Organization Guidelines

• No matter what size kitchen you have, organizing the storage spaces will enable you not only to store more items but to find them quickly. Keep kitchenware that you use on a daily basis on the easy-to-reach lower shelves and drawers of your cabinets. Place the rarely used and special-occasion pieces on higher shelves, or even remove them to a different room or storage space. Group items together by purpose and assign each group a particular shelf or cabinet. For example, one shelf of your pantry area can contain baking supplies and another can have sauces, vinegars and oils. Your bakeware can be in a drawer by the stove and your china in a cabinet near the dishwasher. For shelves or drawers that hold more than one kind of item, use baskets to keep similar objects together.
  
  

Existing Spaces

• Existing storage spaces can often yield new storage areas. Using drawer organizers will enable you to keep more items in your drawers, as they keep similar things together and separate from everything else in the drawer. Customize your drawer organization system by using separate wire-mesh containers, in different sizes according to the items in your drawer. Sliding shelf organizers also provide more storage space by allowing you to reach the items at the back of a shelf. You can double the storage capacity of corner cupboards by installing a lazy Susan and the storage space in the cabinets that house your plates and cups by incorporating an additional shelf that cuts the storage height in two and gives you an additional surface on which to put your china.
  
  

Finding New Storage Spaces

• Even small kitchens have unused spaces that are suitable for storing kitchen items. Hang a plastic over-the-door organizer, usually used for shoes, on the inside of your pantry door. Store small food items, such as packets and boxes, in the pockets of the organizer. The space under the wall cabinets and above the countertop provides opportunities for many storage solutions. A retractable book stand mounted there provides a hands-free temporary place for your recipe book. A hanging rail attached to the underside of the cupboards can store frequently used utensils and dish towels. A spice rack mounted under the cupboards near the stove puts your herbs and spices near at hand. You can even add an open, narrow shelf in this space for any small items.
  
  

Be Efficient

• Any new storage spaces and solutions that you add to your small kitchen spaces need to be efficient. The less clutter you have in your kitchen, the easier it is to find what you need when you need it. Keep all your essential cooking tools in a container within easy reach of your cooking area. Hang your dishcloths on a rail on the inside of the door of the under-the-sink cupboard to keep them near where you use them. Install a pot lid rack to enable you to easily find the right lid for your pot; use transparent plastic containers as storage boxes so you can see their contents without having to remove the lid and look inside.