Tiny, tiny kitchen ideas

[Lilboots]

I'm hoping to renovate my kitchen this year so have been hoovering up all of the advice here from people who have been there, done that.

My kitchen, though, is SERIOUSLY tiny. A joke of a kitchen. 4qm with a sloped ceiling. Lots of the recommendations (larders, American fridge freezers, double ovens...) come from people with actual adult sized kitchens and just don't apply to my tiny wee space.

Are there any other micro kitchen veterans out there with smart ideas for wringing every bit of function from my little slice of kitchen?

• Plan, plan, plan. The ikea plan is good, or get Karen from OnePlan (I think - search MN!) to do one.
• IKEA does a 45cm mini dishwasher, and drawers within drawers to maximise the height inside the drawer.
• Fitted/integrated everything so it looks visually cleaner – fit the microwave to save counter space
• List everything you own, declutter some of it too, and plan a place for everything rather than planning a kitchen and trying to fit the things into it afterwards
• You can get drawers for the plinths as well but I don’t know how well they work
• Magnetic knife rack on the wall and other vertical options to save drawer/counter space
• Decide on your compromise – maybe you can have a big fridge if you have a tiny sink?
• Drawers rather than cupboards for base units – more expensive but you can fit more in
• Aim for a design that has the smallest possible filler pieces at the edge, just enough so drawers open; you don’t want to waste a cm!

Not so much planning but the Tefal ingenio pans are great because you can remove the handles to put in the cupboard (and stack easily), so space saving - and they come with lids so double up as storage pans and can go in the fridge etc.

I did see somewhere you can get a counter top that flips down over the stove to make extra chopping space etc when the stove top not in use.

Ooh, you can also get sink lids to create counter space too

We've got standard depth cupboards on one side of our teeny kitchen, but shallower wall units, used as base units on the other side.

Sorry hijacking. That ikea dishwasher is brilliant with the cutlery tray. Brilliant. Utterly brilliant.

I have handleless pans - they are amazing as you can get all your pans in one drawer.

When I had a v v tiny kitchen a round sink with no drainer increased my amount of worktop. I'd also rate a counter top over the stove, my kitchen is no longer small but stove has a lid and I work on it all the time when it's shut.

From experience of DH's tiny kitchen I'd also recommend an induction hob without knobs on, to again expand the flat workspace.

What can you fit under the sloped ceiling? I had a 3/4 height fridge/freezer which went under the slope.

Neff hide and slide oven is brilliant in my postage-stamp sized kitchen. No more bruised shins! Plus cupboards that go right up to the ceiling.

I agree with all the tips here.

We have the ikea 45cm dishwasher and it’s great. We also have a tambour door over a corner cupboard which means we have a spot for the toaster & coffee machine that can be hidden away.

Pinterest has some great ideas for small kitchens.

We had this and the main thing was to limit items or store elsewhere. IE all baking items were in a box on top of a cupboard. We did without a dishwasher. Also an absolutely tiny bin just emptied a couple of times a day. Only tupperware was for lunches, left overs went in covered bowls. No plates, eat everything off generous pasta bowls. Stackable duralex glasses. Mixing bowls pretty enough for serving in etc.

We have a small kitchen on our boat. We have covers over the sinks to get extra chopping space, small fridge/freezer and wall cabinets are very tall with sliding doors.
Get lots of cupboard organisers.
Assuming you live with it currently so already keep clutter to a minimum etc.

Either a 45cm dishwasher as mentioned above or you can buy a half height dishwasher that fits under a sink or in a cupboard. Fisher & Paykel do one called a dish drawer. It's £££ but might be worth it if you're really tight on space as the space under sinks is normally wasted.

Overdoor storage racks, both on the kitchen door & inside all cupboard doors where there’s enough room.

We got a kitchen company to squeeze every inch of space out of our mouse hole. Cupboards go up to the ceiling and all fitted. Managed to squeeze a dishwasher in there too.

I have a postage stamp kitchen and it's my favourite room! My top tips are to use the full height of the space - I have a wall mounted microwave, pans on ceiling hooks and storage on top of the fridge. Also a half size dishwasher and pull-out corner cupboards.

Ikea units are a bit deeper than other units. You then end up with a deeper worktop space which means appliances on the worktop don't interfere with prep space.

Do you have a downstairs toiler closeish to the kitchen? We went for a double sink and now I wish we had gone for a single sink. If we need to pour something down the sink when it is being used, we could just walk to the very nearby downstairs shower room.

We have knife rack, spice racks and a rack for oils/vinegars on the wall.

We had a dinky 4x8ft kitchen in our old flat.

Top tips:

• Rail from ikea to hang pots, pans, colander, potato masher etc. Lids slide behind rail.

• We had a corner unit and I bought a pull out carousel thing - managed to get one on ebay for a tenner! It was really good and stopped stuff getting lost at the back.

• Big wooden chopping board which I used either on top of the sink or hob as the only counter space housed the kettle & toaster

• Laundry tablets & fabric softener lived in a wipe-clean reusable bag (made from recycled plastic bottles) inside the washing machine drum

• We actually moved the boiler in to the loft (it did desperately need replacing) which enabled us to have a full size fridge freezer! Before that there was only space for a ¾ size one.

Bin - how much bin do you need?

Being an idiot I forgot to plan a bin in my kitchen. However we have found since using a kitchen caddy and a recycling bin stored elsewhere, the amount of waste that goes in the actual bin each week is minimal.

Our 'bin' is now a bread bag hanging off a nail.

Look at kitchens designed for boats, campers and caravans when looking for inspiration. Lots of clever little tricks for tiny spaces.

I have the same size. Used to be the wash house, the back room was the kitchen with the range, right?
Agree with PP - use the full height, so you have cupboards up to the ceiling, use IKEA hanging rails under any hanging wall units for all the large cutlery type stuff, no draining board plus sink cover (will you ever actually use a draining board any more with a dishwasher?) small sink, narrow fridge/freezer and narrow dishwasher. Only have one type of implement, anything else is wasted space.

If you have cupboards going into a corner I find you get far more usable space with ones that fully open than ones with sliding baskets or rotating corner shelves.

in germany my friend had a drainer above her sink, a bit like this one

www.joom.com/en/products/5f8fee08db7b4f0106d23e72

only hers was a lot higher wall mounted. the wetness drips down into the sink directly. So no need for a draining board.

Thanks, all, this is really useful! I've got my eye on the IKEA slimline dishwasher so it's good to have positive reviews (but I'm off to check out the Fisher and Paykel one as well, that sounds brilliant!)

I hadn't thought to look at caravan and boat ideas, so that's tonight's project!

I've already brutally decluttered, but love the sound of those Tefal pans and will also be investigating cutting boards over the sink.

Geniuses, all of you x

Very intrigued by the

We have a small kitchen. About 2m by 2m and it has 3 doorways in it. One outside, one into the dining room and one into a tiny pantry (which is our one saving grace as that's where the fridge and shelves for food are).
We also have the Neff cooker with the door that slides under, which is great when the kitchen is tiny and the cooker is right by the doorway.
We have one base unit, the sink unit, a slimline dishwasher and a narrow unit next to the cooker.

Luckily we have a pantry, where the ceiling steps down as it has the little landing of the stairs over the kitchen.

We have 2 full width wall cupboards and managed to find matching ones, but one is full height and one is shorter so it fits under the protruding bit.

We have our washing machine in the bathroom, where it fits easily. Its actually great!
Saves under counter space for an extra cupboard.