Small Kitchen Organization Ideas: Getting the Most Out of The Space You Have

Listen to Chrystina discuss her tips for small kitchen organization in Episode 27 of the Party Ideas & Logistics with Chrystina Noel podcast, above.

If you’ve been around for a while, you’re probably sick of hearing about my small kitchen. To be 100% honest, I’m also sick of hearing about my small kitchen. One day, I will have a larger kitchen. But I’ve worked really hard over the years to make the space work for me, and so I’m here today to share a few tips for small kitchen organization. Links below may be affiliate.

My best estimate of usable kitchen space (including appliances) is 10′ x 12′. Compare to New York City, this is pretty big. Compared to some houses in the suburbs, this is incredibly small, especially when there’s a table in the center of the room. I’ve now been living in this kitchen for over five years and I’ve figured out how to make the most out of the space. I’m here with you today to share those tips so you, too, can feel like a pro when it comes to small kitchen organization.

If you’re interested in a video tour of my space, make sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to watch the YouTube video I put together, just for you.

Hang Things Where You Can

Cabinets and counter tops get full very quickly (even when you don’t want them to), so it’s time to start looking for another place to store things. One of my best purchases in life was this 25-cent fruit basket that I bought at Philly AIDS Thrift. I was definitely in the right place at the right time, and it has helped so much in getting fruit and vegetables off the counter.

On top of that, many of my (reasonably sized) pans are hung on the wall. It’s a great way to free up some space in the cabinets, and be able to grab things easily, without un-stacking anything.

We used to have a spice rack on the shelf, but we very quickly outgrew that because we had too many spices. If you’re not a huge cook or baker, this is another great option as well.

Add Shelves to Cabinets

It didn’t occur to me until about three years into living in the house that I was losing a lot of cabinet space because my things weren’t going all the way to the top of the space. There were two different cabinets this was happening in. The cabinet with all of my baking supplies in it, and the cabinet with all of my mason jars in it. I made it a mission to find shelves at Marshalls that would make the space more usable.

I even ended up buying a shelf to put on the counter. I call it our honey shelf. I have no good reason why anybody needs this much honey. I’m going to blame the amount of tea that we have. And you can never have too much tea.

My best tip is to make sure to measure the size of the space the shelf needs to fit in, as it’s really hard to get into the store and try to approximate exactly how much room you have in your cabinet.

Utilize Organizers in Drawers

Having an organizer in your drawer to put your utensils in makes sense to me, but I never considered extrapolating this idea to use with other utensils like measuring spoons, wine openers, and more. When I bought this divider (this time at Homegoods), my junk drawer went from complete chaos to use-able. Not only that, but because it’s slightly smaller than the space in the drawer, it created additional dividers on each side of the organizer in the drawer.

Yet again, I would recommend measuring exactly how big your drawer is before you leave the house. Ben and I were debating the size of the drawer in the store, and while the one we bought fit in the drawer, the drawer was definitely bigger than I thought it was, and smaller than Ben thought it was.

Buy Matching Tupperware

This one is huge for me. Tupperware cabinets are known to get out. of. control. The second you start having Tupperware in all shapes and sizes, and saving every take out container you get, there is no rhyme or reason to anything anymore. I’ve decided to only keep (and buy) rectangular pieces of Tupperware so they nest nicely within each other. In addition, any new Tupperware that I buy is Glasslock brand so it all matches – and because it’s all glass so I feel okay about putting it in the microwave.

Admittedly, this is probably one of the hardest one of these suggestions, because have you seen all of those cute round container options available these days? Every time I go into the Pyrex store, it takes a heck of a lot of self control to not walk out with round containers.

One of the first things Stephen said when he moved in was that I had one of the best organized Tupperware cabinets he’d ever seen. Not gonna lie, I took a heck of a lot of pride in that.

Find Organizers that Fit Your Space

When you have a small space, you usually have some space, it’s just weird space. Even if you don’t see it yet.

Very early on in being in this house I realized that if I used the space to the left of the refrigerator, I would be able to store a lot more things. It has now become a home to laundry-related items, small appliances we don’t need on the regular, and my kitchen aid mixer.

In addition, when I was searching for new spice racks, I found a rolling spice rack that would slide in right next to my oven. I had NO idea this type of organizer was available, but once I did I bought it almost immediately. This allowed me to put my spices on the shelf and move my tea to the drawer the spices used to be on. The spices stay much more organized, and I was able to clean up some “pantry” space by putting olive oil and salts on the bottom shelf. (By pantry I mean electrical closet that I put a small Ikea shelf in.)

If I were a little handier, it would also probably be pretty easy to build some custom furniture to fit custom spaces. Maybe one day I’ll get there, but for now, I’ll keep ordering things off of the internet.

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If you’re interested in a walking tour of the kitchen where I talk you through each of the items, be sure to check out the video below.

And there you have it. All the ways we’ve found to make our kitchen work a little better for us. If you have any additional suggestions, I’d love to hear them. I’m constantly trying to get rid of things I don’t use in order to make things feel less cluttered as well. But admittedly, some folks have clothing addictions, some folks have technology addictions, I have a kitchen addiction. And I think I’m okay with that.