Here’s How To Make The Most Of Your Bite-Sized Kitchen
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When you’re watching a cooking show, it all looks so luxurious. Chefs always seem to have flowing amounts of counter space, an abundance of cabinets and pretty much no clutter. Of course, this is just a fantasy world for most of us who learn to make the most out of our tiny kitchens.
Having a tiny kitchen doesn’t mean you’re limited when it comes to cooking, it just means that you have to be more creative with how you use your space. Think of your kitchen from a vertical perspective, use your oven for more than just cooking and transform your sink into extra counter space. Here’s how to make cooking easier when your kitchen is bite-sized.
Prep In Advance
If you have enough time to plan ahead, prep some of your ingredients in advance. Instead of overwhelming your entire countertop with cutting up different vegetables, do some chopping ahead of time and store things in containers until you’re ready to cook.
Be A Minimalist With Equipment
Make life easier for yourself and keep your kitchen equipment to a minimum. Maybe you’ve inherited some of your family’s pots and pans because you couldn’t say no, but the more pots, pans and equipment you have, the more clutter and mess you’ll have. You really only need a large pot, a small pot and a skillet. As far as knives go, you can get by with just a paring knife and a chef’s knife.
It might be hard to wrap your brain around this, but you can even ditch the microwave. They take up an obnoxious amount of valuable counter space. As long as you have a stove and an oven you’re good to go.
Think Vertically
When you have a small kitchen, wall space is like gold. Think of your walls like cabinet space. You can buy cheap pieces of wood and nail them into the wall to give yourself extra shelves for storing pots, utensils, cookie sheets, pans, plates and whatever else you need room for. You can hang baskets and racks to store your spices and other ingredients. Get creative.
Use The Inside of Your Cabinet Doors Wisely
Don’t forget about your kitchen cabinet doors. Go crazy with all of the hooks and magnetic strips on the backside of the doors. Hang knives, cutting boards, sandwich bags or dry erase boards so you can write down recipes and to-do lists.
Use A Magnetic Knife Strip
Magnetic knife strips save you a ton of counter space and they’re good for more than just knives. If you get an extra long strip, you can hang pot lids, large metal spoons, spice jars with metal lids, scissors and anything else that’ll stick to the magnetic strip. You can hang the knife strip anywhere in your kitchen.
Shop As You Go
It might be tempting when you’re at the grocery store (and hungry) to stock up on food like it’s the end of the world, but if you have a tiny kitchen, this isn’t the best idea. If you have the time, shop as you go so that the contents of your fridge don’t get out of hand.
Use Your Oven For More Than Roasting
When you’re cooking a bunch of things at once, don’t forget about your oven. They’re not just for cooking. Use your oven as extra storage space for pots and pans when you’re not using it.
Place A Large Cutting Board Over Your Sink
When your counter space is limited, there’s an easy way to make some extra room. Buy a large cheap cutting board and place it directly over the sink. You’ll give yourself more room to work with and then you can move the cutting board as soon as you’re done with it.
Clean As You Go
It seems like a simple concept, but it works. At the end of the day, it’ll make your life easier. The second you’re done with prepping something, put the spices and ingredients away to make room for the next step. Throw away any packaging that’s garbage and put any dirty dishes right into the sink. Rinsing dishes as you go makes the whole task of cleaning way less daunting. Less clutter while you’re cooking also means less stress.
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