Small Kitchen Space

Recently I've been reading a lot of posts on small kitchen on various websites, such as http://www.apartmentheraphy.com/. I have painted my square small kitchen yellow, changed the curtains and added a vinyl table cloth on the kitchen table (mainly for easy cleaning because this is actually a prep table). HOWEVER, there is still a MAIN storage problem!

One corner of the 4 walls of my square kitchen contains the fridge, range, sink and cabinets. And the other corner is the kitchen table with the microwave (yes I got rid of the giant microwave so I can put this small one on the kithen table to save counterspace!). The kitchen does look better than before now, but the storage problem still exists. The problems are as follows:

1. Not enough couterspace- the main couterspace is on both sides of the sink now. However on one side there is a dish rack, on the other side there's a toaster oven. I thought about getting a smaller dish rack, but since we don't use dishwasher (it is for storage of strainers etc.), this does not seem to work. Luckily, we do have a small pull-out cutting board near the stove. Then on both sides of the stove, one side is like a 12" X 24" counter space with a spice rack on top (basically there's only 8" cuz the sides of the edge is curvy and not level! I hate this!), and the other side is a rotassarie chicken oven (yes my husband loves this). So no more countertop...

2. Kitchen table is TRIBLED as prep table and food storage (yes... underneath the table). Aside from the small microwave on the table, yes the kitchen table is also a prep table. And underneath it, there is a plastic shelf for fruit and veggies. Also we will buy some soda & beer when they are on sale and put them underneath the table... so gradually the kitchen table becomes a "pantry"/ prep table! And there is not really enough space to put the 4 chairs there. Now there's just one chair and a few folding stools around the table. The original chairs have the back which become an obstable when we use the table as prep table.

3. No dining area except kitchen table/ coffee table

Okay... we DO have a small dining room with a dining table. BUT it is 100% occupied by my husband's junk (he fixes computers). Since he does not have an office and he does not want to add a workbench in the garage, that dining table (relatively bigger than his useless corner computer desk in my home office/ guest room) is a perfect place for him. BUT it is, of course, against my will.... :( So yes, we either eat in the small kitchen table or the coffee table now.

4. No Pantry

Our small house does not have a pantry (that is why our soda/beer is underneath the kitchen table). There are some deep shelves which is supposed to serve that purpose. However the design is absolutely inconvenient! I cannot find anything inside the shelves since it is so deep. And for whatever thing I want to get that is deep inside the shelf, I have to remove everything in front of it! Sigh...


So this is my BIG Problem apart from not having a "real" home office and spare bedroom (as mentioned before). I have only a few ideas to help solve with this storage problem now. I hope that I (or maybe you) can help me think of some more. The following are my ideas:

1. Storage bench/ ottoman doubled as seating around the kitchen table

I figured this may help with the storage problem, and at the same time providing some seating around the kitchen table.

2. Wall Shelves/ Cabinets

I thought about installing a few stainless steel wall shelves/ wood cabinets above the kitchen table for more storage. But I am not sure about this because it may just collect more clutter. Also I may not be tall enough to reach the shelves (I can only reach the low shelves on the cabinets now). This may be a good idea but it seems quite inconvenient.