How a Pro Chef Organizes a Small Home Kitchen

I’ve lived in a lot of places. Not as many as some, but I'd venture to say more than most. In the last 15 years, I’ve lived in 19 different apartments, rooms, or houses. That’s 19 kitchens I've had to move my stuff into, and figure out how to arrange. Through all that repetition I’ve managed to get pretty good at setting things up in a way that is both space efficient, and looks decent, while also making sure most things are easy (or easy enough) to access.

It occurred to me that this may be of interest to some folks who also find themselves with a glut of kitchen equipment and a dearth of space. My aim is to make the most of the space I have without making the kitchen look cluttered. Ideally when the kitchen is clean and everything is put away there is still an almost (almost) minimalist feel to the space. Considering just how much random nonsense I’ve collected over the years, I think I’ve come as close to that mark as possible given my space. Hopefully as I bring you on a little tour of my home kitchen you might pick up an idea or two that could work for you and your small (or large, no judgment (must be nice, though)) space. 

This is my pantry. It’s meant to be a coat closet, but when you have so little storage space to work with, spending so many cubic feet on storing coats and shoes that could live elsewhere and would only use a fraction of the space starts to seem a bit frivolous.

Each bin is labeled and contains different types of pantry items. We have a bin for rice (A big one. We love rice.), a bin for chocolate bars, a bin for chocolate pieces, a bin for whole spice, a bin for spice blends, a bin for ground spices, a bin for beans, pulses, and the like, and some others; you get the idea. The bins help keep everything from getting disorganized and also keep the space looking tidy which is important because it's exposed.

On the top shelf, I have a couple more dry goods bins (dried chilies and nuts), but this is also where I put all my large format cooking oil. That includes oil for sautéing, deep frying, cheap olive oil, fancy olive oil, spray oil, and just about any other type of oil. There’s also a Lazy Susan with some shelf stable Asian condiments and preserved ingredients. 

Here we have a couple metal pegboards where I hang hangable tools. This saves me so much cabinet or drawer space, and as long as it isn’t too cluttered or jumbled up, I think it looks okay. Not great, but okay. Also we have a very cute strawberry print covering up our breaker panel. 

Hanging pans are, in my opinion, an absolute must. They look nice, and this is by far the most space efficient way to store them. I don't have all my pans hanging, but that is just because the rail isn’t long enough. If I could hang them all I would. 

This little island is where I store most of my metal pans as well as some other items that fit well in the space. I’ve got stacked sheet trays, a hotel pan full of small hotel pans, and all my big pots (a small stockpot, a big (20 quart) stockpot, and a rondeau (the greatest pan of all time). I also keep my pre-cut parchment sheets (if you don’t know, get yourself some), wire racks, commercial plastic wrap (if you don't know, get yourself some (but really)), as well as a few other containers and things that fit well there. 

Our kitchen has one really long shelf near the ceiling that runs all the way down the long side and swings out over the stove. We keep all of our large format dishes, platters and more pots and pans up here. 

Another look at the shelves, plus another smaller white shelf we hung when we moved in. These shelves are home to the bread box; a bowl for keeping mostly alliums, but also other shelf stable veggies; some water pitchers, writing implements, notebooks, a few cookbooks, and a stack of beautiful tiny mise en place bowls my wife made. 

These are the shelves nearest the stove. They house some more large/heavy pots, as well as all of our daily driver plates, bowls, and glasses. Also visible in this shot is the magnetic knife strip. Knife strips are by far my preferred method for storing knives in my home kitchen. They are safe, convenient, and look cool. We’ve also got some undershelf/overcounter lighting here. 

Here we have our microwave which is also our range hood. The wooden box above it houses the duct that directs the hood exhaust outside. Having a hood that vents to the outside is super important in my opinion, especially in small spaces that have gas ranges and ovens. Conveniently it also allows for more pot storage above, and for a little spice rack for all the use-first spices which we keep in those tiny square flip top jars. 

This is our coffee station. I think the photo here pretty much speaks for itself. 

This is above the fridge. I keep more dry storage here as well as snacks (in the gray felt totes), and all pantry related bottled liquids (other than oils). There is also a Ninja Creami behind the snack totes which is in my opinion the greatest, most versatile home ice cream maker on the market. 

This is where we store all our pot and pan lids. It's sort of hard to see, but they are all leaning against the wall with their handles resting on towel bars. This completely ingenious idea was, I admit, my wife’s. 

These are the cabinets under the coffee station. I store almost all my large kitchen appliances here plus all my backup flour, and some other miscellaneous items. 

This is the cabinet opposite the previous ones. Our mixer lives here as well as some other small kitchen appliances, sharpening stones, and rectangular bread/cake tins. 

My station setup for next to the stove includes salt, pepper, wooden/metal/silicone utensils, high heat cooking oil., olive oil, and tasting spoons. 

And that's pretty much it. I didn’t show absolutely everything, but this is basically every square inch of my home kitchen. I hope this post has some interesting ideas that you might be able to use in your own home, and if you want more top tips from professional chefs, make sure to check out one of our upcoming classes.