Help organise my tiny kitchen please!!

[Justchillaxing]

I'm living in a tiny rented house with a tiny kitchen! Attached photos show how chaotic it is!

Please help me organise it ...

Where would you put plates, mugs, bowls?
Where would you store pans/ baking trays?
Where would you keep cans of food/dry foods etc?

The cupboards are full but chaotic

I can't decimate decorate or put any shelves up. I'm on a very low budget so no new appliances/ shelves etc. Hooks for mugs won't go in the - small amount of available - walls...

It's driving me mad. It's just for me and dd16 plus dp is here most evenings. I cook an evening meal and bake at least once a week.

At the moment plates mugs and bowls are in a base unit, cans and dried food too, spices herbs and sweets in one wall cupboard, pet food coffee tea and meds in another, pans on the hob ... it's chaos and I know it could be better but I can't see the wood for trees! It's got so bad, i don't know where to start

Thanks!

[ScrubbyGarden]

You can put command hooks (that come off cleanly when you move) between the two top cupboards and on the wall by the cooker and sink for light things like colander, utensils etc.
You can attach pot lid holders to the insides of cupboards and then stack the pans, too.

If your DD is storing all the crockery in her room you need a crackdown!

[wowfudge]

TK Maxx have lots of storage stuff in at the moment - corner plate racks, expanding wire shelves, etc.

IKEA do some stainless steel shelves called Limhamn - you could put some of those up under the wall units and use them for things like tea and coffee, utensils pot, some mugs, etc. That way you save cupboard space and keep things off the work surface too.

[Justchillaxing]

Honestly I don't have out of date food, i don't keep a lot of food in at all and check it regularly.

What are command hooks?

[Justchillaxing]

I can't get to an Ikea and postage is too expensive. I'll look on eBay though ...

[Justchillaxing]

I can't attach any further shelves to the walls, above or below the cupboards, so I'm stuck with freestanding shelves I can take out again.

[Justchillaxing]

Ok, so I've tidied up the work surfaces, put away the fruit bowl (that is always empty anyway).

I'm going to go through each cupboard one at a time, get rid of stuff I don't use and move things around.

[Dancinggoat]

Is there room to put wicker baskets on top of the wall cupboards. If there is fill one with t towels. Another with silver foil etc. Easy to grab. Mug stacker rather than a tree this takes up little worktop space.
I have baskets in my cupboards too. Pasta and rice in one. Herbs in one. I get more in my cupboards and easy to pull out and put back.
Washing powder - buy a nice container , like a metal one. Tip powder in and use it as a door stop on the floor as well.

[IrritatedUser1960]

You need a larder that is not in the kitchen for non perishables you don't use every day. You can buy some lovely free standing larders which can go in a hall cupboard or even living room. No one will know with the doors shut.
I take it the house is rented if you can't put cupboards up?
Have a chuck and be ruthless.

[ponderingprobably]

I would clear the plants and decorative items off the window ledge and put a couple of mug trees on there and upright cutlery holder.

I would get a bread bin for the bread rolls you have out on the worktop.

[Justchillaxing]

None of my mugs are stackable so I would need a mug tree instead of stack.

Good idea to clear the windowsill of plants and put mug trees etc there, thanks!

There's only a tiny gap above the wall units so no room for baskets.

There's no room anywhere for a larder sadly.

The bread rolls are usually in the cupboard to save work surface space .. they were just out because dd was making a sandwich.

[Letmesleepalready]

We bought these from Lakeland, but have seen that wilko do something similar. They rest on the shelf but are not permanent.

[Letmesleepalready]

A few more photos.
We had them inside the cabinets, on the middle shelf, but could also hang under the cabinet. Lighter stuff is better. We store our cling film etc in one of them.

[Letmesleepalready]

And we use this rail for tea towels, I think I got it from pound stretchers or the like. Again it hangs on the doors.

[Letmesleepalready]

And we bought this in Ikea, it's meant to be inside the cabinet but we have no space, so tins live on the counter. You can get expandable ones.

[gingerbreadmam]

where is the giant jar of goose fat from letmesleep?

[DesertIslandPenguin]

I keep baking sheets in cupboards on their sides, stacked vertically. Usually held in place by saucepans.

[Justchillaxing]

Thanks letmesleep

[Letmesleepalready]

gingerbreadmam from Tesco, it's the size of a normal jam jar. I bought a few around Christmas last year (and won't be out of date until 2019) so I'm not sure if they usually stock it!

[gingerbreadmam]

thank you letmesleep

[hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman]

I have three base units. I have pots and pans in one cupboard, one cupboard for food (a shelf for baking stuff, a shelf for tins and a shelf for packets - biscuits/crisps/crackers etc). Utensils are kept in two utensil pots from Ikea and a third one for cutlery. Plates, bowls, saucepan lids are organised on the side in a concertina type thing also from Ikea. Cups/jugs/colanders/sieves hang from hooks on a narrow open shelf. I have also pared down what I have and have to be disciplined about everything going back in it's place once done with.

[Haudyerwheesht]

You have more kitchen storage than us and we're in a fairly large house! What do you REALLY need?

We only really use cups, glasses, bowls, mugs, cutlery, wok, small frying pan, 2 normal pans, casserole dishes, one muffin tray and one cake tin. Also have electric whisky, scales and wooden spoons etc. Everything else for us can be chucked / put away in a different room in labelled boxes but tbh if you don't use it then there's no point. I am ruthless at decluttering these days.

[Justchillaxing]

I've had a big sort out today, got rid of lots of stuff we don't use and moved plates and mugs and glasses into more accessible cupboard. I've moved the plants outside and put the cutlery and utensils on the windowsill.

The work surface is now almost clear and it looks much better.

[Letmesleepalready]

Well done! It's funny how you make do with one layout, when there's probably lots of different ways of storing things! Our current kitchen has a cabinet that we never use because the fridge is in the way. Which is a problem as there's almost no storage in the kitchen so it's a waste. I'm sure someone would find an obvious solution, but we've made it work for so long, so far. We're hoping to move soon and the new kitchen looks so much bigger and we'll have so much storage in there. I'm hoping we'll end up with some empty cabinets but I'm sure we'll just find other things to fill it with.

[BitOutOfPractice]

We need an "after" photo OP. Love threads like this.

[Justchillaxing]

Photos!