• Towel racks, especially cool homemade ones like the talented Kjerstis Lykke's, can serve as accessible and attractive storage for hanging often-used items like spatulas and measuring utensils/cups that can take up valuable drawer and/or counter space. I love how Kjerstis has simply hung a branch through her shelf brackets to give the all white space a touch of natural warmth.
• The outside of cabinets never struck me as a viable place for more storage, but spotting the above solution in vt wonen, I'm totally in love. If you have the skills, you could make your own or customize pre-made shelves or magazine racks similar to these from pottery barn kids.
• Adding an open shelf under the cabinets can add some much needed storage for everyday dishes.
• If you have the space, bringing in freestanding storage units like vintage lockers, old card catalogs, or a dresser can add a lot to improve the character of a drab builder's grade kitchen.
• Open or glass shelves in front of the kitchen window can provide a perfect place for potted herbs or often used glasses, which don't block out any light. Admittedly, I'm still on the fence about this idea, as natural light is so coveted in my own home, but seeing it in real life when I went to photograph an upcoming house tour I'm a lot more convinced.
• Use your wall space. My own small kitchen redo (pictures 6, 7), which you can check out here: Before & After: A Modest Kitchen Makeover involved mounting everything that possibly could including the spice rack, knives, and stereo. Doing so made a world of difference when it came to saving counter and drawer space.
Images: 1: Kjerstis Lykke, 2: VT Wonen, 3: Cottage Living, 4: Country Living, 5: Bosworth Hoedemaker, 6, 7: Leah Moss
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ACROSS THE WINDOW.
That's...
That's genius.
The house I'm hoping to move into has an adorable, albeit small kitchen with a huge window and an awkward layout. A shelf across the window would certainly buy me some time before I buy the place and upgrade the kitchen.
I LOVE open storage. Can't get enough of it. We just started to work on our kitchen at home (we rent, so nothing structural) and even adding some plain old ikea wood shelving has made such a huge difference.
I have a canibet of KitchenAid in my kitchen, just to make sure we can easily get the right thing in hand when something wrong happens (which is easy).
I LOVE theopen shelving we put in our kitchen last fall. Check it out: http://settlingwest.com
I LOVE these kitchens! What a great idea for the drift wood---I may steal that idea!
I love all of these.
I recently added shelving on a very large blank wall over the sink, its changed everything in a better way.
I too love that branch idea.
#5 is a home for Little People, right? Otherwise it looks like the shelf (which blocks the window) is right at eye level for a lot of people. Either that or you are at risk of hitting your forehead on it multiple times.
I had a similar shelf to #5 in a house I used to live in; only one person ever hit their head (a very drunk girl at a party).
I have the magnetic spice rack shown in the last picture, I love it but the powdered spices tend to leak out, it's great for oregano, rosemary, etc though.