Loving My Small Kitchen: Tips, Tricks and Storage Ideas

WARNING: This post contains some ugly, poorly lit photos of the guts of my kitchen. Viewer discretion is advised :) 
 
I have a pretty small kitchen.  It has a humble little footprint with only four lower cabinets and two of them are corner cabinets, which I loathe.  When we renovate for real I plan to reconfigure things for smarter storage, but for now I've done my best to work with the space I have.  I used to batch cook and coast on leftovers but Hubby and I have been cooking more than ever before - sometimes we cook all three meals in a day from scratch, with nary a leftover to be had.  No matter how much we use it, this kitchen puts the FUN in functional. 

If you've ever been curious about where I keep my stuff, here's how I organize things in my small kitchen - and how we make this small space work for us.

Step One: I Changed My Outlook

It makes me laugh that some of the bloggers who renovate reasonably sized kitchens into epic, commercial-grade kitchens, with miles of cabinetry, are sponsored by those mail order dinner prep services.  I really can't judge though, because if I could have a massive kitchen I totally would and I'd hoard all of the world's best vintage Pyrex and Cathrineholm.  Mwahahaha.

Instead, I have a small space, but I have totally embraced it.  The BEST cooks in my family prepared delicious meals in tiny kitchens.  When I traveled to Hungary, where many of my relatives grew their own food and prepared amazing meals from scratch, I couldn't believe what their kitchens looked like!  Kitchen cabinetry like what we have in North America isn't the norm in other parts of the world.  Many of the kitchens I saw were a combination of old appliances, a hodgepodge of antique hutches and a tiny stretch of counter space.  My friend Dora would whip up delicious crepes before we went out to the bars (she's European - guests must always be fed!) out of a kitchen that was barely larger than my powder room.  Comparatively, my kitchen is massive and I've learned to appreciate the space I have and focus on what I love: the view, the openness, the easy work triangle and the way it just beckons people - it's always the hub of any get together.  Hubby and I have also learned how to work effectively in here: one of us does sous-cheffing on the end on the counter, which is wide and spacious - with a great view of the lake - while the other bustles within the U-shape.   

Step Two: I Pared Down the Clutter

When we moved, I really de-cluttered - including bulky kitchen gadgets and glass serving ware.  It was amazing how many things I wasn't using but was hanging on to, just because I thought I should, like the ice cream maker, bread machine - even the microwave.  I get a lot of flak online for not having a microwave but we literally never turned it on, so it made no sense to keep it.  Rarely used items we couldn't part with are stored in the basement.  The kitchen is now filled with things we use and love on the regular, but I continually re-assess and pare down (especially because I do add things every now and then, like my Veggetti).  I also love items that do double duty, like vintage Pyrex that is hardy and cute enough for baking/cooking, serving, and storing leftovers.  That glass cake stand turns into a punch bowl and I have pretty cutting boards that double as trivets and serving pieces.   

We even pared down our food staples!  I used to have so many kinds of flour and snacks and miscellaneous dry goods.  Now, instead of five kinds of cereal, we have one.  Instead of a million boxes of flavored oatmeal, we have one canister of plain oatmeal that we add fruit and nuts to ourselves.  By paring down the selection, we no longer forget about random stuff that goes stale, which was an added benefit (I always stress about throwing away food). 
   
Streamlining was the first step, but after that I needed to figure out how to store the stuff I did keep.

Step Three: I Turned Cabinets into Drawers

Here's the BIGGEST change we made, that's been the biggest eye opener for us: we turned the cabinet to the left of the stove into two "drawers"!  These new drawers help us access things in the back so much more easily now.  I am obsessed with kitchen drawers!  You can get these pull out drawer organizers in different sizes and finishes and they are so easy to install.

Instead of rooting around for things, I can just open one of my new drawers and easily see/access everything.  It's helped maximize 100% of the tiny amount of cabinet space we have.   

Step Four: I De-canted Dry Goods into Glass Jars

You might have noticed that my drawers have neatly lined rows of Mason jars.  Oddly sized boxes and bags of dry goods were so awkward to store so I started decanting anything I could into the same size jars.  It makes it easier to pack more into our cupboards, plus everything is sealed really well to deter little buggies and keep everything fresher, longer. 

