There are some benefits to having a small kitchen. Being able to have everything close at hand makes it easy to cook, and clean up quickly. Yet without effective organization, a small kitchen can quickly become cluttered and disorganized. This could leave you wasting precious minutes moving things around when you would rather be cooking or cleaning.
While each kitchen and the cook who commands it are different, there are some common solutions to consider for keeping things organized. You can use the following list of ideas to help tame your kitchen and pantry space.
Install Adjustable Shelves In Your Pantry
Small kitchens usually either have a small attached pantry or a tall standing cabinet that serves to hold dry goods and non-perishable items. Some of these units come with static shelves built-in, which provide it with structure. Adding adjustable shelving systems to your pantry or your kitchen storage closet allows you more control over shelf height, which in turn allows you to plan and organize items more effectively.
Cabinet Storage
In some homes, the cabinets don’t always go all the way up to the ceiling. This lesser-used space can be a prime location for keeping basic items and lightweight appliances. This lets you take things like blenders and spare paper towel rolls. There are cubby and door storage options that can keep things neatly organized and visually appealing.
Install Extra Shelves Under Kitchen Island
A kitchen island can be incredibly convenient, or it can eat up a lot of space. In some situations, you might be able to easily install some adjustable shelving. This can give you the perfect storage space to hold a wide range of items. Selecting an adjustable shelving system to let’s you decide if this is the place you want to keep the cookie sheets and pans, or if it’s where you want to store tall stock pots and cans.
Storage Space Above The Refrigerator
Some kitchens have small cabinets above the refrigerator, and some don’t. If you have a big open space of wall over your fridge, you should consider putting in some shelves or perhaps seeing if you can find a matching cupboard that will fit. Put the space above your fridge to good use.
Free Standing Shelves On Empty Walls
If your kitchen or pantry has an open wall space that isn’t being used, you might want to consider hanging some free-standing shelves. These can serve a functional or ornamental purpose. You might use it to display decorative items, or simply keep tools and kitchen appliances close at hand.
Install A Magnetic Knife Rack
Knife blocks can sometimes take up a lot of room on your kitchen counters. Yet, you don’t want your high-quality knives simply bouncing around in a drawer getting nicked up and dented.
One easy compromise between these two extremes is to mount magnetic strips inside one of your cabinet doors gives you a place to keep knives safely up and out of the way. Hardware stores sell some very strong magnets that will do a great job of securing knives without fear of them letting go. When you want to use one, simply twist it, so the back of the blade is the last thing to touch the magnetic strip. This will keep from accidentally dulling the blade.
Install Velcro Strips In Your Spice Cabinet
Dried herbs and spices keep more of their aroma and flavor when they are kept whole. At the same time, most will degrade when exposed to light. One trick to keep whole herbs stashed away, yet still having some quick at hand, is to store them in small metal containers with a “Hook” side of Velcro attached to the bottom. You then attach the loop to the inside of a spice cabinet door or the underside of a shelf.
Install Hooks And Hanger Bars On The Sides Of Cabinets
Being able to keep clean dish rags and tea towels on hand is great for drying plates and hands, or just giving you something to cover a bowl with. If you have an unused side of a cabinet or refrigerator to spare, you can use removable adhesive to hold hooks and hanger bars.
Pull Out Baskets Under Cabinets
Basket systems are an increasingly popular storage solution throughout the home. When you bring them into the kitchen, you can keep things like potholders, can openers and other lightweight items close at hand, without having to sacrifice prime real estate on the counter or in a cabinet drawer.
Paper Towel Holder Under Cabinets
Most people keep a roll or two of paper towels in their kitchen. While putting it on a countertop stand might be convenient at first, it also tends to take up cabinet space. It also puts the paper towels at risk for spatter and spills. Hanging a paper towel holder under a cabinet or inside a frequently used cabinet door keeps it out of the way, yet you can still grab a clean sheet at a moment’s notice.
Pegboard In Pantry And Cupboards
Pegboard doesn’t just have to be limited to workshops and craft rooms. When you hang it inside a pantry or the back wall of a cupboard the accessory hooks can hold a wide range of lightweight items. There are even heavy-duty hooks that are strong enough to handle holding pots and pans.
Use Overhead Hangers
These days a lot of pots, pans, and kitchen gadgets have loops or hooks. This lends them to things like hooks that hang overhead or perhaps on the side of a cabinet. It’s a great way to open up extra space in the cabinet, or simply keep your Lazy Susan from being cluttered up.
Lesser used pans and tools can be hung from the ceiling in your walk-in pantry. This spares you having to dig in cluttered cabinets for them when you need them, while also keeping them up and out of the way.
Explore Your Options With A Professional Touch
The number of kitchen organization options on the market today can be staggering. At Closettec we have an expansive showroom and the kind of highly trained staff that can help you find the kitchen and pantry storage innovations that will work best for you.
