How to Create More Storage Space in a Small Kitchen

Guest Blogger #571, Entry #1288, June 15, 2012

Whether you’ve upgraded from your apartment to a town house (but you’re still suffering from small-kitchen syndrome) you’ve had to downgrade during the recession, or you’ve simply been dealing with a postage-stamp sized cooking space for as long as you can remember and your buildup of gadgets has gotten overwhelming, you may find yourself seeking ways to up the ante when it comes to storage space in this pivotal part of your home. But short of doing a complete overhaul that encroaches on another room, you may not be certain how to go about meeting your goal (especially if you happen to be operating on a limited budget). So here are just a few creative ways that you can add more storage without going crazy.

Create a kitchen that you love to be in

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Assess you current kitchen space

The first thing you can do is find ways to maximize the space you already have. Suppose, for example, that you have a lot of vertical space to work with, but you’re only stacking dishes, cookware, and so on to about half the height available on each shelf. You don’t necessarily want to end up with items stacked precariously high in order to use all available space, so why not think about installing additional shelves so that you have more surface area to work with? This could allow you to utilize the cabinetry you already rather than shelling out a ton of dough for new cabinets.

You might also consider replacing only certain cabinets, like those that overlap in a corner space. Just because the builders didn’t think to put in corner cabinets in order to make this area usable doesn’t mean you have to replace all of the cabinetry in your kitchen. You may be able to simply overhaul the corners (or even add Lazy Susans as a cheap alternative). And of course, structuring your space with a variety of kitchen organizers could help you to maximize usage. Storage racks, bins, and other types of organizers can help you to make the space you have more efficient.

Use cabinets and storage to their best use

But perhaps you have unused space where additional cabinetry could be added. If you happen to have an island or bar area that has open space above it you could hang new cabinets from the ceiling in this area or simply add a pot rack to get bulky cookware out of the cabinets and clear the space for something else. Or if you have overhead cabinets that fall short of the ceiling, you could tear out the old ones and replace them with something taller (or potentially even expand the ones you already have, although a seamless renovation could be difficult). Replacing only a portion of your cabinetry in order to enhance your storage capabilities is bound to be far less expensive than tearing out all of your cupboards and putting in new ones (even if they are more functional).

Your cozy kitchen has a lot of potential!

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In truth, without a major renovation you probably won’t be able to secure a lot of extra storage space in the kitchen (it’s not as if that pods promo code in your email inbox will help you here – unless you want your storage in the driveway). But you can definitely find ways to use the storage you do have to your best advantage, as well as tap unused space (often overhead) to expand your storage potential.

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