OS and a tiny kitchen?

continualdiamond

I as well have a tiny kitchen, i used to be forever trying to move things around. I only have 2 work tops and they're either side of my hobs. Above the work tops are corner cupboards, so they do go quiet deep, they're also to the ceiling.

What i did was buy those corner plate racks, so i am able to get all my plates and bowls onto them. Then i got stackable shelves (argos = 8422532), i got two sets and my cupboards look great now.

I also decided to wall mount my microwave to save on work top space, best thing i ever did. I have a wall that is pretty useless as half of it disappears when you open the back door. But the other bit i decided to wall mount my microwave on.

I was amazed at how much difference that made to my kitchen. My work top now just has my kettle and tea,coffe,sugar pot on and my other work top has a utensil pot and a glass chopping board. I even decided to put my toaster into the cupboard to save work top space.

My kitchen doesn't have space for a proper fridge, only an under counter one. We keep a chest freezer in the 2nd bedroom. But our under counter fridge broke a few weeks ago, so we decided to use space in our hall that has a cupboard and bought a proper size fridge.

I now use the space where the under counter fridge was in the kitchen to keep a vegetable trolley. It has opened the kitchen up a lot without the under counter fridge taking the space up.

Its weird at first having no fridge in the kitchen, but we soon got used to it, you try and use the space you have as best as you can and for us it was best having a proper size fridge, just not in the kitchen.

all_hours

i have a small kitchen too. the only piece of work top is taken up with the microwave, toaster + kettle. i use the top of the washer(top loader) as space when cooking - baking is a challenge and i have to plan washing + cooking times - cant do both at the same time as the chopped veg dances around and ends up on the floor.

izoomzoom

The small kitchen of our house was the downside when we bought our house .

So, hello small kitchen dwellers

Can I ask what everyone stores all their food stuff in. I have two cupboards, which have two shelves in, and I store 80% of my foodstuffs in there.

But it is chaos, as can be seen -


I do tidy it up every couple of weeks, but am starting to think I should go down the plastic storage containers route, so that at least I can stack things on top of each other. I also have spice rack, and tea / sugar containers etc on the counter below, my flours are kept in the fridge, I have excess tins on the top of the cupboard, and I keep a few veggies in another cupboard ... but I pull my hair out whenever I need something from this cupboard that isn't right in the front ?

Help

Diane_239

hi i have just had a new kitchen put in by the council the design is designed more for one person than a family i,m lucky that i,ve a pantry to store all my cooking ingredients in along with baking tins,i put saucepans on top of the cupboards,hang cups on hooks under the cupboards.

kippers

I also have a small kitchen and i am very careful what i buy to go in it. I keep my essentials like my breadmaker and food processor in there as i use them alot but unfortunately when my microwave broke we didn't replace it as i didn't use it enough to warrant the space it took up.

I have no draws ( a badly designed kitchen) so my knifes and forks and utensils sit on my work surface.

I do have a pantry but it has my fridge in, but my freezer sits in our dinning room-i could have a fridge freezer in my pantry but my fridge and freezer are always so full with O/S goodies.

The one thing i did fit in (i was determined to find a space for it) was my slimline dishwasher...i couldn't do without it!

My kitchen drives me round the bend but there isn't alot i can do about it, i just have to make the best of it. I do find if one thing is left out then the kitchen looks untidy which is a pain!

rosieben

I'm soon to move to an old property with a tiny kitchen, made even smaller by a huge old arched back door, access to under stairs storage, huge gas boiler on the wall and a long wide window so I lose a lot of wall space.

I'm lucky that starting from scratch I've been able to think about how to use the space best (and had some good advice) so I'm having a mix of cupboard sizes, 400mm, 500mm and 800mm; a smaller sink will allow me an extra drawer and a removable drainer will leave more worktop space. I'm having a piece of worktop in front of the window which is hinged and will lift up out of the way (like a bar) and so allow me access to the window (deep mullion so I couldn't reach the window if there were a permanent unit or worktop in front) and that will also give me a space underneath for a small bin and my vegetable rack. I will have one double wall cupboard and maybe a small one if we can squeeze it in (if not too near cooker).

