How to Cope With a Small Kitchen

While we’d all like huge homes with massive kitchens that are the envy of all our friends, some of us have to put up with kitchens that are less than ideal.

Owning your own home is a wonderful privilege though, whether you own your home outright, have a mortgage or are on the first steps of the property ladder through a shared ownership or rent to buy scheme.

But how do you cope with a small kitchen?

Here are a few ways to make life easier for you in a cramped cooking space.

Move big appliances into another room

If your kitchen’s tiny because you live in a tiny studio, you’re probably rolling your eyes at this suggestion.

Some houses though have tiny kitchens but space elsewhere. Can you have the fridge/freezer in the dining room instead of the kitchen? Can the washing machine be moved into the conservatory or bathroom?

Any big appliances that can be moved out of the kitchen will give you loads more room for extra cabinets for storage or workspace that is always premium real-estate in a small kitchen.

Get an induction hob

You may be wondering how ‘buy more things’ turns into ‘save some space’ but an induction hob can be a fantastic space-saver.

For one thing, you can get rid of your electric kettle that’s taking up space on the worktop and buy a whistling one instead. Induction hobs heat up so quickly, the whistling kettle will probably boil faster than your electric one did anyway. Bonus.

Also, because induction hobs are thin and flat, you can use them as extra worktop space while you’re cooking. Okay, yes, you could put a board across a gas hob or electric hob and use the space that way but gas and electric hobs are bulky and your board will be wobbly and unsafe.

Induction hobs are ridiculously easy to clean too. So if you do use it as an extra bit of worktop, it doesn’t matter if you get food all over it.

Induction hobs for the win.

Buy a slimline dishwasher

Yes, we’re suggesting you buy an appliance to help you save space. You might be tempted to sacrifice a dishwasher in order to have more cabinets but a slimline dishwasher doesn’t take up much space and it only takes one or two cups left on the worktop to make a small kitchen look cluttered. Those one or two cups can go in the dishwasher and make your kitchen look less untidy.

Hide appliances away

You probably don’t need an article telling you that keeping appliances off the worktops gives you more room. Bread machines, slow cookers, blenders… they all take up heaps of space. Some appliances you need on hand daily – the kettle and toaster for example. But others can be put away until they’re needed.

If you have the floor space in another room, Kallax shelving from Ikea is ideal. Trust me when I say the shelves in one of these babies are big enough for a bread machine, slow cooker, blender and any other kitchen appliance a gadget-loving cook owns.

Speaking of appliances – if you’ve got a separate slow cooker, air fryer, dehydrator, pressure cooker, etc, bung these on Facebook Marketplace and get yourself a Ninja Foodi 9-in-1 that does all that stuff and more in one machine.

We’re not going to lie – this beast won’t fit in a Kallax unit and you won’t want it lurking on your worktop but if you can find space in a cupboard, it’ll free up space elsewhere.

These are just a few ways you can make the most of a small kitchen. Remember, small is beautiful, less is more, etc.!