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As a renter in the Bay Area, the available places to rent are usually small in square footage. Brian and I don’t need a large place to live, but we have found that every single place we have rented since graduating college has one thing in common – the kitchens have been small!

  When you have a small place, it is important to maximize the space you have. Over the last few years I have gotten very creative with our kitchen space, and I hope you find these hacks helpful too! I recently organized our kitchen and remembered to take before photos of what my cabinets looked like before organizing, so I’ll be showing a lot of before and afters below!

Slim Organizer

I just recently discovered this life-changing item! This organizer is slim and should be able to fit between the wall of your kitchen and the fridge. There are different price points depending on how many tiers of shelves you want on the organizer; I picked the largest one with 5 tiers because I feel like it is a great use of that space!

I filled mine up with a lot of spices, canned goods, and extra of items that I don’t need constant access to. I was able to clear out a lot of space in my kitchen cabinets and pantry by using this organizer!

Spice Racks

I fit a lot of my spices on the organizer mentioned above, and I put them on the top tier for east access. Though, I still had several spices that I wanted near the stovetop, as I use them almost everyday. Even if you have a small kitchen you are most likely going to have a small amount of wall space. I recommend using this space for spice racks! I purchased 2 of these spice racks on Amazon and I love them because it has been another way to clear out my kitchen cabinets for other items, as well as keep my counter space clear.

Wall Shelving

When you have a small kitchen, every space needs to be efficiently used in order to maximize the space you have. But you don’t have to compromise style to do this! I put up 3 shelves on a small wall in my kitchen near the sink. I have used this space to place some of our plates, bowls and cups in addition to some decor. (The shelves look a little bare in this photo because we are between holidays so I don’t have much decor on the shelves!).  There are so many shelving options (color, style, length, etc) so I recommend searching for shelves that would be a good fit for your kitchen.  These aren’t the exact ones I bought, but they’re close!  Amazon also has countless other shelving options to choose from!

Maximize Cabinet Space with Shelving

Making more cabinets isn’t really an option, but being able to maximize your space within the cabinets you have is key! A few ways I have been able to maximize my cabinets is through the use of various items like wire shelves and tiered shelving. I use wire shelves in order to stack items on top of them and below them, ultimately doubling the space. There are also other types of wire shelving, including ones that hang down from your shelf like a small basket. Tiered shelving has also been a big help in organizing my kitchen because I am able to see all of the items I have in a cabinet instead of just tossing stuff on a shelf an hoping I remember it’s in the back right corner.  The one in my cabinet is actually a spice rack, but it has been great to organize my cooking oils, syrups, etc. that I like to have on-hand near the stove!

I love these types of items because you can easily move them depending on how you want to organize your space. I even use the wire shelving under the sink in my kitchen and bathroom to maximize space there too!

Canisters

If there is one thing that has been a stable in my kitchen for the last few years, it has been kitchen canisters! Anything that is both stylish and functional is an absolute win in my mind, and canisters are a great example of that. I usually put a lot of my baking ingredients in separate canisters instead of keeping them in their ugly packaging. Besides sugar and flower, I also use canisters for items like packs of gum and rice. They come in various sizes that are pleasing both aesthetically and functionally.

Baskets

When I first started re-organzing my kitchen I thought that using baskets would be useless; I would essentially be putting items in a basket, which would be placed on my shelf. I felt like this would just be a costly, unnecessary step, but I quickly found that to be wrong! Utilizing baskets can help you organizing similar items into one place, and they also look stylish! I have also noticed that since using baskets in my kitchen and hall closet, when I’m shopping I think to myself “will this item fit in the basket I have dedicated for it?”. This has helped me not dramatically stock up on so many items, like the one time I bought 15 cans of chicken broth that took me over a year to use, when I go to the grocery store at least once a week.  I use them for kitchen items as well as household/cleaning items.  These aren’t the exact baskets I have, but they’re close!

Throw out expired goods, Organize close-to-expiring goods

Organizing, whether it be in the kitchen or another room in the house, is a great thing to do from time to time. You sometimes find items that are past their expiration date or items you haven’t used in 3 years and do not plan to use for at least another 3. These are items that are taking up valuable space in your small home that you should throw away or donate. I don’t like to waste money by getting rid of perfectly good items, but I value my peace of mind, and I have peace of mind when my home is organized. I’m also not going to beat myself up over a can of beans I never got to using that cost $1.50. Ain’t nobody got time for that!

If you have a small kitchen, don’t get discouraged! There are countless ways to organize so you fully optimize the space you have. Keep in mind that sometimes you also may have to change your way of doing things (i.e. not stocking up on dry goods) in order to be successful at organizing your small space as you may only have room for the essentials.