The 35 Best Small Kitchen Storage and Organization Ideas You’ll Want to Try ASAP

No one ever has enough kitchen storage or counter space. Literally, no one. So if your kitchen is relegated to, say, just a few cabinets in the corner of a room, you likely really feel the stress of figuring out how to make everything work in your limited space. Luckily, this is something we specialize in, here at The Kitchn. Here, we’ve rounded up the 35 very best small kitchen storage and organizing ideas of all time to help you make the most of the space you have.

These ideas — including smart cabinet solutions and sneaky little tricks — just might help you feel like you’ve doubled your kitchen’s square footage.

We’re hooked on hooks! They can turn your apron collection or all your cutting boards into a focal point! Plus, it frees up your limited counter space.

No pantry? No problem! Put your most-used ingredients on a pretty dessert stand or lazy susan and show them off! This will free up cabinet space and also make it easier for you to grab what you need while you’re working. While you’re at it, consider leaving your Dutch oven or prettiest cookware out on the stovetop.

Keep a vintage wooden crate in the corner of the kitchen to store jars and display plants. The point? Even teeny tiny spaces can be turned into storage.

If you’re lucky enough to have a window in your kitchen, think about how you can use the sill as storage. Maybe you can put some plants on it? Or your favorite cookbooks?

Your walls can hold more than you think they can. (Think: pots, pans, and even canisters that can hold utensils.) Instead of hanging a couple of more limiting shelves, try a pegboard, which adds very flexible storage space that can be adjusted over time as your needs change.

The tops of your cabinets offer prime real estate for storage. Way up there, you can stash special-occasion serving platters and even extra pantry supplies that you don’t need just yet. If you’re worried about how it will all look, consider using some pretty baskets (like Ina!) to hide your stash.

Don’t think you have room for a table? Think again! A fold-down table (on a wall, in front of a window, or hanging off a bookshelf) almost always works. This way, you can use it when you need and get it up and out of the way when you don’t.

Whether you end up going with that fold-down table or not, you can free up some floor space by hanging your dining chairs when you’re not using them. (In case you haven’t noticed yet, we’re huge fans of hanging as many things as possible!).

Your backsplash can be more than just a pretty focal point! Hang up a pot rail (like this $9 one from IKEA) or, if you’re worried about drilling holes, add a few Command hooks for your favorite kitchen utensils.

Related: How To Install an IKEA GRUNDTAL Rail on a Tile Backsplash

We love a shelf when it’s on the wall, but when it’s in a cabinet or a pantry, it can be really hard to see what’s buried deep in the back. That’s why, especially in small kitchens (where there’s not a lot of room to get in there), we prefer drawers. If you can’t renovate, simply add baskets to the shelves so that you can pull them out to access what’s in the back.

Again, we’re not anti-shelves. We just prefer narrow ones over deep ones so that nothing gets lost. How narrow? Really narrow! Like, just deep enough for one row of bottles or jars. Stick to narrow shelves and you can also put them nearly anywhere.

You might never dream of blocking any of that precious natural light, but this Chicago apartment may get you thinking differently. The designer who lives there made the bold decision to hang her collection of pots and pans in front of her kitchen window. Thanks to a uniform collection and bright orange handles, it ends up turning into a fun focal point that is smart storage, too.

If you lack enough cabinet space to store all your dishes, steal a page from this food stylist in California and put them on display somewhere else. Get a freestanding shelf or bookcase (ideally one that’s tall so that you don’t need to give up a lot of floor space for it) and load it up. No room in your kitchen area? Steal space from the living area instead.

And that bring us to our next point. So your kitchen is only five-square-feet? Try stealing a few extra inches from an adjacent room. A hybrid room can really unify the space and creates a more open vibe.

Tour the rest of the space: Danielle’s Bright & Multi-Functional Top Floor Apartment at Apartment Therapy

We’ve seen the top of the fridge used to store all sorts of stuff. Sadly, it often looks messy or wasteful, but a curated selection of your most-used pantry ingredients will look nice. And it’ll make things easy to grab in a pinch.

