The Genius Way To Use Narrow Vertical Space To Organize Your Kitchen

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Anyone who spends a significant chunk of their day near a stove — brewing coffee, prepping meals, or baking delicious treats — has probably accumulated enough equipment to make a small kitchen feel inconvenient at best and impossible at worst. It is easy to think bigger is better when it comes to storage space, and kitchens seem to have the most essential items we just can't get rid of. There are so many great ways to organize and utilize vertical space in small kitchens: Everything from rail mounts to open shelving help optimize and streamline even the tiniest of spaces. However, we rarely spend time focusing on some really valuable and underused areas of kitchen real estate — all the nooks and crannies staring at us daily. 

We're talking about those narrow, seemingly useless bits of vertical wall space between windows, door frames, and cabinets — places with untapped potential. Sure, it might be easier to think about storage solutions in broad terms — adding multiple shelves or dividers in order to utilize every inch of cabinet space using genius hacks — but it might be time to start thinking just outside that box.

The fact is, there is plenty of obvious storage space in the kitchen you might be missing out on, including the narrowest of spaces between windows. Freeing up coveted drawer space by suspending bulky knives on magnets, like these invisible magnetic knife holders from NextClimb, is something you can easily implement in your own kitchen. Not only will this method optimize space, it will also make essential kitchen tools even more accessible during your daily meal prep.

Depending on the narrow vertical spaces you have to work with in your home and what you use most often, you can go even further with this organizing technique to fit your own style and functionality. Consider versatile options like Freezing Point's mini floating shelves for individual spice and oil containers or this SoCal Buttercup metal mug rack as a visually appealing home for all those coffee cups. It's no secret that anything you can do to get items out of drawers, off of counters, and out of cabinets will make all the difference in how organized your kitchen feels. And when visitors see how you optimized all your vertical space, they will probably be calling you a genius before you know it.