Planning a kitchen

Having recently made the transition from dorm life to apartment life, we've had to be a bit creative setting up our kitchen in a way that made sense in the available space. Our families gave us boxes upon boxes of dishes and often it became difficult to decide what to keep and what to throw in storage, and how to make everything fit without disaster in the drawers and cabinets we have available. Here is all the advice I can give on how to make a small kitchen work.

1.) Every time a relative of mine sees me, hears from me, or thinks about me for any reason they decide I must want hot chocolate or tea. Having moved from a relatively warmer place to the northern United States for college, I get "care packages" containing more tea than a thousand people could drink at least every month. When we first moved in, we tried to cram tea in the same cabinet where we keep our nonperishable food items (pasta, mac and cheese boxes, pop corn, etc) and this turned out to be a simply terrible idea. We reserved an entire drawer for tea and started keeping loose packets in separate bags. This way, every time we open the cabinet for mac & cheese, we don't have a thousand items fall onto our heads.

2.) Many apartments, unlike middle class homes, have terrible mold problems. When organizing a kitchen in an apartment or an older home with poorer ventilation, it is important to find a place to keep bread and fruit so that they won't mold. We keep a bread box on our kitchen table to avoid this problem.

3.) Our dishwasher is very small and does not have a container for silverware so we had to learn to balance our silverware on the top shelf of the dishwasher and eventually we came up with a system so that everything would not fall out during the washing process.

4.) Because the kitchen and the under-the-sink area are very small, we chose to put our trash can and recycling bags in the eating area rather than in the kitchen itself. It seems a bit strange but it saves space and prevents crowding.

5.) We planned ahead for what furniture would go into our kitchen. Relatives tried to give us a couple of different tables they were storing in their basements that simply didn't fit. We took our measurements to Ikea and bought a relatively inexpensive table and chair set that seats four people.

Aside from issues of excess, the important thing to remember when planning an apartment kitchen is to utilize the space available, and not to try to cram too much into the food preparation area.