Inadequate kitchen counter space is one of the top problems that homeowners hope to correct with kitchen remodels. Even when you do design more counter space into your kitchen with your remodel, though, you will usually still find yourself short at certain times. As you plan your remodel, then, you need to do more. You need to focus closely on putting together the best hacks possible to make the most of the space you have. What follows are several useful ideas.
Take all the small appliances out
When you put in a new countertop installation, you dream of all the space that it gives you, but then, the small appliances come out. Everything from the bread maker to the blender, coffee maker, toaster and food processor lines up to eat up all that freshly created space. When you remodel, you want to think of separate, convenient storage for all your countertop appliances. Everything should go into some kind of ergonomically designed cabinetry, and only come out when it’s really needed.
Design a separate paperwork station
A lot of people multitask in the kitchen, handling a couple of recipes, the kids’ homework, the checkbooks and so on as they wait for the pan to heat up or the water to boil. In most homes, a couple of feet of kitchen counter space is usually lost to a laptop or tablet, a couple of school books and a bunch of receipts. What you need to do is to plan for a separate paperwork station in the kitchen.
Bring some innovation to your cutting needs
Over-the-sink cutting boards and over-the-cooktop cutting boards are useful innovations to help you use space otherwise taken up permanently by these structures. These ideas may not always work, however. For instance, you may have dishes piled in the sink. This is where building a cutting surface right into your countertop makes sense. At Cornerstone Kitchen of Florida, for example, cutting surfaces that slide in and out under the countertop are a popular idea today.
Build an extra rollaway island countertop
For the times that you need some extra counterspace, such as during the holidays when there are plenty of guests to cook for, an additional rollaway counter can turn out to be an excellent idea. It’s simply a little wooden structure on casters, with foldaway work surfaces. You can store things inside the structure, and fold the leaves on the sides out for work surfaces when you need them.
Design convenient shelving everywhere
Think of everything that tends to clutter up your countertop — spice bottles, knives and spoons, vegetables and so on. If you had little, easily reachable shelves right over your counter to park these items on, you would free up counter space.
Get a tiny sink
The smaller the sink, the more counter space you have. You can make up for what the sink lacks by designing dish racks all around the sink, on the walls. You will not need a dish basket next to the sink this way. You can stack the dishes that you wash straightaway in the racks. Even better, you can stack all the dirty dishes straight in the dishwasher.
Get a smaller stove
Unless you routinely cook for many people, it makes sense to get a tiny stove with just a couple of burners. When you do need more, you can always get an additional stove to park over the counter.
Get spaced pullout counters
A pullout counter that slides in under the main counter is a great idea. You can’t have a pullout that runs the entire length of the counter, though, because you wouldn’t be able to reach the main counter then. It would be an idea to design these counters in sections, instead.
Design a clutter drawer
One reason why countertops get cluttered is that there is often no easy place to put everything away once you’re done with it. When in the middle of work in the kitchen, you can hardly take the time to put everything in the right place. A large pullout drawer that you can dump everything into once you’re done with it, can be invaluable.
Declutter
The less stuff you have, the less space you need on the counter for it. If you have kitchen possessions that he don’t find yourself using, get rid of them. You’ll have less need for space then.
It’ll change the way you see your kitchen or work in it when you have extra counter space. The attention that you lavish on innovative hacks in this area will always repay you many times over.