A small kitchen can be a curse. There isn’t room for all of the great gadgets that you want, you hardly have space to turn around, and there are never enough counters. However you can put a positive spin on a cramped kitchen by turning your thinking upside down. Instead of feeling claustrophobic, allow the space to be cozy, wrapping itself around you and making every tool you own, every bowl you mix, every utensil you use just a hands reach away.

The secret to achieving such an environment in the kitchen is organization. If everything is tucked neatly away into a specific place, then you will be able to retrieve whatever you need instantly. Then, by putting it back into its place, you will avoid leaving it lying around to clutter up your work area.

Finding the optimal arrangement for your various tools and appliances will depend to a large extent on the shape of the room, and your own predilections. A good general rule is to keep like items together. That means all spoons and ladles should be in one area, and all knives should be kept together in another. This helps to keep things organized because it gives a kind of logic to the arrangement of these items.

Another important element when trying to create functionality in a small kitchen is clutter. This can consist of a variety of useless or even semi useful items. The juicer that you haven’t used in six months, but which you really do hope to use one day; well that’s clutter. So is the bread maker that you never took out of the box, and the home made ice cream machine, and any of a variety of other relatively exciting products, that you simply do not have time for on a day to day basis.

That doesn’t mean you have to throw them away. Just get them out of the main kitchen where they’re getting in the way. You can put them in a spare closet, or on some unused shelves, or up in the attic. Just make sure that when you do store them, you keep them organized and well labeled. That way when the time comes that you actually have a need to use one of these contraptions, you will know exactly how to lay your hands on it.

Probably the most important functional element in a kitchen is counter space. Unless you have found the room for a small kitchen table, this is where the majority of your work will be done, and it is a precious commodity. Don’t make the mistake of taking it up with a lot of useless knick-knacks. You should also be frugal with the number of appliances you keep on your counters. It’s tempting to leave everything out where it can be used, but when it’s not being used it will just get in the way.

A small kitchen does present a number of challenges to a chef, however a little bit of planning, strategy, and organization and you can actually turn this negative aspect into a positive one, where the room fits around you almost like a glove. In such a space you will be able to reach out in an instant and place your hand upon any utensil that you require. In this way you will squeeze the maximum efficiency possible from this room.