#7 Smart Food Storage Solutions for Small Kitchens
Readers with small kitchens, we feel your pain. Most all of us here at The Kitchn have at one point or another dealt with a tiny kitchen that forced us to get creative in how we stored, cooked, and enjoyed our food.
These seven storage ideas will help you save space when storing your food so that you don't have to keep your cereal box on the kitchen counter, or your baking supplies on the bookshelf in the next room.
(And for those of you with not-so-tiny kitchens, consider us jealous, but we're sure you can pick up a few tricks as well.)
- Add shelving anywhere you can : When space is at a minimum, you have to make the most of whatever you can find. That will likely mean adding shelving or a hanging cabinet to spaces that might otherwise go unused. Just make sure you have stylish storage containers if you opt for open shelving.
- Hang your pots and pans : By storing your pots and pans vertically, you’ll free up cabinet, shelf, and drawer space for more pantry storage. We’d much rather see a beautiful Calphalon or All-Clad pan than a box of cereal or a bag of chips.
- Make use of your cabinet doors : The inside of your cabinet doors are a woefully underused resource. Use them for storing spices or small kitchen utensils to free up even more space for larger items.
- Put even narrow spaces to use : Think an awesome skinny storage rack is out of your reach? Think again! Find out how you can easily DIY a rolling pantry that is designed to fit whatever space your kitchen has to offer.
- Organize in tiers : A simple and inexpensive addition, risers in your cabinets will not only make use of the vertical space on your shelves, but they’ll help you know what you already have and avoid buying duplicates.
- Add a cart : If you have more space near your oven than you do in your pantry, keep a rolling cart with all your essential items at hand. You can move it around to wherever you’re cooking or stash it away when you have guests over and need more floor space.
- Don’t forget about the space under your cabinets : Steal a trick from woodworking workshops, and affix lids to the bottom of your cabinets to keep jars of your most used items handy. Just be sure your cabinet is sturdy enough to hold the jars when they are full.
