The challenge of a tiny kitchen
The kitchen is the heart of the home, visited by everyone in the house, every day. If your kitchen is small, it can feel cramped and claustrophobic. The challenge of a small kitchen is to organise it to have ample storage space, space for appliances and space for cooking.
More challenging still is making sure the kitchen is organised in a way that makes sense and is intuitive to how you go about your daily routine. Your kitchen should work for you, not against you.
Overall, if your kitchen is well-organised for your lifestyle then you'll simply enjoy being in it more. It'll be easier to find what you need to create healthy meals, and you'll feel more peaceful in it.
You deserve to enjoy your home! You deserve a well-organised kitchen without compromising on style or function.
Declutter your kitchen first
Pull out everything in your kitchen and get rid of anything you don't use. Organising your kitchen storage will be much easier when you have less to store.
Decluttering can be overwhelming, here's five tips to help make a huge task seem just a bit easier.
1. Start small
Set yourself a task to declutter one single drawer or one single shelf. Breaking a task down into steps can make a huge task a lot easier to manage.
2. Set a timer
Set a timer for 15 minutes and commit to decluttering for 15 minutes. You can do anything for 15 minutes. If you can't, set the timer for 10 minutes. Still too tedious? 5 minutes. Do what you can.
3. Body doubling
If you have a friend or relative that you trust to see your clutter in its unfiltered glory, invite them over so they can sit with you while you work. This is called body doubling. Completing overwhelming tasks with trusted friends to keep you company is often easier than going it alone.
4. Declutter in categories
Categorise your clutter into three boxes: relocate, rubbish and donate. The clutter that belongs elsewhere in the house goes in the relocate box. Clutter that's still good to use, but you don't use it, goes in the donate box. Anything for the bin goes in the rubbish box.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Before using this method, ask yourself if you will actually move and donate the items in those boxes. If you'll end up leaving clutter in boxes and then leaving the boxes somewhere, this method may not be for you.
5. Just do the rubbish
Grab a big rubbish bag and just go through and pick out all the trash. Remember when you were young and your mum got fed up with mess so she just got a rubbish bag and started annihilating your toy collection? That's the energy you need to channel.
Get a rubbish bag and go to town, tie it up and then walk it out to the bin. Feel satisfied.
Organise your kitchen into five kitchen zones
Separate your kitchen into five zones. These are the five basic functions of the kitchen. The idea behind this is to keep similar items together, and store them close to where you need them for maximum productivity.
You might not be able to get five separate, distinct zones in a small kitchen, and that's okay. You can still organise similar items together, and find ways to keep them on hand where you need them.
Zone 1 - Consumables
This is food storage, both fridge and pantry. Ideally you would keep all the food close together - with the pantry near the fridge. This setup will make it super easy to unpack the shopping, as well as plan meals since you'll be able to easily see all the ingredients you have on hand.
Zone 2 - Food Preparation
The counters on which you prepare food and the storage for related utensils. Think about all the things you need to prepare food and try to group them together.
This includes a work surface, knives, cutting boards, oils, spices, all the things you reach for when preparing food for cooking. This is the important zone to get right, there's nothing more annoying than hunting for a knife when you need it.
Zone 3 - Non-consumables
This is storage for things that are not food or used for food preparation: plates and bowls, cutlery, glasses, and cookware.
Placing all these items together might be difficult in a small space, so break them down into sub categories and organise those together.
Used for eating: plates, bowls and cutlery should be placed together for plating up meals. Place them near the cleaning zone if you can, to make it easy to put the dishes away after unloading the dishwasher.
Used for drinking: glasses, cups and mugs should be placed together. If you have a kettle or coffee machine on the benchtop, place the mugs near that.
Used for cooking: pots, pans and casserole dishes should be placed together. Place them near the cooking zone.
Zone 4 - Cooking
Cooking appliances including cooktop, oven, and benchtop cooking appliances like an air fryer. Unless you're doing a full kitchen renovation, you won't be able to move the cooktop or oven.
You should only leave small kitchen appliances on the benchtop if you use them frequently. Also make sure the non-consumables used for cooking are nearby, and a bin for scraps too.
Zone 5 - Cleaning
This is the sink, dishwasher and storage for cleaning products. The sink is probably already near the dishwasher, and most typical Australian homes will have a cupboard under the sink for cleaning products and a bin.
Flow of traffic
Now that you know all about the five zone kitchen layout, put it all together (if you can) in order.
The consumable zone should be near the food preparation zone. The food prep zone should be close to the cooking zone. The cooking zone should be close to the cleaning zone. The non-consumables should (ideally) be close to the cleaning zone.
Once all the zones are in order, you'll be able to move through the kitchen easily as you prepare and cook meals.
Smart storage ideas
Once you've set your zones up, consider some smart storage ideas for each to make your space work harder for you.
Consumable zone storage
- Use clear storage containers in the fridge so you can see everything.
- Find a fridge with adjustable shelves on the door and in the cavity to fit everything in easily.
- If you're the type who forgets about your fruit and veg, don't be afraid to store the it in the door so you can see it easily.
- Store frequently used items within easy reach.
Food preparation zone storage
- Use wall-mounted racks for easily accessible spices, oils and utensils.
- Use a magnet strip for cooking knives.
- Make sure there's a bin nearby for food scraps.
- Tall, narrow spaces are great for storing cutting boards and baking trays.
Non-consumable zone storage
- Utilise drawer organisers to keep everything neat and tidy.
- Consider hanging mugs on hooks underneath wall cabinets near the kettle for easy reach.
Cooking zone storage
- Put lid organisers on the back of cupboard doors to keep pots and lids together.
- Hooks on the backs of cabinet doors are also great for storing oven mitts.
Cleaning zone storage
- Use a tension rod under the sink and hang spray bottles off it.
- Install a bin on the inside of the sink cabinet door.
- Use small, clear drawers to make use of vertical space to hold small bits (sponges, garbage bags etc).
- Hang paper towel on a rod underneath a cabinet so it's not sitting on the benchtop.
Find the right appliances for small spaces
Find the right fridge
The biggest appliance in the average kitchen is the fridge. Many factors enter into choosing the right fridge, and size is just one of those. Measure the cavity (height, width and depth), and measure the space in front to make sure the doors will be able to open all the way.
If you still want that premium fridge in a small space, look for a slimline French Door or Quad Door Fridge model.
Focus on necessities
With small appliances, particularly appliances that live on the benchtop, focus only on what you need to have. If you have limited counter space, keep only the appliances you use daily on the benchtop. These would be a toaster and kettle, a coffee machine, or maybe an air fryer.
If you have limited cabinet space, only keep the appliances you use often in the cabinets. Put the ones you rarely use elsewhere in the home (if you can).
Double duty small appliances
Go for small appliances that have more than one function. A good example is a multi-cooker instead of a slow cooker. Single use appliances can be fun and trendy, but they do take up space in the cabinets.
Conclusion
You deserve to enjoy every square inch of your home. A well-organised kitchen space will help make cooking less of chore (you might even enjoy it). We've got appliances for any size kitchen at Bi-Rite, so if you're renovating or just need an upgrade, come in store and see how we can help you.
