Small space Kitchen food storage

[WalterIris]

We have a very small kitchen area. Its around 3m long, and in that space fits cooker, fridge with freezer, dishwasher, and sink and bin area. Leaving very few drawers for actual cups and plates and cutlery etc. there is only one drawer left for food storage ( alongside what fits in the fridge with freezer ice box thing inside). There is not much spare worktop after a kettle is on there and to prep food to try and keep clear

The same room has a dining table and sofa area. So there is some space around the room, ie fruit goes in a bowl on the dining table.

Ceiling slopes above kitchen area so no high cupboard possible.

Is there any genius ideas anyone else uses for general food storage they can suggest or link to places to look at?

I did see a basket type thing that could go on the end maybe under the towel rail on Pinterest.

This has been used over a pantry door but you could use on your kitchen door.

It’s a shoe organiser.

Did I understand correctly that plated etc are in kitchen? Can't you move them to the dining room?

Thanks, there is no kitchen door though unfortunately, just the front door and an archway.

we have a similar sized kitchen and oh how I hate it.

is there space by any of the utilities and the wall? If so Amazon sells a small plastic drawer slider thing we use ours for trays and baking items

Lakeland have several items we use. a plastic rack that hangs on the door for bin liners and cloths. a tidy to keep clingfilm and foil in. fake shelfs to give extra space if you have shelving at all. we looked at Ebay and got small hooks to hang on the cupboard doors for oven mits and tea towels and over the door too for aprons and towels

this is the Amazon shelf

Lakeland suggestions

I would get rid of the dishwasher and move fridge freezer to another room if possible. Or replace with a small fridge in kitchen and a freezer in another room.

Frolick - yes the plates are in a drawer in the kitchen. There is no separate dining room.

Yes its things like cling film which need a better home. There are no cupboards. At the storage is drawers, which does give far more space as everything fits in and easy to see, but means no inner cupboards to attach stuff too.

Go and have a nice afternoon out at a caravan shop to view their layouts and ingenious solutions for small spaces!
EG, my OH has fixed a flip up worktop in our Motorhome which obstructs the door when up but is invaluable when I'm cooking, particularly when dishing up, but then folds away again.

Stop using cling film.

How large is the table and do you regularly use the entire length? Removable storage under the table so is you need it all you can put the storage in another room for the day?

A bench with storage in instead of chairs?

A magnetic spice rack thing that goes on the fridge - can put bottles and jars that you use a lot on it

www.brandalley.co.uk/15808971.html

Magnetic bars on the wall, or rails, with baskets and bins hanging from them (Ikea style) where you can put a lot of the cutlery or other things, and thus free up drawer storage for food.

Put a floor to ceiling larder cupboard in the dining area and use it for crockery, glasses, cereals & squash/wine bottles. Ours is only shallow, 80cm w X 30cm deep and holds all of this. Swap the sofa for a chair or loveseat if you have to, to get it in.

Thanks again

Regarding an extra cupboard in dining area - there is no separate area dining, there is a small table to squeeze 4 people opposite the 3 m of kitchen space, then a wall. the only gap it the walking space in the middle. Table needs to stay up as where people work and play also.

The sofa is already a super narrow compact type- its a larger 2 seater, then just 2 small armchairs

The coffee table has storage inside. The sofa has storage baskets underneath

The fridge freezer is just a small under-counter one, not one of each so there is no separate freezer to move.
Dishwasher stays. Its brand new. The sink area is tiny to save counter space so there was no space to wash everything and dry, and looked a mess all the time without.

There is no other room to move anything to, its a small open planned room, the only other rooms are a bathroom and 2 bedrooms. So kitchen related stuff has to stay in the kicthen area.

The fridge has a door built in so not magnetic. But i think those baskets and wall rails may be the way to go if low down

I meant to say, have seen the 101 things online people are using the ikea small spice racks for. I things I'm going to pick some up, paint the same colour as kitchen units, and add onto the end unit. For things like oil, vinegar and those odd bits.

