It’s hard to believe that we’ve been in our house for over two years. It kind of feels like we just moved in, but memories of living elsewhere also feel so distant at this point.
Both the house, and the apartment that we had lived in before we bought ours had one thing in common – big kitchens with tons of storage! It was a luxury that’s easy to take advantage of and not fully appreciate in the moment.
Then we moved into our house which originally had the teeny tiniest kitchen. It was oddly set up, but thankfully we were able to knock out a few walls that completely opened it up! Since we have so many projects we’re working on with the house, the actual remodeling of the kitchen has been on the back burner.
Disclosure – This post contains affiliate links that, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Many of these items I have purchased myself, or would recommend to a friend.
This post was originally published January 18th, 2016 and updated for accuracy and relevant information November 2020.
4 Tips for Kitchens with No Storage
When it comes to storage our kitchen has a total of one cabinet. It’s the lovely built-in that’s original to the kitchen, but the top half has glass doors. That means that our storage space for all of those not-so-pretty kitchen necessities is basically null. Over the last few years I’ve learned some tricks to making kitchens with no storage (or counter space!) work. They’ve really helped me from going crazy over the lack of hiding places.
ROLLING CARTS
Seriously, I love a cute little cart with wheels. Not only can you stick them in any little corner you might have, but I’ve really loved that I can roll them out of the way whenever we do any construction work in the kitchen and I don’t have to worry about totally unloading everything to move it!
I have both a large utility cart, and one I thrifted a while back both in my kitchen housing appliances, dry foods, and cleaning products. I also am totally smitten with the cart in the picture above that I’ve turned into my coffee cart! Each cart has a specific purpose and I try to keep them super organized to keep things from getting messy.
My favorite places to find carts are thrift stores (see this post for the before and after of mine) and garage sales. I also love places like Ikea and Target to find them cute, and at good prices.
MAKE YOUR STORAGE DECORATIVE
If your tight on hidden storage space make whatever you need to store out on your counters (or carts) cute! I am obsessed with pretty glass storage containers. I keep almost all of my dry food goods in them. These are usually easy to find at most thrift store for cheap. If you’re looking for matching ones, places like The Container Store and Home Goods are great places to find them too.
KEEP THINGS ORGANIZED
This may seem like I’m stating the obvious, but I can’t stress how important it is for everything to have it’s “own space” especially in tiny kitchens. When every square inch of storage is packed, you don’t want to have to pull everything apart just to try to find your favorite spatula.
I go through my kitchen once every couple months and see what I really need handy, and what can either move into long term storage or get donated or sold. Do I need that specialty baking pan ready to grab when I’ve only used it once in the last five years? Probably not. Keep things you use daily in easy to grab spots to keep yourself from constantly digging!
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE REST OF YOUR HOME
If you can, expand your “kitchen” into other parts of your home! I was so happy once I brought my coffee cart into my dining room. Not only does it free up a lot of space in the kitchen for more important things, but it looks so cute! Even if we didn’t have a dining room, I think a coffee cart would be cute in a living room or office. Think outside the box and take a look around to see if there’s anything that’s taking up space in that little kitchen of yours that could find a home in another part of your house. Use your imagination, and don’t be afraid to experiment and see what works!
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