Step Five: I Created Makeshift "Drawers" From Bins

Across from these new "drawers" I have another cabinet and that's where I keep spices, canned goods, cooking oils, etc.  I use two plastic bins for spices and baking stuff which act like mini "drawers" and makes accessing that jumble so easy. 

I keep my cooking oils, pepper mill, etc., on a plastic tray to save the inside of my cabinets from drips and make cooking easier.  (This tray is cute because it doubles for cooking/baking - it's oven safe!)  I just grab a spice bin (sorted by "savory" and "baking"), the oil tray and get cracking.

I do the same thing with baking ware (cookie cutters, flour sifter, powder sugar shaker, etc.), hot drinks (tea, tea bag filters, coffee, coffee stuff, what have you), magic bullet stuff, and Tupperware: they all go into big bins so I can slide out a bin and grab what I need without having to sift through mountains of teetering piles while I'm crouched awkwardly in front of these terrible corner cabinets.

I even corral pot lids into bins, so I can stack the pots easily and save space. 

Seriously, kitchen drawers (real or fake) are the way of the future.  A stackable set of bins, like this one, is another clever way to maximize vertical space in small cabinets.  

Step Six: I Added Open Shelving and an Open Pantry

The original upper cabinets were terrible: low, awkward, and deceptively small.  I couldn't open the cabinets to the right of the window without climbing onto the counter.  Between the wall mounted microwave and the fake cabinet above the stove, it looked like there was way more storage than there really was.  To make matters worse, the corner cabinets were really narrow and so I couldn't fit plates or mixing bowls in there.

Tearing the upper cabinets out and adding open shelving really added functional storage for us because we were left with nice, long shelves for uninterrupted storage of plates, glasses, mixing bowls, and casseroles - although I still wish we could have run the shelf entirely above the stove as planned (stupid building code).  That break in the shelving still bugs me.

Open shelving is really polarizing, but I shared my honest thoughts about them - including how I keep them clean - in this older post.  Although I will definitely (okay, usually) clean it first, I never style the kitchen for photos.  What you see is how it really looks - unless I'm in the middle of cooking, baking, crafting or re-potting plants, which are all tasks that I tackle here.  When I'm mid-task, it will look like a disaster but I always restore it to its tidy state when I'm done.  And yes, I use the stuff at the top, although admittedly I have way more Pyrex than I need for day to day.  I'm not bizarrely tall, but I guess I'm taller than average so I can grab stuff from the top shelf without a ladder - and I do.  Having pretty stuff that I use to cook, serve, and store food made this open shelving thing easy, but I've seen really eclectic open shelving that looks great too.  One day I'll have real cabinets again, but only if they go right up to the ceiling and actually offer up some storage.

In addition to swapping awkward cabinets for open shelving, what really gained us space was the floor to ceiling open pantry to the left of the fridge, which houses more serving pieces, our cooler for summer grocery trips, and also 12 massive jars for dry goods like cereal, flour, oatmeal, pasta, rice, quinoa, and marshmallows.  All of the staples, haha.



(We finally built a door for that lower cabinet, to hide the cooler, so I no longer have to crop this angle out of photos!)

Even if you don't want to swap cabinets for open shelving, if you're struggling with storage, adding a row or two of open shelves for dry goods storage in identical canisters, or putting a shelf under cabinets for plates and cute mugs, can help eek out a little more room in even the tiniest kitchen.  Plus it's so much fun to style and display stuff!

Step Seven: I Make it Pretty

Those massive food jars make cereal and flour look so good!  That's another trick in a small space: making things pretty.  Once things look nice, it becomes so much easier to store them in out-of-the-box ways.

Another example: by switching our mismatched and beaten up kitchen utensils for a brand new set of colorful KitchenAid utensils, I was able to put them on the counter in a cheap glass vase, where we can easily access them and free up drawer space.  That's the motivation behind picking as many pretty kitchen things as possible.    



