10 Easy Rules for Small Kitchen Organization | No Pantry? No Problem!

- Hello. I'm Laura from I Heart Planners and today we're going to talk about how to organize a

small

kitchen

. Tasha, from my team, just moved into a new apartment with a

small

er

kitchen

and I'll let her show you how she organized it herself. (upbeat music) - Hey guys, I'm Tasha from I Heart Planners and I'm so excited to share with you today some of my best tricks for kitchen

organization

and storage, especially if it's a kitchen that's on the small side. a little small, especially for the use you intend to give it and you don't really know where everything is going to fit.

That was me when I started in this kitchen and that's why I'm so excited to share it with you. some of the things that I've made and I really hope that if there are some things that I missed, comment below and let us know because I want to know what you are using because I might want to use it in my own kitchen. . But let's talk directly about what to do with some of those large appliances, like a crock pot, instant pot, or even an electric skillet that you may use somewhat regularly but need counter space and your hair when you're not. using, but it should still be

easy

to access for those quick weeknight dinners.

So let's jump right in. (upbeat music) So here above your refrigerator is an unexpected space to find some extra kitchen storage, especially for those large appliances. A lot of times refrigerators don't go floor to ceiling and you have this empty space up here where you can store the heavier appliances. Your refrigerator can hold them just fine. They are out of the way but still quite accessible. Now I will tell you that I am standing on a small stool to be so close to these appliances, but you can get stools very cheap and they fold up very well.

In fact, I put it between the wall and the refrigerator when I'm not using it and I also use it to reach other things higher up in my kitchen. But items like your Instant Pot, I have a skillet, I have a crock pot up here. If you have a kettle or multi-cooker, this is a great place to store anything larger that you want to keep out of the way but still

easy

to access. (upbeat music) Now, a big

problem

you may encounter in a small kitchen is not having enough drawer space. My kitchen has a big three foot drawer right here under my bar counter and then there's a drawer that's probably about eight inches in here that I don't think could hold a standard cutlery holder if I wanted to put my cutlery right there . .

Therefore, using unconventional wall space can make up for much of the lack of drawer space. These utensils here are simply hung with a nail and are not just for decoration. I think they look really cute hanging against the wall and that's why I love storage solutions that really look good every time you use them. But it is very useful. I can hang all my utensils right here on a little nail on the wall. It looks cute and saves a lot of drawer space because all those utensils now don't take up space in my very limited drawer space.

And they're also not all together in a container on the counter because I really need those counters for baking and cooking and to have as much space as possible. So I love having them there. The other thing I did was hang these spice racks with little spice jars and as a side note, it makes them fun and cute if you put them in little Mason jars with a label. This is cut out with a vinyl on a silhouette. And very easy, in this case, to differentiate between cinnamon and cumin, because you don't want to mess it up.

But these little shelves, I think they were four dollars at the container store. And here they are storing all my spices very well. I keep a couple spices here that come in larger containers that either won't fit in a small spice jar or are just abnormal. I have some condiments and seasonings that I keep in there. But I keep your typical spices here. Then the other thing that is usually kept in a drawer is kitchen gloves and towels. So I hung a basket here over the kitchen sink and folded towels to put in it. I made it match my colors and actually these towels, if I run out of towels, they'll be handy to have, but I keep the folded towels behind them and they're more for decoration because they match the colors in my kitchen.

But you can sure use the towels you put in this basket right here, and they can look really cute when they're all folded together. So look for ways to utilize wall space, things you can hang on the wall. Many utensils come with that small notch that allows them to be hung from a hook or nail. If you can't use nails, Command strips are great. They make Command hooks that you can hook them to and I use some of them in other places in my apartment as well. So keep an eye on how you can use that wall space to get things off the counter and out of drawers. (upbeat music) Before I show you exactly how I arrange the one large drawer in my kitchen, I want to show you my favorite kitchen

organization

tool that I bought.

And that is the Joseph Joseph Cutlery and Utensil Organizer. I bought it at the container store and what's really cool about it is that it stacks all of your cutlery in this little four to five inch section here and then leaves you all this space to organize other utensils. You just slide your spoons in here and they go nicely under where your forks will go and under where your knives will go, and then your little spoons can rest up here. And typically, your cutlery organizer will probably take up at least this width. This is half the width of a typical cutlery organizer, with plenty of room to organize other utensils.

So we'll leave the link below and if there's one product that I recommend for everything in my kitchen, it's this Joseph Joseph cutlery organization tool. (upbeat music) Alright, this is a quick look at how I organize my large kitchen drawer, and my number one tip if you have a large drawer that you're trying to organize and keep your utensils contained is to have a container to hold them. The point is not to open the drawer and it seems that no one ever cooks here, that everything has a designated place, but that you can find what you need, that everything is not jumbled and I don't want things to appear that prevent you from opening the drawer, but if my utensils move around in their general location, it's not really the end of the world.

