pic is courtesy of clker.com
I have been cooking
from a very young age, as both my parents were total foodies and I grew up
around a variety of foods and dishes that they enjoyed. My passion for
cooking is totally inspired by them both. I have also taken great steps to pass
this food passion to my daughters. Fortunately both my daughters really enjoy cooking, but sadly they have restrictions as the shared kitchens in rented
accommodation has limited space and
they have many restrictions when it comes to storage.
I always say to them, no matter how small your kitchen is, there’s room enough to cook and get
creative with recipes and ingredients. Small kitchens might present more of a
challenge because you can’t spread out but, with the right approach, there’s
always a way.
The Right Storage
Having loads of storage in the kitchen is a must. But what
if you just haven’t got the floor or wall space for rows of cabinets and nice
long work tops?
Could you work with any of these small kitchen ideas?
- Fix hooks in the ceiling where you can hang pots and pans by their handles.
- Put a narrow shelf on the end of a run of cabinets where you can store spices or cook books. Failing a shelf, add a simple towel rail for somewhere to hang tea towels or oven gloves so they’re to hand.
- Use stacking racks in cabinets to maximise the space and make stuff easier to find.
- Hang hooks under wall cabinets for mugs, small jugs or measuring cups.
- Use all the wall space for shelving, right up to the ceiling and including the spaces around and over doors. High up, put things you don’t use often, leaving the lower shelves clear for items you reach for all the time.
- Put dividers into drawers so you can organise items rather than having them in a jumble. You could use a cutlery divider, but if you want to separate larger items, try crafting your own with card cut from empty cereal boxes.
- Use the space under the cabinets, on the floor. Take off the kickboards and replace them with hinged or sliding doors. As long as the space is clean and sealed, you can hide all manner of stuff down there, including equipment like the necessary mops and brushes to keep the kitchen hygienically clean. Basically, anything that isn’t too tall.
Organising Equipment
You know what you love to cook most, so don’t fill up your
kitchen with equipment you’ll barely ever use. For instance, suppose your
speciality is baked desserts, but you don’t do much veg prep. A food processor
would probably end up as an expensive dust collector, whereas a stand mixer
would be working on most days. Determine to only give kitchen space to the
equipment you need.
On the other hand, you might find you do need a large
selection of items and machines, but not all the time. If your cooking passions
run in cycles, put items you’re not currently using into self storage until the next time your inspiration
calls for them.
Other culinary or dining passions are also difficult to
indulge in with a small kitchen. Wine lovers need plenty of space to store
cases or vintage collections, but finding the right conditions can be a
challenge. Specialist wine storage units in some self-storage
facilities are the answer to keeping fine wines in an optimal environment.
Similarly, if you love entertaining but find storage of
additional dining sets difficult in a small kitchen, your local self-storage
place will let you keep your best bits pristine in between dinner parties.
Don’t let a small kitchen put you off cooking. It’s a bit of
a challenge sometimes, but there are always ways to work around or through any
inconvenience so your space works the way you need it to.
When you have a passion for something as great as we have,
there is no room for obstacles in the way. We always enjoy cooking, eating,
dining and entertaining in the smallest of spaces.
**Post in collaboration with Big Yellow
