This year, the coolest kitchens are small and bijou, much like the tiny cooking spaces found in Parisian apartments. Whether your kitchen is little and cosy or big and airy, it’s good interior design practice to make optimal use of your space, so read on to find out about some of the best ways to use your space wisely.
Make full use of cupboard space
It sounds obvious, but lots of people avoid using certain cupboards or certain spaces in their storage systems. The top shelf might seem like a pain to reach, but why not use it to stash away all those ‘must-have’ appliances you bought in the January sale and haven’t touched since (yogurt maker, anyone)? Even if it’s a bit of a stretch to get to it, you won’t need it all that often anyway, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
Double up functionality
For a canteen-style dining experience for bigger families with small kitchens, why not try out benches instead of dining chairs? Lots of benches come with cushioned ‘lids’ meaning you can stash things away without needing to find extra space to put them. This can be especially useful for bulky cushions or tablecloths.
Reducing food packaging
Lots of people find that when they open food packaging, there’s a lot more than there should be for the size of the product. Big boxes of cereal can be condensed down by pouring them into smaller, reusable plastic containers, and instead of having lots of packets of biscuits, think about getting a single tin to save space.
Use the walls
The walls are often overlooked as a place to store items. This doesn’t necessarily just mean shelving; it can also apply to hanging structures in which vegetables can be stored or mesh plastic bag storage devices.
Windowsills
Windowsills are a great place to grow plants for you to use in the kitchen. The best use of windowsill space is to find yourself a trough in which herbs and small vegetables can be grown, or flowers if you’d prefer. Not only does this brighten up the kitchen, it’s also a practical way to keep a sustainable supply of the herbs you use every day in your own cooking to hand, helping you avoid shelling out on pricey pre-packaged varieties at the supermarket.
A pantry
If you have a spare cupboard or box room which is dry and out of direct sunlight, why not use it as a pantry? It can be a good way to get some space back in the kitchen, and keeps all your non-perishables safely stored away together.
Alana Stewart is passionate about interior style and blogs about design when she’s not working on exciting interior projects
