How to save space in your kitchen

There’s no doubt that the trend in kitchen design has moved towards ‘less is more’. Clutter is history, and clean lines are the order of the day. But how do you balance the need to have all the essentials close to hand with the desire to keep your kitchen looking neat and tidy? Our clever storage tips will help you plan the ideal combination of aesthetics and practicality to ensure you have the kitchen you’ve always dreamt of.

Kitchen islands
As well as creating a feeling of social interaction and adding valuable preparation space, a kitchen island can double up as a handy storage solution. Whether it’s open shelves or regular cupboards, why not make your island work that little bit harder?

Kitchen trolleys
Using a trolley to store some of your essentials can be a great idea as you can stow it away when they aren’t needed. Trolleys don’t have to be heavy and cumbersome as there are lots of elegant versions on the market, and they can also add a touch of style to your kitchen design.

Butcher’s blocks
Offering a combination of the kitchen island and the kitchen trolley, a butcher’s block can add to your prep space and offer storage beneath. And let’s face it, having a butcher’s block also adds weight to your culinary credibility…

Sideboards
They’re not usually a staple of the contemporary kitchen, but adding a sideboard can be useful, especially if you have a large amount of crockery and glassware to store. As long as it doesn’t dominate, a sizable sideboard can be worth its weight in gold to preserve that essential decluttered look.

Storage boxes and jars
It might sound obvious, but choosing the right storage jars and boxes can have a huge impact on the look of your kitchen and pantry. Selecting shapes that work together can be a huge space saver, regardless of whether they’re on display, in your cupboards or stashed away in a separate utility room.

Niche storage
If you’re redesigning your kitchen from scratch then integrating some niche storage ideas can make all the difference. Incorporating some narrow storage to house your chopping boards and baking trays can help to free up shelves and cupboards and also keep prep areas clear. Elsewhere, little nooks can be used for bottle racks and a designated bin cupboard will keep that eyesore out of sight.

Slide in crates
Thinking practically for a moment, you’re likely to have food and veg that needs storing outside the fridge, so adding slide in crates can be a neat way of keeping them fresh without cluttering work surfaces.

Corner shelving
If you’re an avid cook, the chances are that you’ll have a large library of recipe books that need to be accessible. Adding a corner shelving unit to one or more of your cabinets can enable you to display your collection without taking up useful space elsewhere. Extending that further, why not create some built-in storage for those irritating essentials such as keys, pens, correspondence and medicines that seem to find their way onto work surfaces or into drawers?

Hanging rails
If created in a contemporary way to match the style of the kitchen, and subject to their cleanliness, hanging utensils can be a big space saver. Adding a rail above one worktop is a quick and cost-effective way to rehome your saucepans, sieves and measuring cups while also making them something of a feature of your ‘working kitchen’. If storing at height isn’t an option, wall-mounted rails can be used to store smaller items away from the worktops.

Utility rooms
Ultimately, while all these ideas can be really helpful, one of the best ways to keep your new kitchen clutter free is to create a spacious utility room. Perfect for appliances, cleaning products and surplus cutlery, crockery and glassware, your utility room can also double as a walk-in pantry to store jars, pots and other kitchen staples.

As Leigh Hall, owner of Strive for Design observes, when it comes to kitchen design storage can often be overlooked despite its ability to make or break the overall look and feel. ‘Here at Strive for Design we’re huge fans of creative storage solutions,’ says Leigh. ‘Our approach to kitchen design is to listen to the client’s needs, to understand how they use the space they have at their disposal, and what their priorities are. We then design the kitchen accordingly, and storage features highly in that.

‘If the kitchen is a serious preparation area for a foodie couple then the storage requirements are going to be very different to those in a kitchen that’s being used by a young family with children who need easy access to toys and books while being supervised at the island. Alternatively, an older couple may need clever storage that is accessible and easy to manage. The possibilities are endless, and we pride ourselves on selecting the most appropriate storage solutions for the client and space that’s available to them.’

Leigh Hall from Strive for Design is an interior designer in Cambridge and Newmarket, and with her team delivers kitchens that balance creativity with practicality. Please call Leigh on 01223 622 688 for a chat or complete our enquiry form to book in your kitchen consultation!