A few weeks back, we talked about bringing in a kitchen island for more counter and storage space. But what if your small kitchen can't accommodate another large piece of furniture? In those cases, we've been eying the stove top!
Small Kitchen Solution: Cover the Stove Top for More Counter Space?
Often what we need is not so much a space to do work, but rather a space to just temporarily put things - bowls of cut ingredients while we're prepping a recipe, buffet area, leftovers waiting to be put away, groceries, and so on. We already use the space around the burners for some of these things, but it would be handier to cover the entire stove top with some sort of board so we could use all that space.
Our only concern is that we might be forever taking the cover top on and off again as we need access to the burners themselves. And depending on the cover we get, it could be awkward to find a place to store it out of the way while we use the burners. Then again, we're usually only using one or two burners at a time, so maybe finding something that only covers half of the stove would be a good option.
We discovered that stove top covers are actually already commonly used in RV and yacht kitchens where counter space is truly at a premium. Most of the products we found on the internet are intended for these spaces. Here are a few:
• Camco RV Stove Topper from PPL Motor Homes, around $50
• Universal Oak Stove Top Covers from JC Whitney, around $42
For full-sized stove tops, we found a few sites that will make custom covers:
• Stove Top Covers from StoveTopCovers.com, around $210
• Cook Top Cover Up from Regina's Kitchen, custom quotes
Of course, if you aren't so picky about an exact fit or how it looks, we think you could forgo many of these options in favor of few wooden cutting boards balanced over the burners. We could also have a plank of raw wood cut down to size at somewhere like Home Depot or Lowes.
Do you cover your stove top? Do you find it useful for creating space?
Related: Small Kitchen Space Makers: Corner Kitchen Drawers
(Image: Flickr member docentjoyce licensed under Creative Commons)
Tags
Kitchen Design, Cookware & Tools, Kitchen Furniture, small kitchen, small space solution, stovetop, counter space, stove topRelated Links
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We cover half of the stove because we have no counters at all. It means we can usually only use two burners at a time, but I do mostly simple cooking anyway, and pull out the extra burners for special occasions.
view Sparkiy's profile
when did it become a fad to buy extra furniture? i grew up with burner covers, and we use them in my current home. even WITH the counter space around the stovetop, we use the stovetop itself as temporary sitting space all the time.
i guess i'm weird or old-fashioned.
view falnfenix's profile
This is something similar to what a buddy of mine decided to do. He actually is planning to replace his entire stove/oven with just an oven. Then he plans to buy a couple induction portable stove tops instead of the traditional stove top.
He wants the extra counter space for other things, and right now I can't find a reason not to do it. Any thoughts?
view AmitV's profile
This is a brilliant idea, and would be relatively simple as a DIY... I hadn't thought of covering the entire stovetop before. I think there is space between the stove and the cabinets to store a 1/2" thick piece of plywood when we are actually cooking, and using the stovetop as a work top would more than double the counter space in our tiny kitchen. The stovetop "cover" could easily be nicely painted and sealed, or covered with laminate or linoleum, and edged with wood, or even covered with thin sheet metal. Thank you AT for sharing a great concept!
view fjorlief's profile
I use the leftover piece of Corian they cut out for the sink when I renovated.
view jvw's profile
I've seen some vintage stoves with a matching cover actually attached.
view erinorea's profile
We have limited counter space, and none on the side of the kitchen with the stove, so we just bought a single ceramic tile (cheap and fireproof) to put on top of one burner. It allows us to have a spoon rest, and a jar full of utensils. It is a safe and cheap solution until we renovate, and you can get different sizes depending on what you need.
view DMiller's profile
I have an apartment size stove have a wooden cutting board from ikea which fits it perfectly (seen here http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30087148). If I want to use the stove top, then I just move it to the counter to use. I usually put another cutting board on top of it to use rather than wash the wooden one constantly. It works great for me and was a rather inexpensive option for more usable counter space.
view GatorGal's profile
It's a great idea, as long as you're careful about the burners being off and cool. We'll sometimes set groceries on the stove, in the process of putting them up, because it's convenient to the fridge and pantry.
view Kakugori's profile