Ninety four square feet: where the storage actually came from

The kitchen was 94 square feet with a 38 inch aisle. The owners had been told by two other builders that they needed to bump out the back wall. They did not. They needed cabinets built to the inch and six decisions made in the right order.

1. Stop paying for filler strips

Stock cabinetry comes in three inch increments. In a 94 square foot galley with three runs, that rounding cost this kitchen roughly eleven inches of width, which was covered with filler and painted to match. Eleven inches is a pull-out pantry. We milled boxes at 14 and 17 inches instead of 15 and 18, and the pantry appeared out of arithmetic rather than construction.

2. Take the uppers to the ceiling

The soffit above the old uppers held nothing but dust and a dead fluorescent ballast. Removing it and running cabinetry to the ceiling added a full shelf across the entire run. Yes, the top shelf needs a step stool. It is where the roasting pan lives, and the roasting pan comes out four times a year.

3. Use the toe kick

A four inch toe kick across twelve feet of base cabinetry is roughly four cubic feet of volume doing nothing. Toe-kick drawers on push-latch slides hold baking sheets, placemats and the pet food scoop. They are inexpensive because they are shallow boxes on hardware we already stock.

4. Trade doors for drawers below the counter

A base cabinet with a door and a fixed shelf wastes the back third because nobody reaches it. The same box as three drawers gives you every cubic inch at eye level when it is open. Drawers cost more per opening. They are still the highest return upgrade in a small kitchen.

In a galley, storage is not a function of square footage. It is a function of how many inches you refuse to give away.

5. Put the narrow slot to work

There is almost always a six to nine inch gap somewhere, usually beside the range or at the end of a run. Filled with a tray divider it holds cutting boards, baking sheets and cooling racks vertically. This is the single most used cabinet in most kitchens we build and it occupies the space nobody wanted.

6. Choose appliances by interior volume

Compact appliances have improved enormously. A 24 inch column refrigerator holds more usable food than a 33 inch top-freezer from 2004, because the shelving is designed rather than inherited. An 18 inch dishwasher runs a full day of dishes for two people. We show clients the interior dimensions, not the exterior width, before they commit.

What we did not do

We did not add an island. Below about eleven feet of room width there is no aisle left, and an island in a galley makes the room worse every single day in exchange for looking better in one photograph. We built a fold-down ledge under the window instead, which gives the same prep surface when it is wanted and disappears when it is not.

If your kitchen is under 120 square feet, the plan matters more than the budget. Bring us the room and we will show you where the inches are hiding.