They are still in the same area. I still know where to go to get them and everything seems totally fine. So keep everything contained in one area. Don't worry so much about the exact arrangement of your items in that area. Because most of these kitchen items don't fit together like a puzzle. They're made by different people, they have different purposes, so they just need a place to go where they can seem reasonable. It doesn't have to look like art in your kitchen drawers. Another tip I have is that if you are going to store the rolling pin in the drawer, make sure it is placed between two things that will prevent it from rolling around and ruining everything else in the drawer because it will move when you open it.

Drawer if you don't have it placed between things that will keep it still. This is another Joseph Joseph product. I promise Joseph Joseph doesn't sponsor us, but they make some fantastic kitchen products. These spoons and utensils fit on top of each other and that saves a lot of space in this drawer. These are four different utensils, all placed here, which barely take up any space. They also have that notch up there if you prefer to hang them on the wall. But I think that's the trick of the century to save space: being able to stack utensils on top of each other.

And lastly, under my knives, there are cutting mats from Ikea. I bought two of them for two dollars, so they are incredibly affordable and completely eliminated most of the cutting mats. They are about the thickness of a piece of cardstock, so I just placed my knives on top of them. It gives my knives a place to go, but they don't take up space and are flexible, so I can pull them out whenever I want to use them. (upbeat music) Alright, I know it's a little tight down here, but I wanted to show you, as best I can, my under bar cabinet and how I use my cabinet space to the best of my ability. his capacity.

So the first thing I need to note, I know it's going to be pretty close to all of you, I have a basket on the cabinet right here. I keep my hand blender and my grater in this basket here, and these over-the-cabinet baskets are great because whenever you put things in a cabinet, usually the space above is not used for storage because you're not going to set anything up, This is my George Foreman. I don't put something on top of my George Foreman, I need to be able to grab it, but as long as you can use a basket over the door, it will fill this space right here every time I close the door and I can still use that space.

Another great way to take advantage of that space is to hang things on the sides of cabinets. I have my strainer over here. He is hung by his handle on a small Command hook on the side of the cabinet. And it really helps fill that vertical space. Deep in my cabinet, I'm using the container store's sandwich bag and wrapper organizer, where you can stack them all together. And the other thing I do to save space is get matching nested food storage containers. I think I have 11 food storage containers and they take up about the space that a large food storage container would because they all stack inside each other instead of having to put them all next to each other and take up all that. space.

So, as with everything else in your kitchen, anywhere you can use vertical space will save you a lot of space. It will save you the space you need for the other items you need to grab very quickly. (upbeat music) Alright, I wanted to give you a quick look at where I keep all my pots and pans. I love using Command hooks, so I use a Command hook to keep my lightest pan hanging here on the door and my other two pans are leaning against each side of the cabinet. My largest saucepan is in the back. Now you have to be careful when putting things behind other things.

Whatever you're going to use most often, you want to make sure it's easily accessible to the front, because if it's not easily accessible, you're either not going to use it or you're not going to keep it organized. So make sure your system is working for you. It matters that your kitchen works, not that it looks like an Instagram-perfect kitchen. Then on top, I'm using a lid organizer to keep my pans and some of my lids organized. And in this little cabinet right next to my oven, I can store six pots and pans with their lids. (upbeat music) This is one of my favorite spaces that I created in my kitchen and it serves as a small entrance to the cafe and also as a very nice Chinese piece of furniture.

It wasn't something I had ever imagined having in my kitchen, but I didn't have the cabinet space to keep all my mugs, all my plates, my mugs, and my plates in the cabinet. So I had to be creative. I bought this little shelf for $25 from Target, and then I don't even remember how much my hanging shelf was, but it was probably no more than 15, and I created a little coffee bar. All my coffee stuff is here. It's right at the entrance, but it doesn't look you in the face. It looks like a nice and cozy cafe.

I put some candy in this little bag here next to the door so people can come in and grab candy. I keep my diffuser right here, so if I want to diffuse some oil, it can be right when you walk in, you can be greeted with the nicest smells, and I keep all my plates, my cups, and my plates on these shelves. below, and all my cups up here. I also use it as a sort of input command center. I hang my keys and sunglasses here so they are right next to the door. So it really serves a dual purpose for me.

And if you have the space to put up these extra shelves, you can do some really creative things. I just used a really cheap shelf liner to compensate for the holes between the wire that made the shelves, so everything is smooth and I really love it. (upbeat music) So one of the biggest

problem

s you run into when organizing a small kitchen is cabinet space for a

pantry

. Because this kitchen, let me tell you, definitely didn't have a

pantry

. And sometimes when people design kitchens, I wonder if they forget that we actually need to store food in our kitchen, too, and not just appliances.

