Small kitchens are a common feature in most city apartments, which means making the most of the storage space available. When tackling your kitchen cupboards, be vigilant about donating dishes and canned goods you don't use. After you've purged your excess items, organize what's left. We've compiled some easy ways to create more storage space in your kitchen. Click below to see the list.
How To: Create More Storage Space in the Kitchen
1) Declutter Your Kitchen: If you need help purging clutter, Chapter 2 of the Apartment Therapy Book gives a detailed strategy for cleaning out the kitchen. Get rid of expired food or canned goods you haven't used in 12 months, donate dishes and cookware you don't use, and get rid of anything that's broken or stained.
2) Double Your Shelf Space: Use undershelf baskets or cabinet shelves to create stacked shelving within cabinets.
3) Hang It Up: Use wall-mounted racks or hooks to hang cookware, tea towels, and kitchen accessories. You can also use a magnetic wall-mounted spice rack to keep spices or other odds and ends in clear view. (There's a great DIY version at My Aim is True.)
4) Organize Your Glassware: Glassware hogs a lot of space in kitchen cabinets since, unlike bowls or plates, it's not always stackable. Wine glasses can be hung on a stemware rack to free up space, or use a wire shelf for glassware inside a tall cabinet.
5) Store Larger Items in Racks: Platters, baking sheets, and pot lids can be stored on their side and easily accessed by using a rack.
6) Use Drawer Organizers: Keep silverware in place with a cutlery tray and keep the junk drawer clean with a gadget tray.
7) Take Advantage of Unused Space: If you're short on storage space, use empty areas to their full potential. A lot of kitchens have storage above the cabinets. Get a step stool and store rarely used items up high. You can also use under-cabinet and under-shelf space for storage.
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I store a few pots, pans and dog dishes in my oven, which I don't use much. I think many NY'ers do this. I actually met one who stores extra books in hers!
view Lourdes's profile
my co-worker keeps her shoes in there... i might as well too.
view eebnyc's profile
a good friend of mine uses her dishwasher as a drying rack for those items that can't go through the wash or for when she doesn't have enough dishes to run the washer and decides to do it by hand. I love this idea!
view bloo_mountain's profile
Yeah, this is a good idea, Maybe I will try it. It really sounds fantastic!
view ppollwith654's profile
My apt has a full size frig which is such a waste of space for just me. I store my pots, pans and mixing bowls in the frig. When I go to cook, I gather the bowl/pan and the ingredients at the same time!
view peardown's profile
The frig is a good tip. I've stored items in my oven but found it bothersome when I wanted to cook but I have lots of spare room in my frig.
view alexis's profile
I invented a new kind of spice organizer because I had a small apartment in the city and too many spices. It's called SpiceStack because it stacks 27 spice bottles (more if you like the little half-size bottles) from the grocery store in a relatively small space in your kitchen cabinet. Three drawers pull out and drop-down so you don't have to spend forever digging through cabinets looking for the spice you need. Check it out at www.SpiceStack.com!
Happy Organizing!
view Lauren Elizabeth's profile
The biggest wasted space is UNDER the kitchen sink. Clear out all the cleaners and junk, put down contac paper and store big pots and pans there. Don't store food there in case the sink leaks.
I suffered with a very small kitchen for eight years before I came up with this idea. TOTALLY changed the way my kitchen functioned.
view ohjodi's profile
Ohjodi, and where does one put the cleaning products. I'm in a loft and that's the only place I have to store those things.
Sean
view SeanG's profile
sean: this may not work for you, but... we store floor cleaner together with the mop & bucket, as they are always together. and the rest of cleaners are under bathroom sink. i also figured out that extra TP can go into the linen closet.
i sympathize, a loft must be a tough place to figure out where to store such things!
view olya's profile