The Under $20 Item That Gives My Tiny Rental Kitchen More Counter Space

If you live in a small space, chances are that your kitchen is also equally diminutive. As you can see, my particular kind of tiny rental kitchen is of the single wall variety, with a paltry two cabinets width of counter to speak of. While that (and the single outlet) mean I have to cull the clutter and keep appliances elsewhere when not in use, even when the counter is cleared, that’s not a ton of space to work with if you’re trying to cook a meal. But for under $20, I increased my surface area by a third.

I’m a bit of a messy cook, so I’ll take all the space I can get. Thankfully, I found thiscutting boardthat fits nicely over my apartment-sized stovetop and gives me a little more room to spread out while doing the food prep.

I like that this particular board has a lip on the front edge so that it stays in place when I’m chopping and slicing—which is also helpful when it’s on the counter as well.

Since it’s a wood cutting board and I keep it on my stove, I exclusively relegate it for pre-cooking prep jobs and then slide it off to the counter once that’s cleared of dishes and scraps, just to make sure there’s no chance I forget and turn on a burner by accident.

This brand, Lipper International, also makes an在水槽砧板that’s also under $20, which might just be my next purchase (hello, double the original counter space!).

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