We might all dream of having a huge family-sized kitchen with an island in the middle and enough space to host a really fantastic dinner party, but most of us living in London have to make do with something much smaller, and have to do so while sharing. As sharers ourselves, here are a few tips to really make the most of a tiny, shared kitchen.

Using wall space

Don’t let wall space be wasted space. Instead of leaving the walls empty or adding a pretty painting, make use of the wall space to declutter valuable work surfaces.

Say goodbye to those utensil jars and mount a rack to the wall to store your utensils. Not only will this give your counters and drawers more space, but you’ll also have your utensils at arm’s reach.

Create a peg board for your kitchen to hang up pots, pans and utensils. This is another inexpensive and savvy invention to create more of that precious space – and it looks pretty cool, too.

Swap the knife block for a magnetic one and mount it onto the wall. Et voila! You have freed up counter space and drawer space and minimized the risk of slicing your fingers to pieces in the process. You’re welcome!

Use magnetic containers and the side of your fridge to store things like spices, which always seem to take up far more room than should be appropriate. There’s a great tutorial here.

If you’re allowed to paint, using chalkboard paint on the back of a door, as demonstrated in the pic below, or on a wall can help keep chore lists, shopping lists and other notes together without the clutter that comes with little post-it notes and messages left on receipts… (or maybe that’s just us?)

Using your splashback

Not everyone has a splashback in their kitchen, but if you do, hanging a simple rail like this is a great way to free up cupboard and shelf space, and it means you’ll have your most frequently used items right where you can grab ‘em.

Even a really narrow shelf can solve a lot of storage woes – this depth is perfect for mugs, cups and things like the salt and pepper

Better use of better storage

When sharing a kitchen, it’s completely normal (and frustrating) to have numerous versions of the same old items. So ask yourself, does your tiny kitchen really need three blenders, two George Foreman grills, 10 breakfast bowls or four woks?

Store the extra items with an on-demand storage company like Boxman to declutter your kitchen space. Boxman will come straight to your door to collect and deliver your things. You can digitally tag the items that you store and request something back whenever you need to. Having a more minimal kitchen needn’t be a hardship, eh?

Making use of your vertical space

What tiny kitchens lack in space, they make up for it in, erm, vertical space? OK, maybe that’s stretching it a bit, but these are pretty great ideas and we had to get them in somehow…

Using one of these over-the-sink shelves will give you more counter space

Or you can devise an “over-the-counter” shelf. By adding an extra level to your work surfaces, you can have your most used items on the shelf without sacrificing any critical counter space.

Add shelves to your shelves and instantly double (or triple) the number of shelves you have.

And where you can, add floating shelves. These handy creations can be positioned on the sides of bare cabinets.

Build on those bare sides

Get in under the sink

If your under-sink storage or around-the-sink counter is an overcrowded mess of cleaning supplies, sponges and plastic bag we have a few tips to maximise under the sink storage.

You know those tension rods you can get for your net curtains? Well, some space-deprived genius has just figured out they also do a rather splendid job of holding spray bottles too.

Inside you cupboard

When sharing a kitchen, it’s common to have your own space, whether that is a cupboard or drawer or a cardboard box under the sink (depending how much your housemates like you), but wherever it is, there are always ways to eek out a little extra room here and there.

Using plastic tubs in cupboards is a great way of keeping track of things that can somehow get lost at the back of those deep shelves, plus they’re really easy to clean and sort through.

Use a smart drying rack

Drying racks take up a whole lot of counter space. Convert to a wall-mounted drying rack and free up that space.

Tame the tupperware

The Tupperware cupboard is often a messy array of different sized plastic boxes, mismatched lids and bright colours. The trick is to group the bottoms together and then stack the lids vertically using a plate stack. Organising your Tupperware like this will not only save your space but you will always be able to find the right size box to save last night’s lasagne.

Finally, don’t neglect the space above your cabinets

While you can use the inside of you cabinet, the door of your cabinet and underneath cabinets to store things, people often forget about the area on top of cabinets. You can use the top to store things you don’t use all that often: your nutribullets, slow cookers and that George Foreman that still hasn’t been packed away…

* And in the interest of harmonious living, if you’re vertically challenged, consider investing in a small folding step-stool. Trust us, your 6ft 5 housemate will be forever grateful.

Featured Image via Elle Decoration