Then the question arises: where are you going to put all your food, all your appliances, all your dishes, when there is no pantry? So I'm going to show you that these cabinets are my pantry, and I think you'll be surprised at how little there is in them right now, because I've been able to separate what would normally be in these main cabinets to other places in my kitchen, so they can be all pantry. And another thing to keep in mind: the less you buy, the more space you will have in thepantry. I know we have this tendency to buy things because they're on sale, or to buy things because we really think we're going to use them, but then something came up and you didn't cook that meal and you never got around to it. .

I highly recommend, anything in your pantry that is expired or spoiled in any way, get rid of it. It's taking up space. You're never going to use it. Go ahead, let it go. There is no guilt or shame in that. Just move on and let it go. You'll be a lot happier when it doesn't take up space in your pantry. The other thing is that there are some ingredients that you probably realize you will never use. They are perfectly good ingredients, sometimes they are still in the box. But you realize I'm never really going to use this.

See if you can find a friend or someone who can use it. Take it out of your pantry, give it to someone who can use it and that will free up your space, so the less you can store in your pantry, the more space you will always have for the things you need. So this is my pantry. And it's not even full. And that's because I've been able to put dishes that would have gone here somewhere else. I was able to store all my coffee supplies somewhere else and my baking supplies somewhere else. And I'll show you where in my kitchen I put each of those things.

My only note about a pantry: I would recommend for items like onions, creating some type of container that has a solid bottom to store them. I keep my onions in this cute little box that says lemonade. I bought it at Target for three dollars. But onions or garlic, anything that has that skin that can come off, can make a big mess very quickly, so if you store it in something that has a hard bottom, it's much easier to clean up afterwards. . (upbeat music) A great place to look for additional storage space in the pantry is on top of the cabinets.

This space is usually forgotten, it just accumulates a lot of dust and dirt, but you can make it look very beautiful and also very functional for you. You don't have to just make it look like you threw a bunch of stuff on top of your cabinets because you didn't know what to do with it. In this case, I bought matching cheap plastic containers at Walmart, put labels on them, and put all my dry baking products in them. And so those products don't take up space on my limited shelf space, and I didn't have to shell out all the money for OXO, Rubbermaid, or Tupperware.

Those products are amazing and someday if my entire pantry is Rubbermaid or OXO I will be very happy, but I don't want to spend $400 organizing my pantry right now. So if you're just looking for a way to make it look decent without spending a lot of money, get the cheapest Tupperware. If you've been storing your dry goods in your pantry bag, you won't notice if your jars aren't airtight. So each one cost between three and four dollars. Much cheaper than you'll spend on some of those airtight containers. But if you have them, I love those containers.

I think they are beautiful. On top of your cabinets is a great place for them to go. The other tool I'm using on top of my cabinets is this can organizer right above my head. I don't have many cans right now. I wish I could show you better how much it can hold, but it has three tiers and can hold about two rows, three to four cans deep. So there is a lot of cabinet space that has been moved on top of my cabinets to a confined area because we are using the vertical space. The more often you can use vertical space, the more space you'll save overall. (upbeat music) One thing to consider when looking for additional kitchen storage is what spaces there are near your kitchen where you can store some kitchen-related items.

And for me, that was this coat closet right here. I didn't have a good place to put my trash can, so I put it in the coat closet. I have a lid so I don't have to worry about the entire coat closet smelling. And it really keeps my trash out of the way, because I didn't have room in my kitchen to put a trash can anywhere. I also keep my aprons hanging on a little hook here inside the door, very easy to access from the kitchen. And if you have something like a box of 225 bitter straws that you'd like to keep on hand, the shelf in your coat closet is also a great place for sealed things like that. (upbeat music) I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my kitchen and how I organize and how I come up with ways to store everything in a really small kitchen.

As I said at the beginning, if there's anything you think is missing from this list, comment below, because we want to hear it. I might want to use it in my own kitchen, so we want to hear from you. We want to hear what you think, and if you use any of these storage solutions, take a photo and post it in the comments. We want to see how it works for you in your space. Also be sure to like and subscribe to the I Heart Planners channel if you want even more organizational goodness. (upbeat music) Using this space up here, once again, instead of leaving it...

So, an unexpected space. Especially if you've been keeping flour, sugar, and dry goods only in the bag, in your pantry, you don't have to invest in airtight ones (sigh). Now, if you have OXO, Rubbermaid, or Tupperware, store your dry goods. inside, on top of the counter, on top of the (sighs) Cabinet, cabinet, cabinet. It can hold standard cans of vegetables, I have my marinara sauce and salsa here right now, it has three tiers and holds the cans all the way. (Whispering) Oh my God. Well, the other item I have is this can organizer right above my head.

Look, I don't have a ton of cans right now just because I didn't need a lot of canned goods, but it's a three-tier can holder that can hold three to four cans deep on all three tiers. Another great place to look for additional pantry storage.