These - www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/kitchen-products/kitchen-organisers-shelves/bekv%C3%A4m-spice-rack-birch-art-40070185/

yes those Ikea spice racks are good. And there are several rail systems, with hanging pots and containers of various sizes - you could put utensils in, cutlery, oils and spices on the racks, there's even a dish drainer one that you could store dishes on.

If you can't attach a magnetic shelf to the fridge, you could get one of the over-door racks, but hang it outwards so that it is on the outside of the fridge or freezer. Also, you can get small magnetic pots (e.g., from Ikea, but also better quality totally sealed ones from spice rack companies) that you can use on the outside of e.g., the washing machine or dishwasher, if those aren't totally enclosed.

You can also mount a magnetic sheet of metal (again sold by spice rack companies) on spare wall space or outside of fridge etc. There are some very aesthetic ways of displaying things magnetically (.e.,g the hexagonal pots that tesselate).

Magnetic knife racks also get rid of stuff from drawers/counter tops, or one of the pot racks with hooks for pots and utensils, gets things out of drawers to free up space there. I've even seen baskets that hang from the ceiling for fruit etc but you could put other things in, and they can look really good

If any of the drawers are deep, you can get inner drawers that mount inside them, doubling the amount of space (though obviously no good if you need the space for tall things).

A butchers block sort of wheeled thing, with shelves and space on the end and so on, which can be moved around depending on where you are needing to stand at any moment

Look at Joseph Joseph range for kitchen stuff, I've slowly replaced stuff to reduce the space require to store in kitchen.

storage jars
cooking and storage

Use the oven to store oven tins
Cut down on the amount of mugs etc you have
Plastic box under the bed for bits you use occasionally?
Rolling trolly that can be pushed out of the way something like this
Cling film wall thingy

Ah sorry, I didn't realise that sofas your only living area. So many people are squeezing sofas into kitchens these days.

Ok.
You can get plinth drawers that literally replace the plinth at floor level with useable drawers. I wouldn't put food in them myself.

Hanging rack like a Sheila maid with S hooks for pots and pans.

Picture rail height shelves with boxes,and shaker style hooks under, in living/ dining area. Also you can put a shelf over a doorway, though the arch is not so good for it, or a narrow one under wall cupboards for spices or even mugs. Cling film can live in a magazine file if you can find a discreet surface to stick it to, Eg on the end of a run of units. You can also get racks that hang down from a shelf in a wall cupboard to give give a narrow extra shelf, which works well for cling film. Or go old style if you have any suitable wall space and put a dispenser on the wall.

With our tiny kitchen I think my best weapon was bring ruthless on what we kept. Have space for 1 pile of saucepans and only keep those that stack. Have 2 piles of Tupperware, one square and one rectangular. Any boxes that don't fit in that stack, bin. Have one small shelf for mugs. I decided we needed 8 mugs. I chose 6 I liked and 2 that stacked nicely with them, and I binned the rest. Same with glasses. No random mixing bowls at all, just 3 pyrex bowls that stacked (see a theme here? ) and did for mixing bowls and casseroles. I suspect you have already done this culling quite thoroughly but I'm sticking it down just in case it sparks anything.

Yes nests of mixing bowls, nests of measuring cups etc also good for reducing how much space is needed for kitchen equipment. nests of chopping boards even.

Ingenio brand saucepans are v good and stack very nicely because they don't have handles (it has a clip on handle that you share between the saucepans); the lids also fold flat. there are frying pans etc in the range as well. So you can get a lot of cooking equipment into a small space.

The space above washing machine and dishwasher can be used too if there is any - I have an inch and a bit of space, and got a very thin sheet of perspex cut for above them, which can slide out so that things don't get stuck in the back as it's too narrow for my hand to reach! And on that I can put all sorts of trays, chopping boards, baking racks etc.

Ooh yes and if any of your drawers are the internal sort, there's a space under them which I use for trays and a big chopping board but you might fit cling film into