Why Hanging Storage Could Actually Make Your Small Kitchen Worse

Hanging storage has been a persistent style trend for centuries, with the promise to save cabinet space in a small kitchen while emphasizing either rustic or modern aesthetics. While it is true that a suspended pots and pans storage idea frees up so much cabinet space, it can also make your kitchen feel more crowded, as well as add visual clutter. Most cooks want to feel like their kitchen space is both functional and comfortable. Thus, excessive overhead intrusions, including overhead cabinets and hanging storage, can make a small space seem even smaller.

Depending on the type of cooking you use your kitchen for, you may actually require a constant line of sight to different areas of the kitchen. For example, if one part of the recipe needs to simmer or reach a certain temperature, but you need to chop or mix something for another part of the recipe, line of sight can make all the difference between gourmet results and burnt disasters. If you have a large kitchen with high ceilings, hanging storage may not pose a problem for this. But in a small kitchen, you may find yourself constantly walking back and forth between cooking stations to check the status of various parts of the recipe. And, navigating around hanging obstacles is just one of the downsides of this type of storage solution. You may also find issues with cleanliness and organization.

In a small kitchen, you want to make use of all the space you can for storage. However, the small space can easily become cramped, especially if you start using overhead storage like hanging pot racks. Interior designers actually recommend designing an open plan kitchen by reducing overhead storage space to make small spaces feel larger. But it's not just line of sight and open space that you're compromising, when you use hanging storage. You're also blocking out much-needed light, which is essential for a quality kitchen space and for making small spaces feel larger. Not to mention, depending on the placement of your hanging storage, it could become a hazard in walking areas or if items are not completely secured, especially in high-pressure cooking situations that require free movement. 

Another downside that you may not consider is cleanliness. When you cook anything on the stove top, grease and other particles are released into the air. That means that everything hanging in your kitchen could get covered in that residual cooking grease, which can be amplified in smaller spaces. Plus, in small kitchens, you may not have the luxury of separating everything by size, type, or function, which could make your hanging items look more chaotic than charming. Just because hanging storage may not be the best idea for your small kitchen, doesn't mean you have to give up on alternative space-saving storage options. There are countless small kitchen ideas to make your space seem bigger and increase usable storage solutions, at the same time.