Ever hear someone say, “Gee, there’s too much space in my kitchen. I wish I hadn’t gotten so many cabinets.”
Yeah, neither have I.
Kitchens are notorious for being short on space. Even if your kitchen is XXL, it’s easy to find yourself running low on space (especially if you keep on buying kitchen gadgets because, well, you have room for them, don’t you?).
The key to an organized kitchen of any size – like every other area of your home – is to have designated spaces for everything, and to keep dead space to a minimum. These kitchens show you how:
Hanging pot racks are not only lovely to look at, they’re incredible space savers too; they free up at least one cabinet or drawer, depending on how many (and what size) pots you have!
Hate the fact that you can’t put a much-needed drawer into your under-sink cabinet? Problem solved!
Ask for a little pull-out “drawer” for sponges. Bonus: you don’t have to look at your sponges all the time!
The typical corner cabinet is a storage disaster. These cabinets tend to eat the things you put in there, no matter how often you organize them. Solution?
If you do a lot of baking, you probably bemoan the size mismatch between cookie sheets and cabinets. Either the sheets and other assorted pans don’t fit, or they do but they leave you with loads of empty and unusable space, OR you have to stack them, with the one on the bottom inevitably being the one you use most.
Sounds familiar? Try “filing” your pans!
Or, better yet, use that awkward small space that your cabinet maker wants to just close off with a filler piece:
That small space can be surprisingly versatile. Use to keep spices handy in cooking areas:
While we’re on the topic of baking, how about those huge appliances that take up all that room in your cabinets?
Create a countertop “garage” or a swing-up shelf to save your back – no more lugging!
And one more underutilized space in most kitchens: the toe kick.
Just remember that you’ll have to bend waaaay down to reach toe kick drawers, so use them to store things that you don’t use much (or keep them for Fido).
