Did you know that the average UK kitchen isn’t much bigger than it was in the 1930s, the decade when kitchens were at their smallest?

And that the average Brit spends 12% of their time in the kitchen – that’s almost three hours a day – even though the chances are it’s one of the smallest rooms in the house?

space saving ideas

With five of us living in a two-bedroom flat it’s fair to say space is at a premium at Crummy Mummy HQ, what with three kids in one bedroom and no outside space to spill into.

After buying our property and revamping the bathroom last year, we’re now turning our attention to the kitchen, and like 60% of Brits storage tops our list of priorities when it comes to the renovation.

For the last few months we’ve been choosing a design and short listing our must-haves, and from a nifty waste bin to a space saving larder it’s amazing the clever ideas there are out there (if you’ve never used a room design app before you haven’t lived – such fun!) So, with that in mind, here are 5 simple space saving ideas for small kitchens.

5 simple space saving ideas for small kitchens

1. Invest in inner storage

From pull-down shelves to a hide-away waste bin, with the right storage you can fit pretty much anything you want to in a kitchen cupboard. We’ve currently got a family-size kitchen bin and a cat litter box among the items taking up floor space in our kitchen, both of which will be tucked away when the new kitchen is installed. Brabantia’s rubbish bin range features storage solutions including the built-in waste bin to ‘sort & go’ bins which fit to the inside of cupboard doors. They also do multi-compartment recycling bins, so rather than having your empties taking up even more floor space (ours currently live in a bag on top of the cat litter box) you can have the recycling tucked away too. And don’t worry if that sounds a bit whiffy – Brabantia’s ‘perfume your bin’ odour reducers fit inside the lids to get rid of nasty smells – which as a mum of three is an innovation that gets the thumbs up from me!

space saving ideas2. Think outside the box (or cupboard)

When it comes to kitchens there can be a lot of ‘dead’ space, like the space between the top of the kitchen cupboards and the ceiling, and the space above the fridge. Baskets for storage above the kitchen units and a set of tins stacked on top of one another above the fridge are great ways of making the most of this space, while a breakfast bar can double up as both a worktop and a table.

space saving ideas

3. Add shelving

They say a messy kitchen is a happy kitchen, but a messy kitchen can also be a source of woe if yours happens to be on the bijou size. Items cluttering up our kitchen worktops include tea, coffee and sugar tins, a mug tree and a kitchen roll holder – all items which could easily be stored up and out of the way. In a bid to maximise space we’re planning to have our kitchen cupboards fitted flush with the ceiling, then running a shelf under the wall units and above the worktop to house all the bits and bobs you need to hand but don’t want cluttering up the workspace.

space saving ideas

4. Create a display

If there isn’t space to put everything in cupboards and drawers make a show of them by hanging them up instead. Cooking utensils can all be hung from rails on the wall – or ceiling – instead of taking up drawer space, as can pots and pans you use on a daily basis (which is also the perfect excuse to invest in some nice shiny new ones!)

space saving ideas

5. Install a bottle fridge

And yes, I do mean a wine fridge (bear with me on this one!) As a family of five the bottom of our fridge is loaded with various bottles and cartons of drinks – rolling around, falling out and taking up space, meaning that food that should really be stored in the fridge ends up on the kitchen worktop instead. A bottle fridge (and you can get super slimline ones too) means you can store all the bottles separately, maximising the use of space in the fridge and keeping those worktops clear. Plus it gives you the space to keep an emergency bottle – or two – cold.

space saving ideas

Do you have a small kitchen like us? Do you have any other space saving tips? I’d love to know what they are!

This post was written in collaboration with Brabantia.

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Clever ways to fit 3 kids in one bedroom

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