When I first moved into my 1920s rental apartment, I was horrified by the built-in mirrored cabinet above the sink. Wouldn't it be awkward to stare at myself while doing dishes? Yet this little cupboard unexpectedly became the most joyful feature of my kitchen (and it has nothing to do with vanity!). More

If you like the no-fuss functionality of restaurant equipment, you'll probably love this stainless steel wall-mounted dish rack from French design company Tsé & Tsé. It's advertised as a dish drainer (all the shelves have holes in them) to be hung over the sink, but I honestly think it'd work better as a dishware cabinet in a small kitchen, don't you? You could even get a couple and hang them side by side for a wall of open cabinetry. More

And now for a clever kitchen storage idea perfectly suited for small spaces: open kitchen shelving that's installed beneath the staircase! We love how neat and clean the shelves look lined up with the stairs. Obviously you need the right setup to make this work, i.e. stairs with an empty wall that opens into your kitchen, but it's still a great idea! More

Hey, it's the New Year, so let's all take a moment to ponder our kitchens. I've been setting up a new kitchen, and so the idea of kitchen workflow has been on my mind. This is a big topic, and one that touches on many different aspects of setting up a kitchen: Work zones, storage capacity, tools and cookware. How does your kitchen contribute to your daily cooking and cleaning workflow? Good workflow is different for everyone, but we all know when our kitchen has hit a snag! Here's my big example of tough workflow, from my last kitchen... More

Maureen's Maximized & Upgraded Kitchen

Last summer we ran the Small Cool Kitchens contest — our big yearly event to showcase and celebrate small(er) home kitchens. Here's a look back at a few of the winners and most memorable kitchens. More

Small kitchen cooks have a unique set of challenges, and we understand that. Many of us cook in small kitchens as well, which means when we find something cool, useful, or inspirational for our tiny kitchen, we want to share it with you, too! Here are 15 of this year's favorite tips, products, and inspirational ideas for small kitchens: More

Who says bigger is better? Part of what we love about our weekly Kitchen Tour feature is that we get to see real cooks making real kitchens work. So today we salute the small rental kitchen with all its cramped quarters and quirks, and the owners who devise storage strategies and infuse joy into their space, whatever its handicap. When the love of cooking and eating is the thing, everything else is workable. More

If you live in a small home and still love to entertain, you know that hosting dinner parties requires a bit of space planning. Do you borrow a few extra chairs? Haul out a card table from your storage unit? Set up a few cushions on the floor? If you had Orla Reynolds' brilliant shelf, you'd have two tables and four dining chairs conveniently at the ready. Can you spot them? More

There's just never enough countertop space in small kitchens, is there? One way around that is to get an over-the-sink cutting board, but integrated sink cutting boards are where it's really at. They both extend your work surface and act as a sink cover when needed (hide those dirty dishes!). If you've been lusting after this sink accessory, here's what you need to know to get one for yourself: More

If you follow Deb Perelman on her enormously popular blog, Smitten Kitchen, you are already familiar with one part of her East Village, NYC home kitchen very well. There is a 36-inch span of black speckled countertop where she preps, plates and shoots just about anything that ends up on the pages of the site. It's the same little nook, perched high above a busy avenue, blessed with perfect afternoon light, that serves as the set for most of the more than 300 photos in her new book, The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.

So when Deb invited me over to cook with her, I jumped at the chance to see the teeny-tiny rental kitchen for myself.

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