In a perfect world, I'd love to put everything away, but for our small space it works really well.  There are so many really pretty kitchen staples available these days, things that you used to only be able to get in black or white but that now come in ever color and style (and fancy finishes and materials), like this super cute turquoise drain rack for dishes.  Even just investing in a few large canisters for the counter, or setting up a convenient little coffee station and liberating a sweet mug collection from the cupboard, can help ease clutter in overcrowded cabinets and drawers.   

Step Eight: I Go Nutty for Small Bins Too

My flatware habit is where I get into trouble with this small kitchen.

I have two sets of flatware, which is such a waste of space.  I really want to track down more of the vintage silver set (which belonged to my grandmother) and sell the brass set or keep it with blog props in the basement.  I use typical standard cutlery organizing trays plus some extra long and narrow trays from the buck store to keep everything sorted.

There's one little sentimental vintage bin at the back of one drawer and that's where I keep random things I couldn't bear to part with: a pez dispenser, a few serving pieces I rarely use, some forks for road trips. 

Bins really let me cram way more in and keep things functional - I even use them in the fridge!

Step Nine: I Gave up the Junk Drawer

I gave up the kitchen junk drawer and bought one of these "Really Useful Box" storage systems, which I stash in the laundry room cupboard.  It keeps those odds and ends (like rubber bands, twist ties, random junk) organized and frees up a kitchen drawer, which is where I used to toss stuff like that.

Step Ten: I Make Use of Other Storage

We hung our DIY fauxdenza in the dining room, which is a handy place to keep table linens, candles, napkins, and the plates and glasses we use on the patio.  We used to keep stuff like that in the kitchen, but we had to re-think where we keep stuff when we moved here.  Leaning on other spaces for storage helps make our small kitchen feel much less small.  Just shuffling things around a little and keeping the kitchen storage focus on things we actually use in there helped a lot. 

 
I've tried to include a few brand new, up to date photos of the kitchen - and as many shots of my cutie pies as possible - to help counteract those gritty views into my kitchen cabinets.




Hands down my best ideas have been to make dry goods storage pretty by decanting nearly everything into the same size jars and to turn cabinets into drawers - those pull out metal organizers are my favorite purchase ever.  Really examining what we need and love, from kitchen gadgets to grocery staples, and only keeping the things we want made such an impact too.

As I think about our kitchen reno (which is all of the time), let me know your BEST kitchen storage tips in the comments!  I am always collecting clever ideas for cleaning and organizing - and I know you all have some of your own tips and tricks that I could implement when I get to start this kitchen from scratch... 

Budget-Friendly Grey, Gold + Pink Kitchen Makeover

Time to show you the budget-friendly, grey, gold and pink makeover we gave my Mom's kitchen!
 
We ran into some small problems along the way, like backsplash tile which never showed up and peel and stick flooring which refuses to stay stuck.  Mom has this weird aversion to backsplash tile, so she was thrilled by the former problem - but kind of bummed by the latter.  There's also still a little more we'd like to do in here: after 20+ years, my Dad finally installed the under cabinet lighting but we still need to paint and install the corresponding trim.  We'd also like to add more art above the coffee station and we're on the hunt for the perfect rug - although my Mom had a cute rag rug already that works well for now.

These little details will be ironed out over the months to come because Mom and I are both fans of slow (read: we're broke) design, but I didn't want to make you wait any longer because I've teased you with this kitchen refresh since the summer! 

So let's get to it!  Here's a look at the before:

Mom's kitchen, which my parents renovated in the 1980s, looked super cute at one time, with a light and bright mint green, peach and white color combo.  She really made the best of a small, dark kitchen on a budget - a classic, all white kitchen still looks good today.  But the wallpaper had long ago peeled off the walls, the vinyl flooring was discolored from the glue, the laminate counters were chipped, and the melamine cabinets had started to bubble (one reason I avoid melamine like the plague).  Her light fixture was missing (long story), the faucet was dented, the fluorescent light fixture about the sink was just a naked bulb.  Plus it was SO cluttered and messy, because it's difficult to care about keeping a space orderly when it looks shabby.  Mom was always complaining about a lack of counter space to actually cook in here, plus a too large dining table - the only space to eat in the house - really made the kitchen cramped.

