Small kitchen storage help please

[NickNacks]

We have a small kitchen and are starting to outgrow it. I'm not keen on things being in the worktops because it makes it look even more cluttered and small. It's not open planned but you do have to walk through it to get to other rooms so it's not a room I can shut away from guests.

Any ideas or tips?

I have a trip planned to IKEA next week.

[cozietoesie]

What sort of things do you have to put away? Could any of them be put into 'deep storage' for instance?

[cozietoesie]

PS it's just that many people seem to have things 'on display' that they really don't use from one month to the next. I think I'd be looking to determine what I actually needed in the kitchen regularly before I started to think about storage.

[NickNacks]

We only have our kettle, a letter rack, microwave and toaster in the side. Things like

water bottles, lunch boxes, bottles for the BlendActive are all piled up in a basket on the microwave and overspill.

The potatoes are kept in a bag on the windowsill.

The top of fridge freezer has slow cooker which we use regularly and a juicer.

We only have one single (not even a double!) top cupboard which has glasses and mugs. The rest are bottom cupboard and full with our plates, pans and food.

[cozietoesie]

Ouch.

Do you have much/any useable wall space in the kitchen? Or a place reasonably nearby (utility room for example) which could also be used?

[wowfudge]

We have a small kitchen and have: wall brackets (B&Q) to take microwave off worktop, magnetic knife rack from IKEA, hanging bars under wall units to hang cooking utensils off plus a hanging pot for wooden spoons, etc and a hanging spice rack. We also have some of their stainless steel shelves fitted between wall units and worktop for things like tea and coffee so it doesn't take up cupboard or surface space. A lot of this stuff is in the kitchen section in the store rather than the marketplace.

[wowfudge]

We got extra wall units from B&Q for our kitchen to match the existing ones as closely as possible - there were only two half size wall cupboards and we removed a base unit to get our dishwasher in.

[Sgtmajormummy]

My kitchen is seriously small and we eat there, so I've had to be creative with the space. Here goes...

Make double shelves inside your cupboards (IKEA sell metal ones) and keep the daily stuff at the front. Which room is next door? Could you use one of the cupboards there for dry food or machinery storage? Tablecloths and towels, too.

We have a high shelf above the table to hold things like napkins and cruets (plus weighing scales and heatmats) that we just lift down when necessary.
I don't like the "jug full of utensils" look, so mine are all in a drawer with the spoony bits facing down. Baking trays and bun tins stored vertically like books with spring-loaded curtain bars to hold them in place. Same for pyrex lids. Pretty boxes on top of cupboards for seasonal things like sundae dishes or picnic/paper plates.
I like the dish-drainer cupboard above my sink as things can drip dry out of sight. Dishwasher is only a kick away (one advantage of a small kitchen, I suppose!).

I have a chest freezer in the garage and keep tinned food and spare kitchen roll/detergents there as well as my rarely used machines.

[NickNacks]

Thanks for the tips.

We have a utility which is more like a walk in cupboard than a room. It has the washing machine and tumble drier stacked on top of one another, cleaning things, ironing board, alcohol, medicine and first aid box. We also have an understairs cupboard off the kitchen but it is long and thin so very hard to keep much in there that we use very regularly. It has Hoover, mop and bucket, picnic stuff and cool boxes etc.

There's no wall space either! We have 5 doors and 2 windows in the tiny bloody room!

Most cupboards are already double stacked, tins and glasses and mugs for example though not with proper shelving.

I don't think there's even much we can get rid of. We are pretty good at getting rid when we don't use something.

It's sooo depressing. The previous people poorly configured it. I could rearrange the worktop/cupboards to fit more in but we just can't afford to rip out what we have and replace.

[Pointlessfan]

There are some brilliant ideas on Pinterest, many of them using Ikea items creatively.

[Cressandra]

I think Ikea is a great idea.

You've prob done this already but limit things to what's stackable. Eg saucepans, if they are all different sizes you can store ALL of your pans in one stack. My mum had a whole cupboard for pans, I have one pile. Same with serving dishes - one stack of oven-to-table pyrexes, anything that doesn't fit in the pile goes. Consider storing baking trays or a big casserole in the oven or under the stairs. Potatoes could go under stairs too or in garage if you have one.

Ikea do magnetic spice pots that stick to the fridge, they might work for you. Or a line of spicerack shelves over a doorway if you're tall.

We have an overflow larder cupboard in the utility.

Do you picnic a lot? If not, consider relocating picnic stuff to a wardrobe to free up downstairs cupboard space. Do you have more waterbottles than you need if they're piling up? Ours are in constant use in bags, dishwasher or drainer, with just a couple of spares for emergencies.

[NickNacks]

I'm a childminder, each child who comes here (9) has their own water bottle. Then I have 3 children of my own plus dh and I. We have a lot of water bottles but they are all needed 😂

Good idea about the stacking, I do this for the most part but I will be a bit more ruthless.

I can't really hang rails over the windows as there's nothing to attach them to. Plus DH might go a bit crazy bit being able to look out of the window (tall bloke).

I've got two junk drawers plus one with only tea towels in, but even with those empty I'm not really sure what i could put in them.

I've found some narrow shelving for under the stairs to maybe rehouse all the baking bits. We have a lot as DH likes to bake! I'd get some fancy Kilner jars to make it look like a pantry. That would free one narrow cupboard up. We could also see what we have much better.

Thanks again for all the suggestions. I'm mulling each one over to see if they could work. Keep 'em coming- I'm desperate!

[Cressandra]

12 water bottles? They would drive me demented just on their own! Erm, wine rack?!

[cozietoesie]

Do you have any loft space at all? Or anything free able upstairs?

[NickNacks]

They do drive me demented!

Our loft is empty, we don't keep anything up there, it would never come down again!

Not really any free space upstairs and tbh if I have to keep something in a bedroom, I probably don't need to keep it at all.

I so wish we could rip it out and start again. The layout wastes so mush floor and wall space. 😟

[ChishandFips33]

IKEA pans are fab and don't burn on and the two handled ones stack inside each other to some degree
Billy book cases are very slim for under your stairs or the CD racks for the water bottles
It might be worth taking some picks with you and grab a salesperson to pick their brains - look at everything with an open mind...even if it's not in the kitchen dpt!
Could you clear out the junk drawers and store your mugs or tins (on their side) in there to free cupboard space?
Replace baking tins with ones that stack together better??

[storynanny]

I have a small kitchen and would be short of space without my hanging rack. It holds all my daucepans, frying pans, sieves, grater, utensils etc.

[Princesspond]

Do you have any space next the fridge I have a fab v thin, pull out plastic unit that fits lots