Homes are so compact these days that there is hardly any sizable space for anything. Even the kitchen is squeezed into a smaller corner wanting in storage space.
Here are some tips on how to have additional storage in the kitchen:
• Opt for a corner kitchen. It starts with the basic design of the kitchen. With it, you will have two walls to work with for your storage space. Have above-the-head cabinets installed along the two walls. Besides, a corner kitchen gives you more design options, and the flow of traffic should also be a lot smoother.
• Choose for built-in ground-level kitchen units, in which you can fit the oven and other appliances snugly. So with the kitchen sink. The advantage of having things built in it is that it all looks so neat and so harmoniously united. You can even use the cabinet under the sink to keep your garbage can in so that you don’t rip over it. Another advantage of having a built-in oven and cooktop is that they are easier to clean than freestanding appliances.
• Mount a long, narrow shelf along the wall, just beneath the row of head-level cabinets. This shelf, you can use to store containers of herbs, spices, salt, pepper and sauces. The shelf also makes your little cooking utensils within reach at all times.
• Make a storage pockets along the edge of this long, narrow shelf by edging it with strong carpet binding. Tack firmly at intervals leaving gaps wide enough to slip spoons, scissors and other utensils into them.
• For your miscellaneous cooking aids, choose to keep them in elongated and uniformly shaped glass containers. Storage, therefore, becomes more methodical and economical because they do not take up too much space in between. As much as possible, though, use colored glass. Food items deteriorate faster when kept in transparent glass containers.
• Have wall-mounted wooden plate racks installed. Position at eye level and use them to store plates in.
• Install cup hooks under the upper kitchen cabinets or shelves, and hang your cups and mugs together. This way, they will add color to your kitchen and at the same time be out of the way.
• Wire mesh panels or hooks screwed onto the door add hanging and storage space to drawers and closets.
• For kitchen utensils, make a ladder rack storage panel for the wall. Check the kitchen wall for available space for it, and measure the height and width. Cut two battens of half-inch lath in the length you need for the uprights. Then cut a number of laths for the crossbars. Screw the uprights to the wall first, and then nail the crossbars onto them at right angles, making sure that you leave half-inch gaps between them. Hang wire hooks on the slats through the gaps. Now you can hang your kitchen utensils, such as ladles and wire whisks on them.
• Run a metal bar across the room. Then you have a place to hang your baskets and pans on.
• .Use wicker baskets for your fruit and vegetable storage. They are decorative as well as functional.
• Keep a small shelf for cookbooks and recipe cards.
• If your kitchen has a cooking island in the middle, make sure it has a functional design. This means that there are cabinets for storage at the bottom and not just a hollow base. Cooking islands are ideal in compact homes because they center meal preparations in one area and family functions, such as eating and simply eating around, in the opposite area. So the kitchen and the dining area can comfortably overlap.
