Realtors often say that the kitchen sells the home, but not every dwelling has a massive kitchen. Many older homes, condos, and apartments only have room for a modest one. That doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to a crowded, disorganized kitchen that makes cooking a chore. Instead, with a little creativity and some great storage ideas, your kitchen can still be the heart of your home.

Here are nine of our favorite clever storage ideas for small kitchens.

1. Install Floating Shelves

If counter and cabinet space is limited, utilize your vertical space. One of the simplest storage ideas for a kitchen is to install floating shelves. Use them to store your plates, bowls, glasses, crocks, and more. Floating shelves also allow you to add decorative items to your kitchen, like pretty vases or specialized wine glasses. 

2. Hang Your Pots and Pans

Pots and pans can take up a lot of room on shelves or in drawers, so use your vertical space: Use hanging racks to suspend your pots and pans, or install a hanging bar above your stove. 

3. Add a Pegboard to Your Kitchen

Are you handy? Put those skills to work with one of our best DIY kitchen storage ideas. Head to your preferred home improvement store, buy pegboard sheets, cut them to size, and install them in your kitchen. Pegboards are great for hanging your ladles, measuring cups, ice cream scoops, and all those other little kitchen implements that can take up a lot of drawer space. 

4. Drawer Pulls and Lazy Susans

Sometimes smart storage means taking full advantage of what you already have. If you hate digging for things in the back of your cabinets, consider installing pull-out drawers. We love this storage idea for small kitchens because it lets you use your existing space more effectively. An alternative is to add a lazy Susan to your shelves. This rotating platform will allow you to reach everything on the shelf easily.

5. Kitchen Sink Cabinet Organization

Don’t let that cabinet beneath your kitchen sink become hopelessly crowded. Install over-the-door baskets to hold your dishwashing gloves, sponges, and soap. Next, add stackable drawers to the cabinet to store your dishwasher pods, garbage bags, and more. 

6. Add a Kitchen Cart

Adding a kitchen cart is an easy way to immediately increase your counter space, shelves, and drawers. Carts can be a little pricey, so if you love DIY projects, consider building your own. Most kitchen carts include extra shelves under the cart, which can be a good place to store pots, pans, or big serving dishes.

7. Folding Kitchen Table 

Kitchen tables can take up a lot of space. Fortunately, you can find lots of cleverly designed tables for smaller spaces. These include tables with fold-up tops and chairs that can be tucked into the space underneath. An extra-clever storage idea for small kitchens is to buy or build a kitchen cart with stools that fit under it and use it as a kitchen table. 

8. Overdoor Baskets

Organizing a small kitchen is all about perfecting the art of using every bit of space effectively. That includes areas you might not normally think about. For instance, are you using the space between your door and pantry? If not, then add some over-the-door baskets. These baskets can store kitchen towels, placemats, or fruits and veggies. 

9. Add Magnetic Strips to Your Wall

One of our favorite storage ideas for the kitchen is to install magnetic strips on a wall. They give you a place to hang your knives, silverware, metal ladles, and metal measuring spoons. You can get rid of the big knife block taking up counter space and clear out that messy drawer of kitchen implements.

Keep Your Kitchen Uncluttered With Price Self Storage

One of the most clever storage ideas for a small kitchen is to simply limit what you put into it in the first place. If you’re downsizing into a smaller kitchen or moving in with a partner who already has a full kitchen, don’t try to cram all your things into a limited space. Instead, do yourself a favor and rent a storage unit.

At Price Self Storage, each of our facilities provides a range of different storage unit sizes. Just need to store a few extra boxes of dishware, pots, and pans? Try our small 5×5 unit for a competitive monthly rate. Need to store your kitchen table and chairs? A 5×10 or 10×10 unit could be a great option, especially if you have other things to store.

Find a Price Self Storage location near you today!