Most keen home cooks dream of a spacious kitchen with plenty of workspace and storage galore. The reality is often quite different. If you live in a flat, apartment, or modern house it’s likely that your kitchen is far from palatial. And if you’ve recently moved from a property with a bigger kitchen, you may wonder how you’ll cope with the compact space. Here are some tips to help you get super-organised:
Be Ruthless If cupboard space is limited, streamline bowls and pans – for example, have just two high-quality saucepans rather than six. Give away gadgets you never use.
Seasonal Rotation Pack away items you only use for dinner parties or certain seasons, such as your ice-cream machine, and store in another part of the house.
Multi-Use Space Savers Use an attractive chopping board as a serving platter, or the bowl from a set of scales as a mixing bowl or measuring jug (if it has volumes marked).
Super-size Your Storage Pull-out organisation systems and a corner carousel help you access those hard to reach corners and add valuable space to areas that are often wasted.
Don’t Forget Wall Space Mount knife, spice, plate and cup racks on your wall to free up cupboards, drawers and worktops. Don’t forget the space above your head to hang pans and items you only use occasionally. Foldaway steps will help you reach.
Space On Wheels A moveable island or butcher’s block gives you extra preparation and storage space. Simply push it to one side or even into another room when you need to create more floor space.
Dining Space If you’re lucky enough to have room for a small dining table in your kitchen, choose carefully. There are lots of clever designs available. For example, butterfly-style tables fold down neatly and allow you to store chairs inside. If you don’t have room for a traditional table, install a breakfast bar instead which doubles as an additional worktop.