My bm's currently live on a small tea trolley (which I shall be painting to match the kitchen) and I store the bread making ingredients I'm using on the bottom shelf so it just wheels out to use and away in a corner when finished. I'm hoping that will tuck in under the stairs!

Luckily my bil noticed that in the hallway the space between the stair bannister and the wall will take a tall 400mm unit so that will probably be my 'pantry' space.

I'm really looking forward to getting in there and organising my stuff and I'm sorting and throwing out anything that wont earn its space! I'm taking before and after pics so may post some when its done.

carriebradshaw

looking forward to seing those pics rosieben it's sounds lovely.I've got a small kitchen but I love it now we've decorated it.Small is beautiful

seraphina

We have a little kitchen too.

I find the half-shelf thingys you can get from lakeland invaluable - basically it's a rack to put in your cupboards that gives you an extra shelf to put things on. You can fit tins underneath it and more tins on top of it, if that makes sense?

I also keep my pasta, rice and porridge oats on the windowsills in nice jars - they look pretty and they are easy to hand. The basil plant sits on top of the pasta:rotfl:

Gingham_Ribbon

Wall to wall our kitchen is less than 6 foot by 6 foot. Here it is:



Having only 2 half work tops, one of which has the kettle on it (on the left) makes it a challenge to dish up but I do that on the dining table or put plates on the hob. I'm messy - the kitchen doesn't always look as neat, but this is how I do it.

Top right half cupboard has cleaning stuff in it. Top left half cupboard has baking stuff in it and tea, coffee, hot chocolate etc.

Bottom left half cupboard has tinned tomatoes, boxes of passata, tinned beans, unopened jam, marmalade and peanut butter. Bottom right half cupboard has stock cubes, oils, vinegars, some random bits and a non stick pan. The cupboard under the sink has the rest of the pans and the colander (which I use to seperate stuff from the other non stick pan.) Also the baking paper, kitchen foil and freezer bags, washing up sponges and rags.

One drawer has the cutlery, one has knives, scissors, biscuit cutters etc and the jar on the surface has wooden spoons etc in.

I have the original built in cupboard in the dining room and that has the crockery, hand blender, slow cooker etc, the wedding cutlery, baking trays/dishes etc and up high are the things we don't use often like the fancy glasses, dip dishes etc.

The fridge freezer was deliberately not white so it would look okay in the dining room, right next to the cupboard on the left but through the wall. There is a shef on the wall next to it in the dining room that has wicker baskets which hold teatowels and other bits. The shelf also has the breadbin on it and the phone. (And usually loads of junk too!) The fruit bowl is on the dining table. It does actually only contain fruit at the moment which is a blessing!! (Oops, no there's a pen too!)

Doh I forgot to say - the cellar head (top of the cellar stairs) contains the tumble dryer which has the breadmaker on top of it. Above it are shelves containing dried pulses, popping corn, rice, pasta, dates, raisins, the kids' painting stuff etc etc. It's a small space but we also fit in the mop, brush and dustpan and brush. Going down the cellar stairs there are boxes and bags of cat food on the left and the cellar is dry and well used.

There's a spice rack on the wall on the left and the picture on the right is one my son made.

ceridwen

Cellar! - envy, envy - must try not to covet I tell myself. That must certainly help out.

Your kitchen looks like its been properly planned - which helps a lot. Mine is bigger - but everything is in the wrong place - so reduces visibly what I should have in way of cupboards and worksurface space.

Think the bit I find most difficult is the gadgetry - ie where to put it. As well as the toaster/kettle/breadbin on the work surface - there is also a steamer, a food processor, a breadmaker, a recipe book holder, various cereal and flour containers I dont have room for in the cupboards. The top of my fridge/freezer has to have a box full of the food processor bits on top and a kitchen wall cupboard has to have garden bits on top. The windowsill has to be used for radio/cleaning materials and 2 pairs of scales. So it looks cluttered even if blindingly tidy (doesnt happen often) - which it wouldnt do if there was enough cupboard space.