Making Do With A Tiny Kitchen When You Love To Cook
People who eat out often are rarely bothered by the small size of apartment kitchens. However, if you like to cook for yourself and perhaps some friends or family members on a regular basis, then you might find doing so in a small space a bit of a challenge. Cooking in a studio apartment kitchen will probably never feel as luxurious as cooking in a large, modern kitchen with enormous counters and two ovens, but it does not have to be a hassle as long as you follow these tips.
Keep cooking supplies you don't use every day in a spare closet.
The more "stuff" you keep in your kitchen, the less space you'll have to move around and prepare food. As an avid cook, you probably have more pots, pans and gadgets than the average person -- but you probably don't use them all on a daily basis. Go through your things and sort them into two piles. The first pile should consist of items you use once a week or more. The second pile should consist of items you use less often than this. Store those less-used items in a tote in a spare closet so they're within easy reach when you need them, but not in your way throughout the week. The items you use once a week or more can stay in the kitchen.
Invest in a good set of storage containers.
Endless boxes of soup mix, flours, sugars, and the like can take up a lot of space in your pantry cupboard. Plus, when you have a pile of disorderly boxes, you'll have a hard time seeing what you have and may end up buying doubles. Instead of storing items in their boxes, invest in a good set of matching, stacking storage containers that lock tightly to keep your ingredients fresh. Pour your pantry items into these containers where they'll take up less space and are more visible.
Approach cooking in stages.
When you're short on space, you may need to amend your cooking style slightly. Having one dish on the stove while you're chopping and prepping for another one and a third one is coming out of the oven to be finished can turn into a nightmare in a tiny kitchen. Try prepping all of your ingredients first, doing a brief cleanup to get things back in order, and then beginning the actual cooking process. Take the time to clear your space (wash dirty dishes or put them in the dishwasher, throw out any trash, and put away ingredients you're finished with) between each cooking step so you're not stumbling over messes left from previous steps.
Use an over-oven cooling rack to maximize on space.
Cooling racks that mount on the wall over your oven and fold down to hold pans when needed are an excellent space-saving choice in small kitchens. (Check with your landlord before you mount one to your wall.) By setting finished dishes on the over-oven rack when they're done, you can reserve what little counter space you have for other food prep and cleanup needs.
Get into the habit of rinsing and reusing utensils.
When cooking, many people use a measuring cup once, toss it in the sink, and then reach for a different one when they need to measure another ingredient. A better method is to set that first measuring cup aside after you use it, rinse it out, and then use it again for the next ingredient. If a recipe calls for 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 cup of flour, use the 1/4 cup measuring cup once for the sugar and four times for the flour rather than dirtying your 1 cup measure as well. Similarly, try rinsing the spoon you use to stir one cooking dish and using it to stir the next dish, too, rather than using two spoons. You'll have a lot fewer dishes sitting around and taking up space.
Cooking in a tiny kitchen on a regular basis can be a bit of a challenge. However, with the tips above, you'll be prepared to meet that challenge head-on.