Working in a Small Kitchen

By Lynda (Guest Post)

My small kitchen is a walk-through called a "galley"
style, with little counter space. It adjoins the small
eating area. I added a long narrow office table and topped with a long piece of formica counter I found from a demolished kitchen remodeling. One of the neatest things I do for still more space is 1) Use the oven door to work on 2) I open drawers about 2/3rds of way out and add cheap cutting boards on each one. Also, I converted a back hall wall to a wall of nails holding all spare things that can hang. I also found overthedoor racks being tossed that I use
for folded linens, kitchen gloves, and then added hooks to hold barbeque utensils until needed. I also
have a cheap but strong half-circle wrought iron wall
rack that has hooks all around it which I hang many
types of strainers, odd utensils on. I placed two
tension rods near the ceiling across a couple of places in the hallway to dry comforters, blankets, rugs, and drapes on when needed. I found a "arm" like bracket that fits over the top hinge of a door to hang large plastic bags full of smaller plastic groc. bags for my daily recycling needs for bath trash, return items, compost contents, and whatever. I keep EXTRA large plastic white bags for covering my small appliances while being stored on open shelves to dustproof them until I use them again. I added
wire racks to inside all kitchen doors for extra cans,
bottles, boxes of foods. I have laundry in same area
so I use the tallest baskets I can find, sort as clothes get dirty, then have overdoor hooks to hang
what needs ironing as they come from dryer. I have
overthedoor ironing board and a travel iron nearby to touch them up. I find a spray bottle of water helps with many types of fabrics rather than buying spray starch all the time.

By Bonnie (Guest Post)

Great idea! I also have a small working area in my kitchen, and found out that if I pull open my top kitchen drawer next to my sink, I can lay a cutting board across it and not have to use up counterspace for cutting. Necessity is the mother of invention, right?