7 Small-Kitchen Habits from My Tiny Apartment in Japan
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It doesn’t change which products I include or what I say about them.
I live in a 1DK apartment in Kasukabe, a city just north of Tokyo. In Japan, “1DK” means one room plus a small dining-kitchen, and mine is not spacious at all. I’m not a professional organizer, and my kitchen isn’t a magazine kitchen. It’s a real one, with a dish basket and a kettle on the counter.
But living in a small space every day teaches you a few things. These are seven habits I actually follow, plus what I’ve learned while researching Japanese storage products for this site. Each one links to a more detailed guide if you want to go further.
1. Use the height, not just the floor
If there’s one rule in my kitchen, it’s this one: when you can’t go wider, go up.
Next to my fridge stands a cupboard about 2 meters (6.5 feet) tall. I chose a tall one on purpose, and I use the top of it too. On the counter, my seasonings sit on a two-level wire rack, with spice jars on top and containers of salt and sugar underneath, so they take up one footprint instead of two.
There’s about 60 cm (23.6 inches) between my counter and the cabinet above it. That’s a lot of empty air on a counter where every inch matters.
If you want to try this with one product, a small stackable shelf like Yamazaki’s Tower Stackable Kitchen Rack adds a second level for spices and jars.
Go further: Countertop shelves that double a small counter, including how to work out what fits under your cabinets.
2. Use the gaps
The gap between my fridge and that tall cupboard is about 25 cm (10 inches) wide. It holds a slim pedal trash can about 20 cm (8 inches) wide. Japanese buyers of slim storage products have a name for this: sukima shūnō, or “gap storage.” Many kitchens have a gap like this, and it often holds nothing but dust.
If your gap is at least about 6 inches wide, Yamazaki’s Tower Slim Rolling Cart with Handle (5.1 inches wide) turns it into three shelves.
Go further: Slim rolling carts for the gap next to your fridge, and magnetic organizers for the side of the fridge itself.
3. Stand things up
Flat things take up a lot of room lying down. My one plastic cutting board lives standing up in a small wire stand from a 100-yen shop (Japan’s version of a dollar store), along with two knives. Standing things up works for dishes, lids and trays too.
Go further: Cutting board stands (check your board’s thickness first), dish racks for a small sink area and the Yamazaki ladle and lid holder, Small vs. Large.
4. Measure before you buy
Japanese products are often sized for Japanese homes. Here’s an example from my own kitchen: my roll of kitchen paper is 22.6 cm (about 8.9 inches) tall. A Yamazaki paper towel holder made for rolls like that turned out to be about 3 inches too short for a US buyer’s paper towels. The fix was a different version of the same holder.
The same goes for lids, cutting boards and the space under your cabinets. In the reviews I read for this site, “smaller than I expected” comes up again and again. A tape measure prevents most of those disappointments.
Go further: Will magnetic organizers stick to your fridge?, which also covers the paper towel holder that runs small.
5. Rinse and dry before it goes out
In my city, milk cartons are rinsed and dried before they go out for recycling. It’s a small habit, and it keeps the recycling from getting smelly while it waits for pickup.
A stand that holds bottles and cartons upside down to dry takes up very little room. Yamazaki sells one in Japan as a “plastic bag eco holder,” and it does more than you’d think.
Go further: How to use the Yamazaki Multi Eco Stand: 8 ideas.
6. Plan around the pickup calendar
Kasukabe sorts trash into several categories, and each one has its own pickup days. In my area, burnable trash goes out three times a week, but bottles, cans and plastic bottles go out only every other week. That means some recyclables sit in my kitchen for two weeks or more. So the question isn’t just “how do I sort?” It’s “where does two weeks of bottles live?”
Go further: How to set up a Japanese-style recycling station in a small kitchen, with my city’s real pickup calendar.
7. Start cheap, and upgrade what bugs you
Not everything in my kitchen is a design object. My recycling is sorted into store shopping bags on the floor, and my cutting board stand came from a 100-yen shop. They work.
If you’re going to spend money, spend it where something bothers you every day, not everywhere at once. If wet lids on the counter drive you crazy, start there. If bottles crowd your dish rack, start there. And when you do buy, pick one color so the new things look like they belong together.
Go further: 7 Yamazaki kitchen picks for small kitchens and Yamazaki Tower in black or white?
Start here: every guide on this site
| If you want to… | Read this |
|---|---|
| See the best small-kitchen picks in one place | 7 Yamazaki kitchen picks for small kitchens |
| Get more out of a bottle-drying stand | How to use the Multi Eco Stand |
| Use the side of your fridge | Will magnetic organizers stick to your fridge? |
| Find a lid holder that fits your lids | Ladle & lid holder: Small vs. Large |
| Choose a dish rack for a tight sink area | Tower dish racks compared |
| Use the gap beside your fridge | Slim rolling carts, Japanese style |
| Sort recycling without losing floor space | A Japanese-style recycling station |
| Add a second level to your counter | Countertop shelves for a small kitchen |
| Store cutting boards upright | Cutting board stands |
| Pick a color | Yamazaki Tower: black or white? |
None of these habits need a big budget or a big kitchen. They just need you to look at your space a little differently: up, into the gaps, and with a tape measure in hand.
