When Lars and I first found this apartment, I was in love with our awesome galley kitchen. I’ve always wanted white kitchen cabinets. The problem was, it just didn’t have that much storage space. The cabinets are rather narrow and there aren’t very many of them. And we don’t have a pantry.
Well, I immediately went to work on pinterest finding organization solutions. And by the time we moved in, I knew where I was going to put all our kitchen supplies.
First things first: I wanted to make the most of the cabinet space we have. Before planning for any additional storage furniture in the kitchen, I decided what to put in each cabinet.
Dinnerware
The first and most obvious cabinet I wanted to focus on was the dinnerware cabinet. We have settings for 8 people plus 4 extra pasta bowls, a few extra glasses, and some novelty mugs. I had my eye on a set of wire cabinet organizers on amazon, but luckily Lars found this set at a rummage sale for only a few dollars.
The wire organizers make a huge difference in this cabinet. They make it so there is enough space for our pasta bowls, and they make more room for plates so they do not have to be stacked in such large piles.
Having the dishes color coordinated also makes the space look cleaner and less cluttered.
Pots and Pans
The pots and pans were what I was most worried about. I was bringing 5 assorted pots and pans from Vermont and my mom also gave us an old set of hers. I did not know how we would store it all. Well, making use of some more wire cabinet organizers, a wall mounted lid rack, some command hooks, and a cookware organizer, we were able to succeed at my goal of stacking as few pans as possible.
The door mounted lid organizer was one of the best things to help keep this cabinet clutter free. The cookware organizer worked well for all the shallow pans. Keeping these pans on their sides is so much more space efficient and functional than if we had tried to stack them.
The wire shelves worked for stacking larger pans. The command hook allowed me to hang a strainer in the cabinet without taking up any additional space.
We even managed to fit our large cutting board and a few more plastic cutting boards in the pots and pan cabinet. They were all too tall to fit in the upper cabinets, and they worked perfectly in this space.
Spices
Next up- the spice cabinet. It made most sense to use the cabinet above the stove so we would have easy access to spices when cooking. Well, the cabinet is pretty tall. So we found an amazing solution in our pull down spice rack that allows us to reach all the spices! Yay!
Also- I got a tiered cabinet organizer so we could see all our other cooking oils and sauces easily. I am so happy with this cabinet- it is super functional.
Under the Sink
Next up- the dreaded under sink cabinet. So much to fit in this space. We keep the bulk of our cleaning supplies, dish towels, rags, garbage bags, extra dish drainer, extra large reusable shopping bags, and some laundry supplies under here.
Well, I managed to keep it from getting too chaotic. On the left I used a small bin to keep kitchen dish towels. Next to that is a bin with reusable bottles and cleaning pads (like the pads for our shark mop). Behind those bins there is another wire shelf to make the most of the space.
All the way to the right is a folded up dish drainer. Next to that is a bin with our microfiber cleaning cloths and other rags. And in the middle of the cabinet are all the cleaning supplies.
On the left door, we keep all our plastic grocery bags. On the right door we keep extra sponges. Don’t underestimate the power of cabinet doors for kitchen storage.
lorraine williamson says
love your organization skills always need help with my kitchen thanks for sharing visiting from living well spending less have a great day
Selene Galindo says
What a great use of space!! I have one of those lid organizers as well and absolutely love it!!
Stopped by from the Pin Me party and started following your lovely blog on bloglovin and pinterest!
Have a great weekend :)
Susie says
Thank you so much for following!
Erlene says
I like how you stood the pans on their sides. Thanks for sharing on Merry Monday Linky Party.
Angela @ Angela Says says
I love the way you’ve organized your kitchen! It looks like you didn’t really have to go without very many small appliances, or pots. One of my favorite small storage solutions is the wire pull out basket. I love being able to put extra things like cleaning cloths on top while still being able to keep misc sponges or cleaners in the basket part.
Stopping by from Thrifty Thursday!
Megin says
This is great! I’ll be stealing some of these tips.
Thank you for sharing your post this week at Brag About It Link Party on VMG206. I’m featuring you at Next Weeks Brag About It Link Party, Monday at midnight!
~ Megin of VMG206
Susie says
Thank you so much! I’m honored :)
Sarah Eddins says
Great ideas! I especially loved seeing how you stored your pots and pans since my kitchen is small as well! I’m pinning this for later!! :-)
Sarah says
I LOVE this! I love how you stored the lids. I live in a 800 Square FT former chicken coop with my two girls, husband and 110 pound puppy! So I always need better organization! Thanks for linking up at Tips and Tricks. Pinning!
Milani says
AAAAAAH :(
I can’t control my kitchen,,, it’s making my life really hard. The apartment is sunny with cool breeze all year with a view.
BUT…
The kitchen is small ugly not pretty olive color shade with no place for oven, hardly could fit the refrigerator, small cupboards no upper cupboards (can’t add nor reconstruct; its rental) with no hot water ( the pluming problem is inside the wall & can’t be fixed easily).
I liked what you did, it gave me hope
Is it only me who feels that the kitchen is the soul of the house???
Emily, Our house now a home says
these are some great solutions. Our kitchen is small but for some reason very functional with storage space. The first apartment my husband and I lived in together the storage was HORRIBLE, we did a lot of these little tricks you have done. It is a lot of work, but better then not having what you need ready to go. Great ideas!