If guests walk through the kitchen often at night, it lights the way and switches off by itself.
    View on Amazon →

6. Waste

Buy a good wet-waste bin with a lid. The lid means no smell even if nobody empties it overnight. It is worth spending a little more here.

Put clear signs in the kitchen: switch off the induction, wash your own dishes, wet waste goes in the lidded bin. Our signage guide lists the ones that work.

What our guests say about this (verified Airbnb reviews):

“What I appreciate the most is that no corners were cut to setup the place. The washing machine, fridge, mattress, pillows, bedsheets, RO purifier, furniture, etc. were all really good quality and not some cheap items. This made me feel that the host truly cares for the guests and not looking to optimize his profits.”

— Tanishq, 5★ on Airbnb, August 2025

“The upper floor is dedicated to the guests with 5 different rooms, so neither does it feel like you're in someone's house and neither does it feel like a service oriented Hotel space… There's pretty much everything you might feel the need of, from Washing machine, microwave, fridge, iron table etc.”

— Madhu, 5★ on Airbnb, July 2025

See it working before you spend a rupee

Everything in this guide is running at Happy Moon Homestay in Aldona, North Goa. Book a consultation: two hours on site with me, walking through the security setup, power backup, rooms, kitchen and the systems that keep reviews at 4.9★, and then your own property and plan. ₹10,000 for 2 hours. Free for persons of Goan origin. Staying the night is optional and charged at our normal room rate, so you can experience it as a guest.

Book a consultation on WhatsApp →

Want us to set it all up for you? See our done-for-you Airbnb setup service.

Frequently asked questions

Should a homestay kitchen have a gas stove or induction?

We use induction only in the guest kitchen. It switches itself off, there is no cylinder to run out and no risk of a gas leak from a knob left open by a guest.

Is a dishwasher worth it for a homestay?

It is optional. If guests cook often, a dishwasher (we recommend Bosch) removes the most common shared-kitchen complaint: dirty dishes left in the sink.

Why melamine plates instead of ceramic?

Melamine does not break. Broken crockery means cuts, complaints and constant replacements.

What fridge is best for a homestay?

A frost-free fridge, so no one has to defrost it. We prefer LG; a 5-star model keeps the electricity bill down.

The full homestay setup series

Start with the complete checklist with real costs, or go area by area:

  1. Security and outside the property
  2. Power, water and internet
  3. Kitchen (this article)
  4. Bedroom
  5. Common area and dining
  6. Bathroom
  7. Supplies and maintenance

Staying in North Goa? See our rooms at Happy Moon Homestay.