Let me tell you, moving from a vast Minneapolis, MN apartment complete with custom cabinets, island, and accompanying sun room was a shocker for what I have now. At best my New York City kitchen is 100 square feet. Yeah, you heard that right. Complete with a mini 20 inch stove, a sink, 4 upper cabinets, and a refrigerator. You might have noticed that I didn’t mention counters. Yup, there are no counters in my tiny little Upper West Side paradise near Central Park. So what’s this foodie to do? Why, hit Pinterest of course and get super creative with storage and design ideas to maximize every square inch.
The Wall Can Store Anything and Everything
The first thing that stood out to me when perusing the Pinterest rolls is the use of open shelving and rails to store and hang things from the walls. Genius! You can see this in the works in the photo above from TheHouseFace.com. I headed to IKEA and bought a shallow shelf to hold all of my spices, and below that I installed a bar in which to hang a bin to store my knives, and hang pots, strainer and a few mugs from hooks.
On the other wall a rod holds hooks for every spatula, strainer, wooden spoon, pizza cutter, and measuring cups. Because we don’t have any drawers for eating utensils, I have another bin hanging that holds all of those (including chopsticks and my pastry brush).
Above The Cabinets Is High Flying Long Term Storage
Because we have to maximize the minimal cabinet space we do have, I have relegated all my rarely used items to the tops of the cupboards. The stand mixer, the wok, stock pot, blender, food processor and muffin tins have all found a home here. I have a step stool tucked next to the fridge so this short Norwegian can easily get to these pieces when I need to.
Create A Small Pantry Space
Finally, you’ll need a place to store those extra boxes of pasta and other staples you want to stock up on when they are on sale. In our apartment we designated the top shelves of our coat closet for this purpose. It makes for an easy place to tuck away those pantry items you don’t need at the ready, but want to stock up on when the price is right. I also store some of the specialty food prep items in here as well. The Pasta Press, Krumkaka Iron and several bread pans have found a home here.
Finally – Create a Beverage Cart in the Living Room
Tea kettles, coffee makers, cups and mugs, and all that come with it can be moved to a nifty small beverage cart that you can place as a convenient addition to your living room. Ultimately this is about taking these cupboard and counter dominating items out of the kitchen and into an alternative space. And this nifty little beverage area can prove to be a nice addition to your living room area. After all what’s better than afternoon tea at the ready right where you need it.
