What’s cooking?

With a few tips and a designer’s touch, you can turn every wasted space in the kitchen into a creative corner

The kitchen is more than the cooking space; it’s the hearth and soul of your home. Planning it properly is a must to ensure smooth running and increased productivity. Apart from making sure that the kitchen triangle is in place, you also need tonnes of storage to put away all the implements, pots and pans, and food staples. This often translates into cabinets and open shelving, which work well. But if you didn’t give your interior designer or carpenter clear instructions to run your kitchen cabinets down from the ceiling, chances are you have an itty-bitty kind of a space running through the kitchen. It seems to be dead space, and you’re at a loss for what to do to make it a part of the kitchen. Help’s at hand with these ideas:

1. A selection of wire baskets will help put away bottles — they can be full or empty, they look just the same from below.

2. Get an extra shelf put in and style the space to show off your crockery and tableware. Never fails.

3. A bespoke wine rack built into the space looks classy and gives you a place to put away that wine.

4. Use the Rule of Three to place some collectibles and potted plants up there. Looks good, from close up and from a distance.

5. Simple open shelves are the ideal place to put away your cookbooks. And all other books that seem to be homeless.

6. Stylish cane baskets look good and give you ample space to store extra utensils or dinner sets. Make sure to cover them up with a tea towel so dust doesn’t get in.