11 Kitchen Storage Ideas to Make Your Small Space Easier to Cook In

Rachel Davies
·7 min read

Photo: Martina Gemmola

The fight for kitchen storage space is never-ending. Whether you’re stuck with a tiny apartment kitchen that barely has room for your minuscule spice jars or you’re in a sprawling suburban kitchen but happen to have an outsize gadget collection, you’ve almost certainly found yourself trying to somehow summon extra space out of thin air more times than you’d like to admit. Though we don’t know any true magic spells to conjure extra square footage, we have figured out a few storage tricks with the help of our Clever home tours. Read on for only the best inspiration.

Use your window sills

Window sills act like small shelves in this colorful Maine home.
Window sills act like small shelves in this colorful Maine home.

Everyone always talks about wanting a window over their kitchen sink—or at the very least, Big Sean and Justina Blakeney have both spoken on it—and while the desire for a nice view while doing your dishes is fine and dandy, what we appreciate most about a kitchen window is the extra surface area. Sure, it might not be the hack that’ll save the most space in your kitchen, but the window sill offers some extra surface area that you can do whatever you please with. Compared to the precious resource that is the kitchen countertop, you can use the space for decoration guilt free, if you so choose. You could add a framed photo, you could showcase your favorite mugs, or you could just copy homeowner Matthew J.C. Clark’s arrangement. Pictured above, one of Matthew’s kitchen window sills provide a spot for a collection of plants, while the other is used to store fresh fruit and vegetables. They both feature delightful contrasting painted trims too. See? The sill is the perfect spot to add a little personality, and it’ll save your countertop space for the utilitarian stuff.

Hang your pots from the ceiling

Sam Klemick knew that the lofted bed was going to be key to the apartment. “As soon as I knew I would be moving into this particular space, I wanted to do a lofted bed to utilize the additional space gifted by having such high ceilings,” she says.
Sam Klemick knew that the lofted bed was going to be key to the apartment. “As soon as I knew I would be moving into this particular space, I wanted to do a lofted bed to utilize the additional space gifted by having such high ceilings,” she says.
Photo: Ye Rin Mok

If your kitchen is underneath a lofted space, a staircase, or you just have low ceilings, put them to work with hooks. Otherside Objects founder Sam Klemick did just this in her 495-square-foot Los Angeles studio, expertly putting the ceiling beams to use and drawing the eye upward to expand the scale.

Use a proper cabinet

The burl wood drop-down cabinet is an Etsy find.

When you’re short on cabinet space but have a little extra square footage to spare, go for a proper hutch or bookshelf to add storage. While many go for a wire shelving unit or something else that feels industrial-leaning, using a proper cabinet helps a space feel lived-in and mature; plus, it can offer closed storage that’s useful for kitchen gadgets or food storage you may not want on display at all times. In the West Village apartment of Alex Bass, a burl cabinet deftly divides the kitchen from the breakfast nook.

Use both sides of your island

“In terms of the spatial planning, the classic thing is to have a train track arrangement with your kitchen and an island and a dining table all parallel to the length of the house, which can often make it feel like this series of very narrow spaces, all running through to the garden,” says Daniel Goodacre, cofounder of DGN Studio. “We wanted to create this U-shaped kitchen in the center of the plan, so it’s a bit more like different episodes as you move through the space.”

If you have an island or you’re planning out a reconfiguration of your kitchen, consider putting both sides of the island to use for storage rather than only offering drawers on one side. This London kitchen by DGN Studio does exactly that, with dishes on display on the far side of its peninsula.

Add a tiny ledge for spices

Harry Josh stands in his European countryside-style kitchen.

HarryJosh

Harry Josh stands in his European countryside-style kitchen.
Photo: Meghan Marin

For the home cooks, a particularly charming (and useful addition) to any kitchen is a short and shallow ledge used exclusively for spices. This works particularly well if, like Harry Josh’s apartment pictured above, your space leans toward a farmhouse-inspired style.

Make your stovetop your prep station

Near the kitchen entryway, Chris curated an elegant vignette with an Athena Calderone for Crate & Barrel pedestal, a vintage urn, and a bubble mirror from Wayfair.

For many of us, aside from countertop appliances, the largest single kitchen items are our cutting boards. Especially if you got swept into the butcher block craze of recent years, these hunks of wood can be nearly impossible to store in cabinets. So, we have two choices: get rid of the thing in favor of something smaller, and therefore less sturdy and functional, or get creative. If you’re open to the second option, just about the best place to put the cutting board is on top of your stove (only when it’s not in use, of course). It’s one of those so-simple-it’s almost-silly ideas, but it is a life saver in kitchens that have the bare minimum amount of counter space. As you can see in this 500-square-foot apartment designed by Chris Bletzer, it’s ideal for homes with grates on the stovetop or glass top stoves, as opposed to uneven coil ranges. Now you don’t have to give up your Boos Block.

Add under-the-cabinet hooks

Paige Wassel painted the cherry cabinets matte black, installed open shelving, and added a new backsplash in the kitchen. “I removed the boob light on the ceiling and installed two round pendant lights above the counter. And of course, the new wood flooring. The old tile was depressing.”

Is your mug collection taking up a little too much real estate in your kitchen cabinets? As you can see in Paige Wassel’s Chicago home, mugs hung on under-the-cabinet hooks can create a homey vibe in your kitchen and add storage space. Bonus points if you’re especially proud of your unique mug collection.

Use a pegboard

“People can get kind of myopic about where they shop,” says MoMA collection specialist Kayla Dalle Molle. “I’d maybe offer advice on being open to shopping in unexpected places.” Case in point: the wooden pegboard hanging in the kitchen, found at Maisonette, a children’s boutique.

We’re not saying you have to be as minimal as Brooklyn apartment-dweller Kayla Dalle Molle with her kitchen pegboard, pictured above—but we are saying a pegboard is an airy, convenient, and inexpensive way of adding storage to your kitchen.

Shelve to the ceiling

“It’s small, but it has a really nice energy,” Romilly Newman shares of her cozy, window-side kitchen. “I also love the open shelves because there’s so much height, I can store my books, plates, and various [finds].”
“It’s small, but it has a really nice energy,” Romilly Newman shares of her cozy, window-side kitchen. “I also love the open shelves because there’s so much height, I can store my books, plates, and various [finds].”
Photo: Olivia Joan

In a space blessed with audaciously high ceilings, add shelves all the way up to accentuate it and store much more than in typical cupboards. Chef and food stylist Romilly Newman did just that in her Brooklyn apartment, making her tiny kitchen plenty functional, even in the midst of her many culinary adventures.

Add a magnetic knife strip

Jesse Hammer managed to squeeze in an eggplant-colored Fort Standard fruit bowl, a Felipe Lopez cutting board, and a Michael Graves Whistling Bird tea kettle in their tiny kitchen space.

In architect Jesse Hammer’s 183-square-foot home, every square inch counts. Jesse built out a drawer for the kitchen (they previously had nowhere to put cutlery!), and an added magnetic knife strip offers handy access when it comes time to meal prep.

Get a shelf with hanging and surface space

“My colorful aesthetic was elevated when I moved to Australia because wearing colorful clothes looked so much better in bright sunlight,” says Neel Morley.

This colorful kitchen flaunts the utility of a shelf that provides storage space up top and hanging space underneath. Especially for oddly shaped pieces like pots, pans, and pitchers, hanging storage can often be more convenient than interior storage.

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

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