Reclaiming space in the kitchen

Lack of storage in small kitchens is a recurring theme. One idea I really like is to reclaim space from a close by area in the house. It is hard to get good photos in a small space, but I am trying to illustrate below. The picture on the bottom shows a white door with a few shelves behind it. On the other side of the shelves was a coat closet accessed int the hall. We closed off the coat closet from the hall, and made an open mini walk in pantry. You can see a bit of the open doorway, and the open shelves we used. You can fit many, many things on 9" deep shelves, so you don't need a lot of room to use an idea like this. In this case, we had a microwave, wine rack, and open shelves, the back wall was for the bulletin board, and the other side had shallower 9" deep shelves. We even had a little counter landing space.
The client really liked the idea of the open walk in pantry. Some might want the "food as decor items" idea, and like a door. I showed my my pantry above . I used the space under the staircase for a mini walk in pantry. Using my mini budget, I bought cd shelves only 7 inches deep and lined the walls on both sides. I painted and added some pictures too....I love this space. I can see everything I have with the shallow storage. It is fun "walking in" and shopping in my pantry... Another idea I saw in a magazine (ok, this goes against the kitchen planning guidelines, but hear me out) was a beautiful small kitchen. The designer/owner put the refrigerator in a near by area out of the kitchen. ( I think it was a closet as well) She said she gathers all the items at once from the refrigerator, and does not find it inconvenient. If that gave you more counter space and room to work, it might be a good idea. I like it because I could make the kitchen prettier....