Islands! We have a wonky old kitchen and and Ikea butcher block topped island gave us super storage, a food prep location and a place for everyone to congregate when we are mixing drinks/prepping dinner.

They are a bit of an investment, but ours changed the look of our otherwise dingy and small kitchen into a friendly place with a spot to lean :)

Good luck!

Is it possible to angle the refrigerator in towards the sink & move it back a bit. Still not a great solution but will provide a bit more access to the counter & an interesting layout.

Can you move the fridge? Without seeing more of your space, it is pretty much impossible to make suggestions. You need to include more photos.

that kitchen is screaming island!! I agree with whimsy SF. Ikea butcher blocks. They come in all shapes...sizes..with all types of storage solutions.

Instead of messing with the appliance placement and wires back there, just place the island right in the middle. it will make your kitchen into a really great inviting open space.

Hi everyone it's Victoria,
I guess to respect my privacy AT didn't include all of the photos I sent. You can check out my flickr for more photos and a layout. I can't fit an island in the kitchen by the way. Thanks, for your help.

Recently I have seen a great post here about kitchen islands, that would be my first choice.
Also moving the fridge (if possible), leaving space to add some furniture that could be used as counter space.
Add small shelves, hooks, spice racks, use the backsplash and walls so you can leave the counter space free to work.

A kitchen cart will provide additional storage as well as counter space. If your kitchen is too small for one, I suggest getting a a cover for your range.

I would get a piece of butcher block custom cut to size, that you could lay on top of the stove or sink, to give me more prep space when I wasn't using the stove or sink. (That looks like a gas stove, but surely it is pilot-less if it is a newer model.) And I definitely agree that if there is floor space, an island looks like a must-have for this poor kitchen!

I've got a similar problem and am considering switching to an electric stove so I can move it to another wall. But if your stove is in good condition, the landlord is probably not going to want to purhcase a new one.

This cart worked like as a tiny island in my rental kitchen:

http://www.target.com/Chrome-Microwave-Cart/dp/B00008616C/ref=br_1_2?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=1&searchView=grid5&searchNodeID=219739011&node=219739011&searchRank=pmrank&searchPage=1&searchSize=30&id=Chrome%20Microwave%20Cart

you can roll it in when you are cooking and then out of the way when you are done

Thanks for the additional photos. Wow, tough layout.

Is your fridge an apartment-sized model? Some ideas... all less than ideal:

1) Put your fridge in the closet across from the bathroom. Remove the closet door if necessary/desired.

and/or

2) Get rid of current fridge. Buy 2 smaller models. Use one as a freezer and the other as a fridge. Install a counter-height work table where the fridge is currently located. This would be a rectangle, maybe 4 feet long or so. Yes, it is going to stick out a bit into your living area -- I'll come back to that. Install a panel / room divider behind the work table, so it creates a small entry area near your front door. You could even use pegboard -- kitchen storage on the kitchen side, and coats or art on the entry side. Put the 2 fridges under the work table.

Like I said, less than ideal. But might work if done well.

Hi Victoria: my first apartment had a kitchen almost as badly laid out and without space for a kitchen island inside the kitchen and no way to move any of the appliances. I know it's not the ideal solution, but since my roommate and I didn't want an island in the middle of our living/"dining" area, we ended up getting a sturdy table that could double as our main prep space as well as our eating space. You don't get the storage benefits of an island, but you don't feel quite as much like your kitchen exploded into your living area.

I also agree with ashtichick - see if you can find a cutting board that will go over the sink to give more space for prepping food.

Victoria... What an awkward kitchen! You're definitely going to have to get creative with this one! It looks like there is a small "blank" wall across from the stove perhaps you could build/purchase a sort of wall mounted drop leave table (like this one from IKEA http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30062572). That way you could put it down when you need extra counter space but it will fold up to be completely out of the way when not needed! Good luck!

Wow, that's not a great layout at all. Maybe you could position a nice looking console table or sideboard directly outside the kitchen to have space to prep while you're cooking, and just keep a few cutting boards in it to pull out when you need it. The fold-down table is also a good idea.

Other than that, you might as well plunk a microwave or toaster and coffee maker in that awkward corner and forget about it.

Can your landlord replace the full-size fridge with an under-the-counter fridge? I did that in my former tiny kitchen, and it absolutely transformed the space.

You might try a fold-able kitchen cart.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=14825100&RN=2036
It could be folded and shoved in a corner when not needed.

What I've had to do in two different apartments was move the fridge out of the kitchen and into a living room, once was into a closet and another time it was screened in so we weren't sitting with a huge fridge in the living room, all you might need is a heavy duty extension cord that is made for large appliances... good luck!

I had a similarly small kitchen for 5 years. When I cooked, I would put a wood cutting board on top of the stove to prep and then I would move it over the sink when I was ready to cook.

Needless to say, I was not hosting huge meals at that apt, but it did the trick.

I was going to suggest more or less what Lisa suggested - get a half-sized fridge, and get a block of wood cut to fit the top of it so you can use it as counter space.

I have almost the exact same layout! Whose idea is it to put all the counterspace in an unreachable corner? Crazy! I did what an above poster suggested and plopped the microwave back there.

I have a large cutting board that goes over the sink, and over the holidays, when I am visiting relatives with tools, I plan to cut one that will fit exactly. That's because having a cutting board over the sink can be dangerously wobbly if the fit isn't just right. I have gotten used to using the surface of the stove as a prep area (I use burner covers to keep any crumbs from getting under the burners). If I'm making something that involves more than one mixing bowl, I put a plate over them and stack them. And sometimes I just take my giant cutting board and giant mixing bowl out into another room to do prep. You learn to work around this sort of thing.