The kitchen is really in need of a major reno, but that's not in the cards for my parents right now, so Mom and I rolled up our sleeves.  There's nothing a little paint and de-cluttering can't fix!

Here's a look at the kitchen today:



Pictures don't accurately capture how cozy and fresh this kitchen feels now - it just glows, thanks to the soft pink walls and touches of brushed gold.  Here's a closer look at everything we did:

The Cabinets:

The first thing we did was paint the melamine kitchen cabinets with Rust-Oleum's Cabinet Transformations Kit (in Winter Fog, un-glazed) which adheres SO well - even on melamine - with no sanding required.   If you look close, you can still see some flaws where the melamine was bubbling, but it looks so much better than before!  It's also a great way for Mom to experiment with a darker cabinet color, something she's been contemplating for the real reno.

I took photos in different lighting conditions, and you can see how sometimes it reads more pink and sometimes more golden - it's such a pretty wall color/cabinetry combo.

The Walls:

We painted the yellow walls a soft pink (Behr's Shea) because out of all of the paint swatches we considered (numbering in the hundreds, I'm sure), this soft pink looked the freshest and cheeriest under all lighting conditions.  It really brightened the room - even more than white - which was essential for this dark kitchen.  We replaced the baseboard because we found baseboard identical to the to 1950s baseboard elsewhere in the house, but we left the door and window trim.  After an afternoon of caulking (my favorite job), we painted out the trim to match the walls for a seamless look.

The Counters:

To keep things bright, we refinished Mom's laminate counters in a glittering white!  They were in really rough shape, with chips, stains, and missing pieces.  The laminate was even de-laminating from the MDF base.  Click here for the tutorial because I shared some great tips for repairing the laminate counters: we glued back the laminate and where pieces were missing, I built them back up with a mold-able epoxy compound.  Then we used Rust-Oleum's Countertop Transformations Mica (in white) and the counters are now a sparkly white:

It's difficult to photograph, but they just sparkle like crazy when the sun shines in. 
  

The Cabinet Hardware:

I already shared the tutorial for how we refinished Mom's shiny brass knobs - they look so fresh with their new brushed brass look.  Plus we saved a bundle not having the buy new hardware.  
 

The Sink + Faucet:

Although we tried to work with what we had, Mom did buy a new window (she had to replace the windows on the main floor) plus a new sink because her old white acrylic one was just too awful.  We picked up an inexpensive stainless sink to complement her new Pfister Tamera faucet, generously provided by Pfister.  The faucet is something she can use again when she renovates for real (or she can donate it to me for my fish room makeover!). 

 

 
The Table + Art:

Lacking a dining room in the small, post-war home my great-grandfather built, we always ate in the kitchen the way my great-grandparents did.  In the 1980s and 90s, we had a small round table with drop down leaves so it could nestle close to the wall.  In the 2000s my Mom bought new living room furniture and a dining room table in a much nicer teak wood, but it was a bit too big for daily use.  It was challenging to maneuver around it and once Hubby became a permanent fixture, dinner for four was a tight squeeze.  I finally encouraged my Mom to move the dining table to the living room, where there is space, and to put a much smaller tulip table in the kitchen for tea time or brunch for two.  I already shared the makeover of my old tulip table - and the top my father-in-law helped me hack.

Do you recognize the art?  It's my 1960s cat print from the townhouse!  The brushed gold frame, muted pink color palette, and retro vibe are perfect in here. 

The Table Top Lamp:

I feel like this might need explaining?  My Mom LOATHES overhead lighting - especially fluorescent lighting - which is why her naked bulb situation made her cringe.  Eventually, she started using a lamp at the table so she could turn off the overhead lighting during dinner.  When the dining table moved, the lamp moved with it so Mom stole this little brown vintage Lotte lamp from me for the tulip table.  The scale is adorable and the retro look is perfect.  It might seem odd, but it really is nice to have this little lamp on when I come over for tea and gossip.  Even though her overhead lighting situation has greatly improved (with a light fixture - how novel), having this little lamp feels cozy, especially with the days getting so much shorter.




