Most keen home cooks dream of having a spacious kitchen with plenty of workspace and storage galore. However the reality is often quite different. If you live in a flat, apartment, or modern house it’s likely that your kitchen is far from palatial. And if you’ve recently moved from a property that had a bigger kitchen, you might be wondering how you’ll cope with the compact space. But having a small kitchen doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy cooking at home. You just need to be super-organised and plan your kitchen space carefully. Here are some tips to getting the most out of a tiny kitchen:
Be Ruthless
Cupboard space is often severely limited in a small kitchen so now’s not the time to get sentimental over mixing bowls and pans. You need to streamline your kitchen kit – for example by having just one or two high-quality saucepans, rather than six. And if you have gadgets that you never use, give them away, rather than letting them clutter up your precious storage space.
Seasonal Rotation
Pack away rarely used or seasonal items. For instance, if you have bowls that you use for dinner parties or a cake stand you only bring out at Christmas, pack them away and store in another part of the house. If your ice-cream machine only gets used in summer, then store it away during the rest of the year.
Multi-Use Space Savers
Many kitchen items can be used for more than one task, which helps to save cupboard and worktop space. For example, an attractive chopping board can also be used as a serving platter, or the bowl from a set of scales can be used as mixing bowl and measuring jug, providing you choose one with measurements marked on it.
Super-size your Storage
You don’t have to redesign your whole kitchen to create more space. Often just adding clever storage accessories to your cupboards can make a big difference. Pull-out organisation systems can help you access those hard to reach corners and make the most of every inch of space. Or adding a carousel to a corner cupboard can add valuable space to an area that’s often wasted.
Don’t Forget Wall Space
You can mount a wide variety of things from knives to spice racks on your wall to free up worktop space. And don’t forget about the space above your head; you can hang pans and things you only every use occasionally up high – just make sure you have a little foldaway step so that you can reach everything easily.
Space on Wheels
A moveable island can be a great investment giving you extra preparation and storage space. And the great thing is you can simply push it to one side or even move it into another room when you need to create more floor space.
Dining Space
If you’re lucky enough to have the space for a small dining table in your tiny kitchen, choose carefully. There are lots of clever designs available that help you save space. For example butterfly-style tables fold down neatly and allow the chairs to be stored inside the table. If you don’t have room for a traditional table, you could install a breakfast bar instead which can then double up as additional worktop space.
Why not take a look on Pinterest to find inspiration or share your own ideas for tiny kitchens: http://www.pinterest.com/jlrancourt/tiny-kitchen-ideas/
