The kitchen is the room in the house that provides the most necessary function. Because of this, working in a small kitchen can drive people crazy! It may feel like there is no space in your kitchen and you have way too much stuff to fit into the area, but this is not true. Even with a small kitchen, every inch of space can be utilized to add more room and working areas. When you understand what you can do with even the smallest corners of your kitchen, you will be much happier preparing and cleaning up meal prep!
Use the Corners
Everyone despises that corner cabinet space in L-shaped, U-shaped, and G-shaped kitchens. It is a tricky spot to find storage solutions there, but there are many things you can do to take advantage of this space. You can install a lazy Susan to rotate all the items for easy reach and display, but sometimes even a lazy Susan wastes space. Some homeowners opt to install corner drawers to fully use that space. Another option is to build an entirely new workspace or meal prep area with drawers, a microwave slot, and cabinets. You can also use that corner space to install your sink or range so you aren’t trying to come up with creative storage solutions.
Take Advantage of Small Spaces
There are many tiny nooks in your kitchen that you probably have no idea how to utilize. For instance, you know the small, skinny cabinet that you can only fit certain cutting boards and cookie sheets into? Ditch those and add a pull-out spice rack. This will free up cabinet space for larger items and make it easier to see what spices you have on hand. Another tiny nook in your kitchen is the space between the refrigerator and the cabinet or wall. You can custom create a pull-out pantry in that space! Store any of your canned goods or similar items there to utilize your other cabinet spaces.
Get Creative with Shelves
There are many details in your kitchen that are overlooked for storage and functional capabilities. For instance, the walls of your kitchen can be used to store utensils, knives, spices, and other small kitchen items. It doesn’t even need to take up much room! Install a magnetic strip to hang knives or small hooks to hang utensils.
The tops of your cabinets or refrigerator can also be used for storage. Some people don’t consider this space since it is hard to reach, but you can place baskets of items on the tops of the cabinets so it is easy to grab. This will free up a lot of your counter space to focus on meal prep. Another creative storage solution is that small space under the cabinets. You can custom build drawers to place under your cabinets for additional storage solutions.
Move Big Items Out of Cabinets
Pots, pans, baking dishes, and cookie sheets take up a lot of room! To get these out of your cabinets to free up more space, you can choose more creative storage options. To get rid of your baking sheets and dishes, you can store them in the oven. This allows more room in the cabinets for other items and takes advantage of a space that is empty most of the time. Just make sure to remove them before preheating your oven!
For pots and pans, buy a pot rack that hangs high up on your wall. You can also buy a rolling cart to store some of these items and get additional counter space. This allows you to move these items out of your way easily when you need room for something else in your kitchen.