Dealing With a Tiny Kitchen
The kitchen is a place of hustle and bustle where you have to be quick and work hard to produce the savory marvels that your family will enjoy. Even the largest of kitchens is usually overburdened with an excess of useless gadgets, accessories, and tools, but if your space is limited, it can make practicing your culinary craft all that much harder. Luckily there are a few simple tricks that you can use to help overcome space limitations and insure that your kitchen is functional no matter what size it is.
The first thing you have to do is look over your kitchen with a discerning eye, and make sure that there is absolutely no clutter in the space. Clutter comes in many forms, and it is not always so easy to recognize. For instance that pasta maker that your friend gave you last holiday may be a terribly useful device that can produce the most marvelous pasta creations. However if you haven’t even looked at it in the last 6 months, it qualifies as clutter, and its time to get rid of it. Juicers, Foreman grills, sandwich makers, waffle irons, and smoothie stations, should all be considered when searching for clutter in the kitchen.
These items should be removed from the space to make room for functional activities. That doesn’t mean however that you have to throw your prized toys away. Simply store them in a closet and pull them out whenever a special occasion arises. If it’s a seasonal tool store it away with the decorations, and each year when you take them out it will be a novelty that you will be excited to use.
Another trick for dealing with small kitchens is to store items outside of the room, in free locations throughout the house. A spare closet in the hallway can be turned into the perfect pantry, or you can put extra shelves in the laundry room for holding excess canned goods or appliances. You can even take clear plastic storage bins and fill them with kitchen accessories, and then slide them under a bed or behind a couch. Just make sure that the container is sealed against dirt and dust that might crop up under there.
Just because you have limited space in a kitchen doesn’t mean that it has to be bland and devoid of style. Your walls are like great open canvases, and hanging personalized art, signs, or decorative objects on them won’t take up much in the way of functional space. You can also use the floor, adding throw carpets to spread color throughout. Windowsills are another place where you can add a spot of beauty, placing small flower vases or decorative statues on the corner of the sill.
Finally the most important tip for dealing with a small kitchen is to stay organized. Chaos takes up a lot of space, and makes whatever room you may have less functional. Every object that is in the kitchen should have a home place, and you should endeavor to keep items in their homes whenever they are not being directly used. That way when you need something you will know exactly where it is and will be able to grab it right away. An orderly kitchen will also give off the illusion of having more space and will just feel roomier whenever you walk in.
A small kitchen is kind of a pain. It makes it harder and less comfortable to work, and there isn’t as much room for all of the fancy toys you see in the appliance stores. However the key to dealing with such a space is strategy and organization. Put rarely used items into storage, and keep them in extra areas throughout the home. Cut down on clutter, and only decorate places that won’t detract from the functionality of the space, such as the walls. By using a little forethought, you will be able to squeeze room you never thought possible into even the tightest of floor plans.
This article was written on behalf of PebbleZ’s line of natural stone drink coasters. The actual writing was done by Joey Pebble, an artist, designer, and freelance author who has worked closely with the company for a number of years.
KW Publishing and Consulting
Kathy Woodard, Editor
PO Box 4755
West Richland, Wa 99353
Fax 18017512073
kw.publishing@gmail.com
