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When we bought this house- the kitchen was approximately half the size of our last house. But, I also loved that it was open to the living room, which totally sold it to me. However, that also meant finding ways to fit all of our stuff in this room.
I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. As a Mom, I am always cooking, prepping food, cleaning up crumbs, and making endless cups of coffee. So, I need the kitchen to be functional. And I love color and design- so I also want it to be beautiful. Today, I’m going to share some pretty and practical ways that we save space in our smaller kitchen.
I got this Fintorp rail from Ikea and bought the matching hooks and utensil holders. This keeps me from tossing loose change and receipts all over the counter-top and also holds a few mixing utensils and measuring cups. {I also found the whole set on Amazon and linked it for you in case you’re addicted to Prime!} When you don’t have a lot of counter space- utilizing wall space is key. You could also get a wall knife rack or spice rack.
I’m using the empty side of my kitchen where the trash can sits as a ‘command center’. I’ve got a chalkboard/peg board with hooks and places for keys, etc. I keep our family calendar over there, so we can keep our schedules straight. As well as a mail holder, and a dry erase board to keep our grocery list and menu for the week. I’ve also seen people use the end of the cabinets for this type of command center, if you don’t have the wall space. I also like the idea of keeping cookbooks at hand on the sides of cabinets with spice racks as bookshelves.
I also took this big tub that we previously used as a bar- and turned it into a snack station. It works well if you have kiddos who are always hungry. I can also store my purse in there or mail that needs to be gone through. It doesn’t take up extra space because our dining table already sticks out that far- so we don’t have to walk around anything to pass by it. I stuck it there as a temporary spot- and ended up really liking it. It’s not for everyone I’m sure, but it’s perfect for our family’s needs. {We scored ours at Sam’s Club a few years ago- but here’s a similar one from Amazon.}
I also took up some otherwise unusable corner space and put a galvanized tiered shelf to store fruit or bread in it. It’s usually holding apples, bananas, lemons- that sort of thing. Again- ours is a few years old, but here’s a smaller version.
Thankfully this kitchen has a pantry to store extra canned goods and hide my least-used appliances in. But, I also say- don’t be afraid to leave your appliances on the counter-top! I know so many people who are worried it will look cluttered- but, we use our toaster every single day. So, I’m not going to put it up every time just so my counter-tops look less cluttered. Functional is definitely more important than looks.
And I totally get it- I don’t have a Pinterest-worthy kitchen. And I’m okay with it, because it works well for us. Not all of us have to have identical kitchens. Check out my full kitchen makeover post for more details on this room. And leave me your kitchen space savers in the comments! I’m always looking for hacks to save me time and space.
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