The most important thing, though, is not to let any dirty dishes take up your sink space or prep space. I have a large dishpan under the sink and keep all dirty dishes there until I wash them in the evening-- NOTHING is allowed to sit in the sink because it just makes it impossible to cook in there. My husband is still adjusting to that arrangement, but if there is another way, I don't know what it is.

From the floorplan in your Flickr file, it looks like you could put a small cart on the wall near the stove. It would have to narrow, but maybe that would work for you. Alternatively, maybe you could devise a folding shelf in the same space that could work as countertop space.

There's no reason a flexible gas line couldn't be run under the cabinets behind the toe kicks. It's just a flex line that connects the stove to the gas outlet anyways. All you need is a longer one. It's easy enough that it should fall under any competent gas fitter/plumber's minimum charge labor wise. Just a question of whether or not the manager would permit it.

I would get a cutting board large enough to cover the sink or the stove when not in use and make that your mobile counter top space. Also, since the sink has a short faucet that doesn't stick up too high I would add a shelf that sits on the counter top for soap and what not, like this http://www.improvementscatalog.com/product/over-sink-shelf.do#.

You can save some of the little counter space you do have by installing Ikea's Grundtal system to use as a drying rack for dishes (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70146749).
I have the longest shelf they offer bolted to the bottom of my kitchen cabinets with an L bracket, and then attached to the wall using the screws that come in the package, so it can hold more weight than the average shelf, and i have a cutlery basket, a small shelf and a large dish drainer hung from that- The wall shelf that holds all the pieces is about 3 inches beneath the cabinet and works great for storing pot lids. The system is shallow enough so that i dont feel as though it's interfering with my prep space,, but you can fold the dish drainer up against the wall if you need to.
I'd also recommend replacing the faucet in your sink with a model that curves up much higher and has a fairly long hose (because dishes DO pile up and make it impossible to cook) it's easy as pie to do and will make your current sink a lot more usable. Hell, if you have a hose on your sink you dont even need to bring pots over to fill them up- just reach over and fill them while they sit on the stove!

Otherwise- definitely install a fold-down table on the wall adjacent to the stove, you'll still be able to open the oven door, but you'll have and extra 2 feet of prep space!

Oh, also, have you considered using a very small cart up against the wall opposite of the stove? It looks like there would still be enough space to get the oven door open. If not, it looks like you could even back it up against the entry to the kitchen to make a "T" shaped counter that would still allow plenty of flow.

I used to live in a house where you had to open the oven door to load the dishwasher. This too shall pass.

My husband and I encountered the same issue when we moved into our current apartment, where the fridge was blocking 2 cabinets, the window, much counter space, and the drainage area of the sink. We moved it into the hallway and placed some baskets on top (it's short; about chest height) and now it's the perfect landing strip and equidistant between the kitchen and living room (great for beer stor...*ahem* entertaining).

Thanks for posting the extra pictures, esp the floorplan. I too lived with a tiny kitchen (I once melted my electric kettle because the only place I had to keep it was on the cookertop) and the lack of counterspace will drive you insane. However it can be done, you just have to measure all the options precisely, to the millimetre.

In fact I think you do have room for a small kitchen butcherblock or trolley, because you don't need that wide an access to your kitchen, you can definitely sacrifice some of that space.

If you put a trolley/butcherblock opposite the fridge, backing up against the narrow edge of the short wall opposite the cooker, and place it so that it's half in the kitchen and half in the main living space. It's hard to tell without precise measurements, but Ikea do have several that might be suitable.

Ask the landlord to put up a vented hood microwave above the range because their layout is unusable. If no is the answer get permission to do it yourself. The problem is going to be to keep everything off the counter so you can use the the tiny amount between the range and sink. Be very careful using cutting boards or anything that conducts heat on the range as it can be a safety issue. An island or work cart may be in the way of your traffic pattern. You can make this work well with a little trial and error.

Since you have said that the kitchen is too small for an island, I am guessing a cart might be too large as well... I would probably make the dining table a multiuse piece and go for function over form. Can you get away with using a large cart as a small dining table, using the drawers for storage, and the top as your prepping surface? It means you'd have to clean up all prep before eating on your table, but if that makes it work, maybe it's worth it. My parents did that in their kitchen for years until they could afford a large island.

I think the best ideas mentioned so far without risking breaking the lease by changing things too much are getting some butcher blocks cut in to fit over the sink and stove. More than likely you won't need both at once.

Years ago in my very first apartment I had a similarly arranged kitchen, and to the right of the refrigerator was an eating area...
...so I moved the fridge to the far end of the wall and bought some metal restaurant shelving and a butcherblock top to create my own 6' counter, and mounted some shelves on the wall above.

Ended up being one of the best kitchens I ever had.

What about replacing your big fridge with an under-bench model, and placing a wooden preparation space on the top? A separate small chest freezer might be squeezed in elsewhere. This is not ideal, I know, but it would give you some extra space and elbow room.

Hey everyone,
Thank you so much for your comments on this post. Sorry I'm just now getting back to you but I've been packing. I personally felt like I just cannot live with the situation as is, so I ask my property manager if I can rearrange the stove and refrigerator by getting a flexible gas line ran under the cabinets. She said yes. There is already a flexible gas line behind the stove anyway, so it just have to be extended. I'm just going to give the maintenance man a few bucks and a 12 pack to convince him. I'll update everyone. Thanks, Victoria

I have no counterspace as well in my apt! I went to IKEA and got the Expedit bookcases and put them horizontally. In the cubby holes, I put my glasses, dishes, and even got some of those fabric drawers to put my tupperware and dish rags in. I have photos of it posted on my blog: here's the link to that:

http://rewersdesigns.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-apartment.html

Hope this helps!!! Enjoy!