The 21 Best Storage & Design Ideas for Small Kitchens 

By ALYSSA LONGOBUCCO

Image Credit: Melanie Rieders

No one ever has enough kitchen storage or counter space. Literally, no one. 

Luckily, this is something
we specialize in. 

Image Credit: Melanie Rieders

We’ve rounded up the 21 best ideas of all time that just might help you feel like you’ve doubled your kitchen’s square footage.

Image Credit: Melanie Rieders

Your walls can hold more than you think they can (think: pots, pans, and even canisters that can hold utensils).

Image Credit: Devon Jarvis

1. Hang a pegboard.

The tops of your cabinets offer prime real estate for storage. If you’re worried about how it will all look, consider using some pretty baskets to hide your stash.

Image Credit: Sarita Relis Photography

2. Use the tops of your cabinets.

Image Credit: Lindsey Kay Averill

A fold-down table (on a wall, in front of a window, or hanging off a bookshelf) almost always works. This way, you can use it when you need and get it up and out of the way when you don’t.

3. Consider a fold-down table.

Image Credit: Minette Hand

Whether you end up going with that fold-down table or not, you can free up some floor space by hanging your dining chairs when you’re not using them.

4. Get cute folding chairs and hang them up.

Your backsplash can be more than just a pretty focal point! Hang a rail, magnetic knife block, Command Hooks, or narrow shelf on it.

5. Turn your backsplash into storage.

Image Credit: Joe Lingeman

When a shelf is in a cabinet or a pantry, it can be really hard to see what’s buried deep in the back. If you can’t renovate, simply add baskets so that you can pull them out to access what’s in the back.

6. Turn cabinet and pantry shelves into drawers.

Image Credit: Ellie Arciaga Lillstrom
Image Credit: Carina Romano

How narrow? Really narrow! Like, just deep enough for one row of bottles or jars. You can put them nearly anywhere.

7. And use (little!) shelves where you can!

Image Credit: Minette Hand

You might not think of windows as a storage space, but this Chicago apartment may get you thinking differently. Thanks to a uniform collection and pop-y orange handles, it ends up turning into a fun focal point that is smart storage, too.

8. Use your windows as storage.

If you lack enough cabinet space to store all your dishes, put them on display somewhere else. 

9. Put your dishes on display.

Image Credit: Jessica Isaac

Your kitchen is only five square feet? Try stealing a few extra inches from an adjacent room.

Image Credit: Lauren Kolyn

10. Steal space from neighboring rooms.

Image Credit: Nancy Mitchell

We’ve seen the top of the fridge used to store all sorts of stuff. A curated selection of your most-used pantry ingredients will look nice and makes things easy to grab in a pinch.

11. Turn the top of your fridge into a pantry.

Squeeze out a bit more room by taking your cutlery to the walls with a magnetic knife strip. (You can even use it to hang things that aren’t knives.)

Image Credit: Marie-Lyne Quirion

12. Hang a magnetic knife rack.

Pots, spoons, mugs — anything that can be hung should be hung. It frees up cabinet and counter space, and turns your stuff into decorations!

Image Credit: Natalie Jeffcott

13. Seriously, hang everything you possibly can.

Image Credit: Alexis Buryk

If you have cabinets that don’t butt up against a wall, you’ve got a few square feet of bonus storage space. You can hang a pot rail, add shelves, and more.

14. Use the sides of your cabinets.

Image Credit: Julia Brenner

Add hooks to the bottoms to hold mugs and small tools. Or use magnetic strips to make a floating spice rack.

15. And the bottoms.

Whether it’s cabinet doors or your pantry door, there’s space to be used on the inside of them. Hang up measuring cups, make a bulletin board, add a shelf, etc.

Image Credit: Joe Lingeman

16. And the inside of all your doors.

Image Credit: Melanie Rieders

No matter how small, a mirror does a lot to make a space feel bigger. Plus, you can see what sorts of funny faces you make while you stir or chop.

17. Add a mirror.

Put shelf risers in your cabinets, hang shelves on any available wall space, and add little shelves to your counter to free up space.

Image Credit: Lauren Kolyn

18. Add shelf risers wherever you can.

Image Credit: Devon Jarvis

They have a small footprint, but still have plenty of room for storage. And because they’re on wheels, they can be pushed into a closet or the corner of a room and pulled out to meet you at your workspace when you need it.

19. Put a small utility cart to work.

During dinner prep, your stovetop is just wasted space. That’s why we love this idea to build burner covers out of cutting boards. Instant bonus counters!

Image Credit: Corelyn Coates & Jennie Palluzzi

20. Turn your stovetop into extra counter space.

Image Credit: Ryan Tuttle

Put a cutting board over half of the sink to add more counter space. By only covering half, you can still access the sink if you need to rinse anything.

21. Ditto for your sink.

For more kitchen tips, visit thekitchn.com