How We Made Our Small Kitchen Work
When we first moved to LA, the best place that we could find within our price range had a very small kitchen. The counter space we had was just large enough to fit a drying rack – nothing else! As someone who likes to meal prep to both stay healthy and save money, this posed a real challenge. In the end, my boyfriend and I were able to make the kitchen more functional by adding some items from IKEA.
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Our first kitchen in LA
Small Table.
To add counter space for prep-work, we needed to added a table. We started out with just a small IKEA “play” table that was $20, and then ended up graduating to a sturdier tables that included some shelves.
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Metal Shelving Unit.
When we first did our kitchen, we were too nervous to hammer any nails into the wall, so we bought a large metal utility shelving unit to hold all our items. To add additional storage, we purchased hooks so we could hang pots and kitchen spoons off the side:
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Floating Shelves.
Eventually, we became confident enough to start hanging things from the wall so added in some shelves above our new prep-table. The hooks were repurposed and hung on a separate rod:
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Metal Knife Strip.
Another fun IKEA item we bought was a metal knife strip. This replaced the knife box we had just sitting on the floor. We hung our vertically, but you can also hang it horizontally.
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Although small, these items helped make our kitchen work for us.