20 Clever Ideas To Design A Functional Office In Your Kitchen
Any space, regardless of its size, will provide you various design options. So does your kitchen. You dream about a home office but you don’t have enough space? I’m sure many of you believe it’s not a good idea to create an office space in your cooking area. The question is: why not? Most of the time I write in the kitchen and I really enjoy it! So, why give up on your dream? Give it a shape and get the most out of your kitchen. Organize and conquer! Tips? Right away!
1. Choose the perfect place for your kitchen work center. A dead space could be a good spot for an office. An empty wall, a table and a comfortable chair can do wonders.
2. Use your walls as much as you can! If you’re always in a hurry and you tend to forget things, try a cork backsplash. This is perfect for hanging calendars, memo notes, recipes, or even pictures with your family.
3. If you don’t have a corkboard, you can always use a chalkboard (or paint your wall with chalkboard painting). This is a good way to remember important things like calling your boss or paying your bills.
4. Repurpose some of your kitchen shelves or drawers. Try to use the storage space above the office to organize your paperwork and books.
5. Save some workspace surfaces by using pullout shelves to store printers and fax machines. This is also a way to protect them from dust and, of course, to keep them away from children.
6. Kitchen islands are great for extra storage. This way you will create a boundary between your actual cooking area and the office. Add versatility by using a movable kitchen island. You will have more shelves and less worry regarding storage options.
7. Think about other space saving options. For example, create an under desk storage area. Use empty boxes, magazine racks, or whatever else comes into your mind, and hide them using a curtain.
8. Make sure you have enough power sources for all your equipment (computer, fax, charges, print and so on). If you don’t have enough plugs, use a power strip. Trust us, you will need it!
9. Avoid having all sorts of wires and cords around the countertop. It doesn’t look good and can be dangerous. Think about it: knifes, wires and maybe few drops of water… definitely not a good idea!
10. Lighting is another detail that must be considered. In order to have access to a natural light source, you should place the desk close to the window. In terms of artificial lighting, if you don’t have enough space for a desk lamp, try under cabinet lighting.
11. Fix your computer monitor on the wall, and gain more space for the keyboard.
12. Use a comfortable chair, especially if you spend a lot of time at the computer. You can use one of the chairs in the kitchen, or you can choose another one.
13. If the space allows you, create a window seat in your office kitchen. Don’t you think this would be a great place to spend a late summer evening?
14. Use boxes or wood baskets to store office junk. Forget about the regular and boring trash can! Be inventive if you want your kitchen office to be different from any other offices. Boxes are simple, cute and can be customized. The wood basket reminds me of grandma’s goodies.
15. Hide your office in the closet. I bet you didn’t see that coming! We love this idea and we believe it’s the fastest way to hide clutter when you have unexpected guests. Just close the doors and that’s it, no one will notice anything!
16. Use some of your kitchen tools to organize your office. For example, you can store paper clips in your old ice cubed trays or muffin tins. I think it’s a good idea, don’t you think?
17. If you are creative enough, you’ve probably used a plastic lunch tray for various other purposes. If not, we have an idea for you: use it as an in-drawer organizer!
18. Remember those old graters your grandma used to have in her kitchen? Don’t you think it would be a shame to throw them away when you can turn them into beautiful pencil holders?
19. Use cup holders and wall mounted cups/buckets to store pens or pencils. Manson jars will also do the trick.
20. Use a wine rack to store rolled up magazines or documents.
