While prepping for a dinner party or tackling a big baking project, how many times have you wished for just a couple more feet of counter space? The winner of Food52's best kitchen hacks contest has an ingenious tip for temporarily adding counter space with the help of an ironing board.
Food52 member vvvanessa opens up her ironing board to use as extra counter space when she is doing a lot of baking. Its surface is designed to withstand heat, so it can be used to hold hot-from-the-oven baking sheets or racks of cooling cookies. I find myself wishing for more kitchen space most often when I'm holding a piping-hot sheet pan with no place to put it, so I'll definitely be using this tip the next time I tackle a big cooking project.
Check it out: The Gold Medal Kitchen Hack at Food52
Do you have any tips for adding temporary counter space?
Related: How Can I Maximize Counter Space in My Small Kitchen?
(Image: Emily Ho)
Martha Concrete Lam...

What an excellent idea. Newer ironing boards are flimsy and tippy, so a vintage ironing board would be the absolute best! I almost never iron anymore, so it's nice to hear there's something else to do with the ironing board.
I have a giant cutting board that I put over one side of my double sink.
You know...my place came with one of those in-wall fold out ironing boards, it's wood and I've NEVER thought to use it in my (lacking counter space) kitchen!
Genius!
CALAMITYCJ: I miss my wall ironing board from the rental I had 3 years ago.
i do this a lot and consider it a bad habit.
Holy smokes! That is a massive ironing board. Sorry, but I've never seen one so long and so wide before. But, an excellent tip.
GENIUS!
Thank you for the shout-out and all the nice comments!