Pretty and Practical Storage for a Tiny Kitchen

Light and Airy

To make a small kitchen feel open and airy, stick to a light color palette. If an all-white space feels too cold, add soft shades of blue and gray. Lighter colors are reflective and tend to recede to make a space feel larger.

Baby Blues

A soft color palette helps transform a small kitchen from crowded and cramped to light and airy. This itty-bitty space relies on white, gray, and baby blue hues. Multicolor hardware adds eclectic style to the painted cabinetry.

Firsthand Flavors

An indoor herb garden makes cooking more flavorful year-round. Use an oil-base marker to label the pots, and place the plants on a shelf above the sink for easy watering. Stick to planting herbs you'll actually use—anything else is just a waste of precious space.

• Make a Portable Indoor Herb Garden

Two of a Kind

Store like linens together divided by season or color and wrapped in sets with charming ribbon. You’ll never have to search for a match again. Keep holiday linens in a lower drawer, then move them to the top as the seasons change.

Office Hack

Repurpose an office file holder as a stand for cutting boards and cookie sheets. The dividers accommodate boards of all different lengths and widths and keep them from collapsing into a pile. Stash these items in your narrowest kitchen cabinet.

Livin' Lazy

A lazy Susan efficiently captures awkward corner space, but small items can easily fall and get lost in the void behind the shelves. Large canisters and clear acrylic dividers keep everything secure; labeling canisters helps you find what you need at a glance.

Up and Away

When kitchen storage options are limited, go vertical. A small shelf utilizes an unused stretch of wall above the sink. A magnetic knife holder frees drawer space. The handy tool also eliminates searching for the right blade during food prep and keeps sharp knifes out of reach of little ones.

Inside Secret

Make the most of cabinet space by using the inside of the door. Use removable adhesive strips to attach a dry-erase board for a grocery list and a clipboard to hold recipes. Keep spice jars organized and in sight with adjustable risers, and corral other small items in trays and cups.

Party Display

Keep cutlery in a tray for easy transport to a buffet or table for dinner. Make the display worthy of a dinner party by covering the inside bottom with decorative scrapbook papers labeled with a metallic pen. Cover the paper pieces with clear adhesive laminating sheets to make the inside of the tray waterproof and wipeable.

Out of Reach

No more digging in the dark to find the bleach. Undersink cabinets are often a jumble of cleaning products, trash bins, and other practical household items. Take control of the mess using a pullout track for small trash and recycling bins and stackable wire baskets for other necessities.

• How to Build a Pullout Trash Cabinet

Front and Center

Upper corner cabinets offer a lot of storage space but are too deep to see everything. To solve this, store like items in wedge-shape acrylic bins with handles. Maximize a small void behind a bin by adding a riser with a small bin on top.

Hidden Secret

A Murphy table is a space-saving powerhouse. To make one, start with a narrow wall cabinet, like this wooden CD case painted robin's egg blue. Cut a tabletop and legs from oak, and attach all of the pieces with piano hinges. For safety, be sure to mount the unit to wall studs with a cleat, and use locking brackets on the legs so they don't collapse. Add a latch to keep the table in place when closed.

Chalk Talk

Two coats of chalkboard paint turn the closed table into a message board. Use its surface to write to-dos, chore charts, or grocery lists. Wipe the chalkboard clean before unfolding the table—otherwise you may end up with chalk dust on your legs!

• How to Make Your Own Chalkboard Paint

Label Maker

Fridge space is just as precious as kitchen space. Make the most of it by segregating fridge shelves into food zones. Use a dry-erase marker to label trays for dairy, meats, and produce. Also add dated labels to leftovers so you know when they're about to go bad.

• Genius Organization Hacks for Your Fridge

Tucked Away

When the Murphy table is folded up, don't let your chairs just stand around. Make a little nook with pieces of wall art, a mounted basket to hang recipe cards, and an apron hook. This sweet spot is perfect for those hoping to spend a little extra time with the cook.

Pop of Pattern

Old kitchens often have layers of history. Wallpaper may reveal hidden treasures from days gone by, like this beautiful marbled backer board that was hidden under adhesive shelf liner inside cabinetry. Love the look but aren't blessed with old-school materials? Re-create it by attaching wallpaper to the back of your cabinets. Use a shelf divider to stack small and large dishes on a bottom shelf.