Utilize wall space, no matter how small it is! You'd be amazed at all of the things in your kitchen that can hang. A cutting board over the sink (kind of like what's pictured) can add workspace in a pinch, and then slide into a lower cabinet when not in use. A fold down table, if you have the wall space, put at counter height can add space as needed as well. Ultimately, the best thing you can do is edit.

When I had a small rental kitchen, I found a good ol' trip to Ikea solved a lot of my problems. You can't beat their selection of wall storage. Also, I got a cart with a butcher block top that ended up doubling my usable counter space.

butcher block for over sink & stove, really utilize all your wall space, add shelves or a pegboard or whatever works best in your kitchen. Try to avoid any unnecessary gadgets. Only things which you use (almost) daily belong on the counter. Hang hooks under shelves/cabinets for mugs.

If you get a chopping board that's a little larger than a drawer, just pull the drawer out and put the chopping board on top, as long as the drawer is stable. Use chopping boards or a cookie sheet on top of your stove to transform that into a work surface too. That's good for rolling pastry or pizza bases. Keep you sink clear too and that becomes another work area. Something I often do is put a salad bowl in the sink then 'chop' ingredients for the salad with scissors. Using bowls in the sink you can grate cheese into them, mix batters, assemble casserole ingredients, mix sauces, knead dough - lots of things.

In my rental kitchen I moved a large bookshelf into the dining room and moved all my coffee making stuff (coffee, filters, coffee maker, sugar bowl, travel mugs, etc) onto the top of it. Under it I have a shelf of packaged things for my boyfriends work lunches, a shelf of large bulk purchases and my cookbooks, and some misc things like garbage bags and the dustpan. It cleared up a fair bit of space in my kitchen, both in the cupboards and the counter. It also means that one of us can be making or getting coffee without being in the way of the other who is cooking in the kitchen.

My fiancé and I don't even have wall space in useful places in our kitchen but we do have a huge window right beside the stove, so we cut rebar (for reinforcing concrete) to the same size as the window and then hung pots, pans, lids, spatulas etc, and some herbs in those white egg-shaped pots from ikea in the window. It was the perfect space solution and looks great. We still get lots of light because the rebar is widely spaced (each square is about 8 square inches).

My husband and I recently traded in a large refrigerator for two side by side under counter friges. Its like We have a whole new kitchen! We own, but perhaps you could ask, if your landlord pays utilities, or if you have a late model refrigerator, it might seem worth it to them.

I've recently discovered the joys of making extra shelves inside of cabinets, and utilizing inside-the-door space. I had no idea there were so many weird contraptions and stuff that do that.

Cabinet shelves

Cabinet door organizers

Soooo cool. I really like the ones that will even roll or slide out. Then I get to feel fancy AND save some space. And we use thing towel bar thingy to hold our washcloths and oven mitt on a cabinet door by the stovetop and microwave, whereas before, we just left them lying around or stacked up somewhere.

Wow! Thanks, everyone! We have some wall space to play with and I'm definitely going to add in some in-door/in-cabinet/under-cabinet organizers. We'll have a gas range, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to utilize that area as work-space. Thanks again, this is a great place to start :)