How to Cook in a Small Kitchen

Who doesn’t dream of a big kitchen? Who doesn’t look enviously at photos of kitchens that are bigger than our entire houses?

There probably are some people who aren’t fussed about having a big kitchen but it’s undeniable that cooking in a small kitchen can be a source of frustration.

However, trying to cook in a small kitchen may be difficult, but it’s certainly not impossible, and below I’ll give some tips on how to cook in a small space.

Move appliances to another room

I appreciate it’s difficult enough finding ways to buy a home in the first place without also having to find ways to make a small kitchen bigger.

However, if you’ve just moved house and want to upgrade the existing kitchen, or you’re replacing the kitchen you’ve had for years and have room elsewhere in your home for the washing machine and fridge-freezer, you’ll have loads more room for workspace and cabinets.

Place a chopping board over the hob or sink

You can make more worktop space by the clever use of chopping boards over the sink and burner covers over the hob. If you have an induction hob, you’ll already have a nice flat surface that can be used as a chopping board (by using an actual chopping board, of course. I’m not suggesting you chop directly onto the surface.)

Go vertical

It doesn’t matter in which room you’re looking to make more space, all the advice you’ll find will say ‘go vertical’. This is why multi-storey car parks exist, tower blocks are built in built up areas and why tiered cooling racks are super-useful in kitchens.

Tiered cooling racks don’t have to be used for cooling cookies though – stack your plates of prepped veg on them, or use them to keep the jars of spices you’ll need for your culinary creation out of the way.

Use multi-function appliances

Small kitchens and a love of gadgets isn’t the best combination. If you love your kitchen gadgets and you’ve got a soup maker, blender, slow cooker, bread machine, air fryer, pressure cooker, dehydrator, food processor and countless other gadgets, you can certainly streamline your collection by getting a multi-function appliance such as a Vitamix, Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi that combines many appliances in one.

Clean up as you go

This tip won’t cost you anything, doesn’t require you to throw anything out or move anything into another room. It’s simply: clean up as you go.

If you have to cook in a small kitchen, you probably spend a lot of time frustrated by the lack of space on your worktop and how there’s nowhere to put anything and everything getting in the way of everything else.

Cleaning up as you go removes a lot of this frustration. And it also means less cleaning up after you’ve finished cooking. Win-win.

Don’t let anyone else in the kitchen while you’re cooking

This tip is the easiest tip of all. By simply not letting anyone else in the kitchen while you’re cooking, you’ll have more room.

People in the kitchen when you’re trying to cook are annoying anyway, right?

Cooking in a small kitchen can be frustrating but it can be done. On the plus side though, a small kitchen is easier to clean. Every cloud has a silver lining, eh?

This is a guest post