Do you have a tiny kitchen? If so, you know how hard dealing with such a small kitchen can be. There’s not enough counter space. There’s not enough cabinet space. There’s not enough space, period.
Luckily, there are things you can do to make the most of the space your tiny kitchen has to offer.
Learn to “Edit” Your Small Kitchen
You might dream of having a kitchen fully stocked with every appliance, utensil and tool you can think of. But, if your kitchen is small, this dream just isn’t realistic. Instead, you must learn to edit the items in your kitchen down to the bare essentials
Take an honest look at your kitchen, and remove anything you can do without. A good place to start is the countertop. Do you really need to have the blender sitting out all of the time? How much do you use it? If you only use the blender a few times a month, on those rare occasions when you get a hankering for a smoothie, it’s wasting valuable counter space. Consider putting it away, perhaps in the cabinet under the sink. It’ll be easy enough to get to the next time you need to make a smoothie.
It’s especially important to keep the size of your kitchen in mind during shopping trips. Yes, you might have fallen in love with that set of gourmet pots and pans. But do you really have room for them? If not, are you willing to give away your old pots and pans to make room for the new set?
Use the Underside of Your Cabinets and Shelves
The thing about tiny kitchens is that they often don’t have a lot of cabinets. So you need to make the most of the cabinet space you do have.
One way to do this is to use the bottoms of your cabinet shelves. By screwing in a few simple hooks, you can have a place from which to hang your mugs and tea cups. Just like that, you’ll be able to get twice as much into the cabinet as you were before.
If you have a set of wine glasses you need to store, you can opt for an under cabinet stemware rack. Rather than being installed inside a cabinet, these racks are installed on the bottom. So your stemware will be on display, but organized and neatly tucked away. And the cabinet space you once used for your wine glasses will now be free to use for something else.
Think Compact
Many manufacturers make smaller versions of their standard-sized appliances. And this can be a lifesaver when you have a tiny kitchen.
When shopping for small appliances, make a habit of looking for the smaller, more compact versions. For example, do you really need a 12-cup coffee maker? Maybe you can make do with one that makes just 4 cups instead. And the smaller size will take up much less counter space.
If you’re really struggling to find more space in your tiny kitchen, you can always replace some of your larger appliances with smaller, more compact versions. For example, how attached are you to your current refrigerator? Do you really need one that big? If not, you could consider selling your current fridge, and replacing it with a smaller model.
Don’t Forget the Tops
If there is even a foot of clear space above your refrigerator, use it. This area can make great storage for some of your appliances, your bigger pots and pans, or your cookbooks. And, of course, storing boxes of cereal on top of the fridge is a classic.
Is there empty space above your kitchen cabinets? If so, buy some wicker baskets that will fit into this free space. Not only will they add an attractive decorative touch to your kitchen, they’re great for storing things like recipe cards, measuring cups, clean dish towels, or corkscrews.
The area above your cabinets can also make for a good place to store dry goods, like flour, sugar, pasta, and rice. Plastic storage containers come in all sizes. Just find some that will on top of your cabinets, and your set.
Extend the Kitchen Outside of the Kitchen
One way to make your tiny kitchen bigger is by claiming another area in your home as part of your kitchen.
Think about that coat closet in your entryway. You can probably find somewhere else to hang your coats and store your shoes. And by cleaning out that closet and installing a few shelves, you can turn it into an amazing pantry. Once you have another place to store appliances and foodstuffs, you won’t be able to remember how you got along without it.
Having a tiny kitchen can be a challenge. The trick is to make the best use of every bit of space you can find, whether that space is on top of the refrigerator, under a cabinet, or in another room.