The Coffee Station:

My parents have an elaborate, professional-grade coffee making set up, which they scored for a really good price because they knew someone who owned a coffee shop.  It really commandeered my Mom's minimal kitchen prep space, though.  Between the coffee maker and the microwave -and all of the random stuff piled up on the counter - she had no spot to work.  I suggested she try living without the microwave (I don't have one and never, ever miss it), reorganize a little to find room in her cabinets for the dry goods she stored on the counter, and move the coffee stuff to this little cubby (which originally housed the tiny 1950s fridge).  All of the coffee stuff is together now - along with a vintage cookie jar picked up for a quarter (my Mummu has the exact same one) - and out of the way.  I couldn't help make my Mom's kitchen any bigger, but moving the coffee machine and microwave, and de-cluttering a little, have tripled her counter space, making the kitchen way more functional for her.

The Peel and Stick Tile Floor:

Mom and I were SO excited about this peel and stick tile floor, which brought together all of the colors: the blush pink walls, the grey cabinets, the burnt orange tweed chairs and the warm brown wood tones.  But it refuses to stay stuck in some spots!  We're so incredibly frustrated and currently chatting with the distributor but I'm not sure they can fix it.  We might need to replace it, which we're really disappointed about.  On the plus side, when Mom tackles a renovation for good, now we know that a busier pattern can work, even though her kitchen is small - we were so terrified to commit to anything not white, because that's what was there for so long. 

The Odds + Sods:

In addition to refinishing the cabinetry, counters, replacing and repairing trim, painting the walls and trim and laying down new flooring, we also did some little things.  Mom's naked bulb ceiling fixture was replaced by a fixture she already had.  It had wobbled, so she hadn't put it up, but Hubby took it apart, fixed it, and it looks perfect!  We cut a new sheet of plexi for the fluorescent light fixture and, using a simple bracket, installed that so the light over the sink is no longer a bulb.  Her kitchen door was painted grey to match the cabinets and a door knob was finally installed.  Hubby and I also built a cute pink and gold dog bowl stand for when Szuka visits.  

There you have it - Mom's new kitchen!  I'll be back with a tutorial for refinishing the counters and cabinets - and maybe even a mini update down the road once we fix the flooring situation and accessorize a little more.

Mom is thrilled with how the kitchen looks now and it's sparked a wave of updates and decluttering in the house - we just found the perfect mid-century mod inspired fabric on clearance, so the living room is getting a refresh too (starting with cute new pillows and sheers).

DIY PROJECTS

How to refinish brass hardware
How to hack a pine table top for a mid-century modern tulip base
How to repair and refinish laminate counters
How to make a dog bowl stand on hairpin legs

SOURCES

Wall Color: Behr Shea 
Cabinet Paint: Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformations in Winter Fog
Brush Gold Knobs: DIY (Similar)
Counter Paint: Rust-Oleum Countertop Transformations Mica in White
Faucet: Pfister Tamera Pull Down
Tulip Table: Vintage (Similar)
Teak Chairs: Vintage (Similar)
Gold Tweed Fabric: Fabricland (Similar)
Lotte Lamp: Vintage (Similar)
Cat Print: Vintage
Pink Hairpin Leg Dog Bowl Stand: DIY 
Pink McCoy Planters: Vintage (Similar)
Glass Fruit Bowl: Iittala
House Cookie Jar: Vintage (Similar)
Yixing Clay Tea Pot: Similar
Pink Linen Napkins: Similar
Coffee Machine: Pasquini

We found, foraged, and hacked a lot of what went into my Mom's kitchen, but I tried to track down some accessories with the same retro vibe and gold, grey and pink color palette - including some things we pined for and have bookmarked for the real deal reno, like this INSANELY gorgeous gold flushmount light fixture we can't stop drooling over:

Huge thanks to Pfister for providing the faucet and Rust-Oleum for providing the Cabinet Transformations and Countertop Transformations kits as well as the spray paint for the tulip table and DIY dog bowl stand!

Read more »