When countertop space is at a premium, every square inch counts. Squeeze out a bit more room by taking your cutlery to the walls with a magnetic knife strip. You can even use it to hang things that aren’t knives.

Buy: Stainless Steel Magnetic Knife Bar, $17.99

Pots, spoons, mugs, oven mitts… anything that can be hung should be hung. Hanging things up frees up cabinet and counter space. And it turns your stuff into decorations!

If you have cabinets that don’t butt up against a wall, you’ve got a few square feet of bonus storage space. It’s true! You can hang a pot rail, add shelves, and more.

Just when you think your cabinets are totally full and they can’t possibly hold another thing, consider the undersides of them! You can add hooks to the bottoms to hold mugs and small tools. Or use magnetic strips to make a floating spice rack.

See the rest of this kitchen: A Baker’s “Hip Grandma” Small Studio Apartment in Chicago at Apartment Therapy

Okay, one last tip for eking out more cabinet space: Use the back of your cabinet doors! Hang up pot lids or even pot holders. This also works for storing measuring spoons.

A mirror (even a small one) does a lot to make a space feel bigger (thanks to all that reflected light!). Plus, you can check it out see what sorts of funny faces you make while you stir or chop.

Put shelf risers in your cabinets and add attractive shelf risers to your counter to double up on storage space where you can.

Tour this space: Melissa and Sonny’s Countryside Sanctuary Among the Rolling Hills at Apartment Therapy

We like either IKEA’s Raskog cart or this round one from Target, which is actually the perfect for Instant Pot home base. They have a small footprint, but still have plenty of room for storage. And because they’re on wheels, they can be pushed into a closet or the corner of a room and pulled out to meet you at your workspace when you need it.

During dinner prep, your stovetop is just wasted space. That’s why we love this idea to build burner covers out of cutting boards. Instant bonus counters!

See the steps: How To Build Burner Covers and Double the Counter Space in Your Tiny Kitchen

These tiny house owners put a gorgeous cutting board over half of their sink to add more counter space. By only covering half, you can still access the sink if you need to rinse anything.

With tight cabinets and limited storage space, it’s important you’re able to reach everything in your pantry and fridge. Enter: the lazy susan. It’s the best possible tool for helping you access everything you need at any time, especially if it has two levels.

Even if you don’t have space for an entire peg board, you can still use pegs for hanging pots, pans, mugs, oven mitts, art, and more. Make your own or buy an affordable wall-mounted coat rack. (Check out the full kitchen in the house tour here.)

Magnetic hooks are another ingenious way to hang pots, pans, mugs, and anything else you don’t have counter or cabinet space for. (These hooks are the ones pictured.)

Believe it or not, velcro has countless uses in the kitchen — including mounting hooks and storage containers on the inside of cabinets, or using it to wrap appliance cords back around themselves (and actually sticking). The best part? It’s totally renter-friendly. (Here’s our favorite.)

Trash cans can be big and bulky, but they take up way less space when you hang them on your lower kitchen cabinets or get ones that mount to your wall or cabinets.

This pro chef hack has got to be one of the best ways to make the most of your kitchen space. By placing caster wheels or dollies on the bottom of big kitchen appliances and storage containers, you’re able to move everything around and rearrange your kitchen at any time, so you can best use it for the task at hand.

Yep, more magnets! If the side (or even front) of your fridge is exposed, it’s a great place to place hanging magnetic organizers for spices, paper towels, tools, and more.

Got a few inches between your oven and your fridge? Perfect. Try using a slim rolling cart organizer you can pull out when you need so you can make use of all of your space while hiding essentials where guests will never notice them.

It sounds simple, but if you’ve got a lot of heavy cookware, this trick can really make all the difference. There’s no easy way or place to store cast-iron pans and Dutch ovens (especially in a small kitchen), but if you put them in the oven when not in use, no one will ever know.

Sink organizers are a total game-changer for storing soaps, sponges, and brushes where you can easily access them. Place them over your sink, next to them, or even attach them and hang them off of the faucet for a space-saving way to keep essentials close.

Do you have any other tips and tricks for small kitchen storage and organization? Share them in the comments below.