Organizing a Small(ish) Kitchen

When we were house hunting 9 years ago, at the top of our list was space for our kids to run and play, a spot for a garden and whatever else we could dream up to do outside. When we found this house, we knew it was perfect for us. It's a modest ranch style house sitting on 5 acres. We have a nice little trail through the woods and a creek at the bottom of a ridge. Great location, pretty central to Darrell's work and our church. This was the place!

The one thing I really did not want in a house was a galley kitchen. When we checked out the inside, of course that is exactly what I found. I wasn't thrilled, (how petty was I) but there was absolutely nothing else we disliked about the place, so it became our new home.

Today, I actually love my small(ish) galley kitchen. I have learned how to keep things simple and clutter free. That's very important since I do a LOT of cooking and baking without a ton of counter space.

I call my kitchen small(ish) because I don't consider it to be tiny. It's actually not a bad size for a galley style, but it certainly isn't large either! You can see our eating area there at the other end of the kitchen.

Keeping the counters clear of clutter and cleaning as I go while preparing food is the key to working efficiently in my kitchen. I don't have an island or any other workspace, so I have to clear things away as soon as I'm done with them!

I only have kitchen items that I absolutely need. Just the basics. I don't store away things that I'll never use, I simply don't have space for that! I don't have extra sets of dishes for holidays or special occasions. I have white Mikasa dishes in the English Countryside pattern. Those dishes were wedding gifts, so they're now 22 years old. I have had to replace a few of them over the years, but they were easy to find and inexpensive on Ebay. You can see on the far end of my kitchen that I took the doors off of the cabinets where I store our dishes. It makes them a little more accessible.

The oven, refrigerator and microwave are on the other side of the kitchen. Just a little counter space over here! I don't mind a bit that my appliances don't match but we are going to have to replace the 15 year old oven soon. Two of the eyes aren't working properly and it will not be cost effective to fix it.

The pantry had a door on it, but we decided to take it off because as you can see the laundry room door is to the right and those doors were constantly hitting each other. This is SO much nicer.

I turned this into a baking pantry for the most part. I store canned goods and cereal boxes in another cabinet behind closed doors. I bake all of our bread, so this makes getting to my baking supplies nicer and easier. It's the little things!

That's the grand tour of the little galley kitchen that I didn't think I wanted!  It serves my family well and I'm so thankful for it!