She Built a "Great Wall of Storage"

by HouseLogic.com

What do you do when you have a dysfunctional tiny kitchen and no way to add on? Rethink the walls you have.

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That's what Lara Edge did when she moved into her new downsized home with a kitchen smaller than most bathrooms.

What little storage she had was practically inaccessible because the refrigerator blocked half the cabinet doors.

Lara Edge for HouseLogic

The solution to a bigger kitchen with more storage was on the other side of that dysfunctional cabinet wall shown below, ajar.

Lara Edge for HouseLogic

This is a view of that wall from the other side, which is the living/dining room.

See that extra 16 inches of depth? She realized she could leverage that to create what she dubbed her own "Great Wall of Storage."

Lara Edge for HouseLogic

Her first step was to tear down the wall with help from sturdier stock than she. (That's the back of the old cabinet with paint strips.)

Lara Edge for HouseLogic

And here's the wall where the old fridge was -- after the fridge and the cabinet wall were removed.

The old chimney brickwork was a fun find, but even better, the wall where the fridge was could now be used for even more storage. To the right of the brickwork is that extra 16 inches she planned to leverage. The (new!) fridge will move to where you see the blue scaffolding.

Lara Edge for HouseLogic.com

And here's the new wall in progress from the living/dining room side.

See how the left side of the new wall takes advantage of that 16 inches of depth? It was enough to allow her to move her fridge into that spot. Remember that on the kitchen side there already was about 14 inches of depth where the dysfunctional cabinets were.

Lara Edge for HouseLogic

Here's the finished project on the living/dining room side.

Lara Edge for HouseLogic

Look how she used the 16 inches of depth on the right to create a coffee/tea/wine station that's also perfect for displaying art.

Tea, coffee, and some small appliances are stored in the cabinet on the bottom, saving space on the kitchen side. Plus, it's right next to the dining table making it ultra-convenient.

Lara Edge for HouseLogic

Here's the finished product on the kitchen side of the new wall:

Lara Edge for HouseLogic

And, finally, here's the wall where the fridge used to live:

Lara Edge for HouseLogic

A unique feature on that wall is the counter. It can be folded up when more floor space is needed (like moving furniture into the room behind the kitchen).

Here are even more clever kitchen storage solutions:

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2 of 78 comments

MelBrandle on May 03, 2017

Wow, this takes the concept of a storage system onto a whole new level. I love performing DIY projects which involve building and painting, but to have to include hacking is out of my league. Nevertheless, that is a great idea which I will keep in handy for future homes maybe. Storage space is never enough for anyone, and to be able to constantly maximize it is indeed a huge advantage.

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Liz Sanders Duren on Aug 07, 2017

SLove it! Nice to see the brick, too!

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