8 Storage Solutions for Small Kitchens

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I’m so excited about today’s post! I’ve been mentally writing this post for years! But, I wanted to make sure each tip I gave you was tried and true and would stand the test of time. Each of these tips has been hard earned by trying different things until I found the perfect solution. I really hope it helps you make your kitchen live its best, most functional life for you!

Maximize Every Inch-

When working with a small kitchen, it’s really important to maximize every inch of storage space, both vertical space and cabinet depth. Look for empty spaces above items and see if a wire shelf or hanging shelf basket could add functionality. We use wire shelves to add extra space above our dinnerware, cups, and food storage containers to double the storage space by maximizing the full vertical shelf height! You can find the smaller sized wire shelves at Dollar Tree, so be sure to check there first!

I also added an under the shelf basket in our cup cabinet to house all the different cup lids to give them a home without eating up valuable cabinet real estate.

This concept is especially important for cabinet depth! We have tall, deep cabinets next to the fridge that we use as a pantry. For years, I tried to get by with random baskets and plastic storage bins, but they left several inches of space behind each basket. Things would inevitably need to be stored behind the bins, but then when I needed to access those items, I had to take a bunch of things out to get to it. Such a headache! I finally scouted pull out bins that were the same depth as the cabinet. Now, I can store things all the way to the back of the cabinet and am able to easily pull out the bin to access them!

See the full No Pantry, Pantry Tour here!

Make Things Accessible-

It’s important to load up your cabinets in order of how frequently you use the items. The items you reach for all the time should be in the easiest to access places, leaving your lesser used items to the higher up or more difficult to reach places. For me, I keep all of our cups, dinnerware, cooking dishes, pans, and food storage containers in the prime cabinet real estate and then store my bakeware, grilling supplies, and serveware in the less ideal cabinet spaces. It’s much less of an ordeal to have to grab a step stool or get all the way to the back of the corner cabinet the 2-3 times a year I need my party serving dishes than it would be to have to reach those spaces daily.

The front of this corner cabinet holds our frequently used items, while the back holds specialty bakeware, our cookie cutter jar, and all our serving dishes.

I also recently moved our kitchen towels to a basket in the nearby laundry closet to free up a drawer for the spices. The spices had previously been on a shelf and would fall out every time I tried to get something. It was so irritating. Now that I moved the spices to a prime storage space, I can easily grab what I need.

Think Functional Storage-

When you’re working with a small kitchen, it’s important to think through the details and really get storage supplies that are optimal for the space. For example, we store our medicine in the cabinet above the fridge. I had typical plastic bins up there, but was having to grab the stepstool every morning when getting out my medicine because I couldn’t quite reach them. I swapped out the bins to ones with a big handle and am now able to reach the bins easily with no step stool. Such a simple swap that saves me frustration every day!

Our sheet pan organizer is another great example of this! We have a double oven, so we don’t have an oven drawer for cookie sheets and certainly don’t have a good spot in the cabinets for them. I had them laying down on a lower cabinet shelf, but it was such a pain to have to dig out the specific pan I needed and they ate up a huge amount of cabinet shelving. I found this rack and added it to an under utilized upper shelf. Now I can easily grab the pan I need and I’m utilizing a formerly difficult shelf!

One more example of functional storage swaps are our pan lid organizers. The lids were in a big pile and I dreaded having to rummage around to find the right one. I added two lid organizers and while the lids still take up the same amount of cabinet space, they are so much easier to access now! The small organizer is from Dollar Tree and the larger one is this one that can be used for lids or pans.

Utilize Door Space-

Don’t overlook doors as a great place to store things! It feels like a freebie, bonus storage space! We keep our hot pads on a Command Hook,

our food wraps on a door rack,

and even added a door pantry organizer to the back of our coat closet door to gain valuable storage space for surplus food storage! Total game changer!

Add Functional Decor-

This is one of my favorite tips! I hide things in plain sight right on my counters! I hate countertop clutter and keep most appliances tucked away, but have found that you can make everyday staples into cute decor. I love having my flours and sugars out in pretty, matching canisters on the counter. They are super easy to access when I’m cooking, don’t take up any cabinet space, and look cute on the counter!

Every single other thing I keep out on my counter serves a purpose. A crock for cooking utensils, salt and pepper jars, my pretty blue mixer, a fruit bowl, and my coffee supplies all jazzed up with a tray and pretty canister. My kitchen feels styled, but every bit of it is intentional and functional.

Trays, Baskets, and Bowls-

Walking hand in hand with the last tip is to utilize trays and bowls. For example, if you set a napkin holder, seasonings, and oils on the countertop, it would look messy and cluttered. But, if you cluster them on a pretty tray, they suddenly look grouped and intentional. I use this trick for my salt and pepper jars, my coffee supplies, my dish soap and scrubber, and on the bar for our keys and sunglasses. By keeping our collections contained, it keeps the visual clutter to a minimum.

This trick also works great inside the cabinet as well! I love to bake and have lots of cake and cookie decorating supplies that were making a mess of my cabinets. I contained all of my small baking things into a basket and it’s so easy to access and store now!

I also have a zillion cookie cutters, so I bough a giant jar to store them in. Now, I can easily just grab the jar and bring it to the table for the cookie shape deliberations to take place. Haha! Do I need a hundred cookie cutters? No, but I love them and am willing to make space for them. Don’t judge. 🙂

And, you may have noticed I utilized this tip in the cabinet under the sink to corral our plastic bags and oven mitts!

Think Outside the Kitchen-

Our biggest kitchen pain point is the lack of a pantry. Why the builder didn’t include one just boggles my mind! But, just because we don’t have a pantry doesn’t mean I have to stuff every bit of food into the kitchen! Shortly after we bought this house, we got a small cabinet to put in our dining room for food storage. Our dining room is two steps away from the kitchen, so it’s super easy to access. A couple years ago, we upgraded to a larger cabinet with drawers and, man, does that feel luxurious! We keep all our snacks and cereals in the cabinet and find having it right next to the table very convenient! The drawers are the perfect spot for extra kitchen gadget/utensil storage and I finally have a “junk” drawer! Yay!

I’m cooking up a way to cover the glass so that you can’t see the food inside. Stay tuned!

We applied this same concept to our coat closet as well. The shelf above the coats is the perfect spot for the crockpot, air fryer, and the large roasting pan I use for holiday cooking. Under the coats, I added a sturdy shelf for surplus food storage like extra cereal, sodas, and things we buy in bulk. And, as I already showed you, the back of the door works hard storing food as well. It works out great even though it’s an unconventional space!

Take Food Out of Boxes-

For the most part, I am not a huge fan of storing cereals and snacks in food storage containers. In my opinion, it takes up more space and gives you even more dishes to wash. However, that doesn’t mean I leave everything in the original box! We always take cereal out of the box and just store the bag with a chip clip in the dining room cabinet. It takes up much less real estate this way! Same with things like granola bars that come in boxes. I have one bin that I empty all the snack type food into and it takes up much less space.

Another place I find it helpful to decant your food is spice storage. I recently put all of my spices into matching containers in the drawer. Because the containers are a consistent size, I was able to fit more into the drawer. Added bonus, they don’t roll around because they are square!

What are you best kitchen organization tips? I’d love to hear them!