Apartment Living- Dealing with no storage in a kitchen

We live in an apartment. There six of us in my house hold. In order to keep the food bill down we have to stock pile and replenish when items are on sale. This is hard when you have a total of three full sized cabinets and two “over the fridge” cabinets. You know the ones I’m talking about….

Yup.  Also.. That is all of the counter space we have as well.

When we first moved in I didnt really think about the amount of cabinets.  Until I started putting things way and realizing we have zero space.  Where am I supposed to put my coffee maker, microwave, toaster, and the for Christmas I was given a Kitchenaid. Plus theres no dishwasher, so we have to hand wash our dishes and put them in a strainer to dry.  This is enough to drive any mum mad!

My goal is to get a portable dishwasher with the counter on top.  But I will also be having a butcher block gifted to me so I may continue using my 15 year old step son as the dish washer.

So here we go. How did I manage to figure out space in my home.

First. I took apart the corner bench we had in the kitchen/dining room. I had all the intentions of eating at it as a family. That quickly dissipated and it had turned into a catch all.

I moved the two bench seats onto our front landing and intend to get baskets to go under to hide away winter accessories and maybe even shoes.

I moved the bookshelf I originally put on the landing to store shoes, which it wasnt, into the kitchen and anchored it to the wall. This is where I plan to start the pantry.

So there is the before.

I kept the table in the kitchen and when I discovered there was a plug I moved the items that would be plugged in onto the table

Now I am able to use my kitchenaid with ease!

 

I cant tell you enough how Happy I am with my new setup!!

Cup cabinet above the counter

Above the sink cabinet

My stove area. My sister made me my utensil holder for Christmas. I put mason jars in it to hold them better. Next to the stove I used those command hooks to hold my oven mitts

Above the stove now holds pots and pans. This used to be where I had pasta and sauce.

This was the place I held As much of the “pantry items” as I could.

Now its where I keep the baking and snack foods. I had moved my knives to the counter here. I did have the kitchenaid stored here.