Small Space Storage: Inspiration from the Homeland
If there’s one thing I hate in the kitchen, it’s trying to find something. I guess that’s annoying in any part of the house. Yet the kitchen is the worst for me.
Deep cupboards are great for holding a lot of stuff. You just can’t find anything. Stuff gets piled on top of each other. You have to haul dining chairs into the kitchens or climb onto the counters. It’s annoying as heck.
So just because we had very little space to work with, I knew that no matter what, I didn’t want to lug any more chairs or get any more bruises from banging my shins on the counter.
That’s why I pulled out the stubborn card when we started designing our kitchen. I think we were at about this point, smashing into the wall:
My mom has these really cool pullout drawers where she keeps casserole dishes and small appliances in her US kitchen. I thought: why not do the same with food? Hidden drawers are the perfect solution for storage.
The next challenge was finding drawers. We were often met with stern responses like, “We don’t do that in Germany” when Martin and I presented an idea. Or they may have said, “We don’t do that in Germany… you weird American kids.” Fortunately, if they did, my German wasn’t good enough to tell. I just kept smiling and nodding like I understood exactly what was going on. Which I didn’t. As everyone knew.
But you know what I did know? I knew to take a camera with us to a huge home and kitchen store. With the world’s greatest luck, I spotted this:
I became the lookout for pushy salesmen as Martin snapped a few pictures. We could have just pretended not to speak German when the salesmen approached us. After our crazy experience buying a couch in the same store, I knew that I could get away with the stubborn card at home, but I couldn’t get away with the I-only-speak-English card here.
We went home. The next day, our favorite little kitchen shop that sold us our stove/microwave combo unit and later our granite countertop helped us pick out the perfect drawers. Now I can find anything I need in our little version of a pantry.
We pour pastas, rice, and basking supplies into glass jars from IKEA. They have clear tops, so all I have to do is glance down at each drawer to see what’s for dinner.
We only changed one thing from my mom’s kitchen (and the store models above).
My mom’s storage unit opens from the side like a cabinet or fridge door. After years of having wild kids around (not me… my siblings), my mom’s wood door got a little banged up when anxious hands forced the door shut before the drawers were actually closed. (Again, it wasn’t me.)
Martin totally designed a pull-out door front instead of a traditional cabinet door for the day my siblings decide to fly to Germany for a visit AND cook us dinner.
They’re so lucky I’m stubborn. I’d hate to see Martin get upset with them after all the work we did on that wood.
(Images by Katie for Making This Home)
Keep it green and simple with 2 more ideas:
March 9th, 2009 at 7:00 am
That looks great. What a wondeful job and to do the front as a drawer pull too! I am sure it is so much easier to find what you want now.
March 9th, 2009 at 7:07 am
I have my food in IKEA pull out drawers too, I never thought that they might not be intended for food – only pots and pans – I guess this is also what comes from being confused and non-German speaking :)
March 9th, 2009 at 8:30 am
When we completely overhaul our kitchen, I want this pull out drawer feature! So envying yours!
March 9th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Hey Renia. No biggy but we don’t use IKEA drawers, just jars. Sorry if I was misleading. I’ll blame the German train of thought!
Katie
March 9th, 2009 at 10:26 am
So jealous of your pull out drawers! They would make my life so much easier.
March 9th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Wow, it looks like you’ve found a great solution! I can totally relate to the stuff getting stuck in the back. We have more than a few cupboards like that in our kitchen. And once you have kids playing in them, too…total disaster.
March 9th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
One of the houses we looked at has these pull-out drawers in many of its cabinets. I am lusting after that house for its kitchen — we’ll just have to see if we can afford the rest of the place!
March 9th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
I really love the big drawer front with the smaller pull out drawers behind – we have the two-door with drawers inside combo, and just like you said, small, impatient children have scratched the inside of the doors with the drawer corners. :o)
March 10th, 2009 at 1:33 am
We have pull out drawers like that for our pantry section of the home kitchen and I have plants in another one of them. LOVE them. So practical to be able to reach everything and see what you have in there.
March 10th, 2009 at 2:17 am
Wow, looks really efficient! I always get lost in my cupboards…
March 10th, 2009 at 2:45 am
Hi Katie, no I got that your kitchen wasn´t from IKEA, my post was sloppily worded :). I guess because I picked it all out from IKEA in my expat bubble, I didn´t have to deal with any Germans perhaps telling me that I shouldn´t be storing food there!
March 11th, 2009 at 5:15 am
I love that idea. I might steal it for my next kitchen! I wish I had it in my current desk-sized rental kitchen!
March 13th, 2009 at 11:59 am
What an efficient idea! I’m filing this away in my ‘kitchen remodeling’ folder!
March 15th, 2009 at 6:24 am
Great solution! You guys are so creative when it comes to making that small space work. I’m impressed by your ingenuity, as always. :-)
March 24th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
I love the way your kitchen looks and may just have to stash that idea away for when I get to design my dream kitchen. It looks like a perfect solution for your space.