Minecraft cabin ideas: 6 builds for sprucing up your snowy escape

Whenever there's snow on the ground outside, I start thinking about cozy Minecraft cabins I can build while I stay inside. The Minecraft 1.18 Caves & Cliffs update has been fantastic motivation to do just that this year. I've scoped out some of my favorite new Minecraft seeds from the update and I'm determined to build a warm little retreat on one of these peaks.

The trouble is, I always struggle to freestyle a nice cabin build that doesn't look like a big spruce blob. There's a real art to mixing wood types and decorations for the perfect new base. For my sake and yours, I've collected a handful of great Minecraft cabin ideas and tutorials and tried out building each of them.

Get ready to chop some spruce, strip some logs, and construct some chimneys. These builds lean heavily into wood frames and warm, cozy interiors within which to wait out the long cold nights. Several are great contenders for survival builds, with small footprints and material lists that you can throw together as soon as you're ready. I've also picked some larger cabin builds for the ambitious among us, and those playing in creative.

Here are six Minecraft cabin ideas to try out:

• Small cabin
• Lodge cabin
• Stylish cabin
• Winter cabin
• Porch cabin
• Large cabin

Minecraft small cabin

• Total size: 9x11 blocks
• Time to build: ~20 minutes
• Difficulty: Easy

This tiny winter cabin is a perfect build for a fresh journey into a snowy biome. You'll just need a handful of spruce, cobblestone, and glass for the exterior. The inside leaves just enough space for your bed, a bit of storage, and a couple crafting stations. There are even some stylish modern touches like a full wall window in the back. You can follow the quick and breezy tutorial by Balzy below for a guide to building this tidy little starter cabin. If you're looking for something just slightly larger, Balzy has another cabin build that will give you just a smidge more storage space. 

Minecraft lodge cabin

• Total size: 16x17 blocks
• Time to build: Over an hour
• Difficulty: Tough! 

This homey snow cabin by Achelaus will force you to embrace imperfections. It's a mid-size build that uses several different types of wood to create a distressed, unkempt look perfect for reclusive miners. The various wood types may not be completely practical in survival, but the interior definitely gives you the space you'll need for crafting and storage. Archelaus's video below is a timelapse, not a tutorial, so it can be challenging to follow at points. Don't worry, this build has room for freestyling. 

Minecraft stylish cabin

• Total size: 16x12 blocks
• Time to build: Under an hour
• Difficulty: Moderate

Zaypixel's cozy cabin build has a stylish, curved gable roof and a tiny loft interior if you're looking for a nice balance between form and function. In the tutorial below, Zaypixel uses Dark Prismarine blocks on the roof to create some contrast. Since they're tougher to come by in survival, I opted for another wood type instead. In the tutorial below, you'll walk through creating a decorative sitting area inside, but you could easily use the same space for more practical purposes if you need.

Minecraft winter cabin

• Total size: 23x20 blocks
• Time to build: Over an hour
• Difficulty: Tough!

This winter cabin build is stylish and sizable, giving you tons of room to use on the interior. If you aren't ready to leave your holiday spirit behind, you'll feel right at home in this festive retreat. The one caveat with this build is that it's very much designed around the texture pack Kelpie is using, which I've stuck to above. Those super cute stained glass windows don't look nearly as nice without Mizuno's texture pack. If you're willing to switch textures, this spruce leaf cabin will definitely be the cutest in the biome. For something a little more rustic, Kelpie has another cabin build with an exposed log frame and a spruce deck. 

Minecraft porch cabin

• Total size: 17x20 blocks
• Time to build: ~an hour
• Difficulty: Moderate

This larger cabin build by Goddessofcrows is another that's designed around Mizuno's texture pack. This one actually looks quite nice even with default textures on, as shown above. With a full two stories in this spruce cabin, the tutorial below will show you how to make space for a complete enchanting table setup, a crafting kitchen, and plenty of barrel storage. 

Minecraft large cabin

• Total size: 28x18 blocks
• Time to build: ~an hour
• Difficulty: Moderate

This large cabin build looks like an undertaking but is an extremely practical build. Lots of symmetry makes the building go by much faster. Its multi-part roof with dormers on the sides and wrap-around raised deck makes it feel like a mansion. The tutorial below by Greg Builds will walk you through building this cabin with oak and spruce wood, but you can swap them out for Spruce and Dark Oak blocks respectively to get a slightly darker cabin like the one I went for above. The tutorial will also show off a basic interior design for the main floor, lofts, and a basement, but there's a ton of space in this cabin to stack full of more practical tools if you need.