Creative Ways to Add Plants to Even a Tiny Kitchen

Nothing adds life (literally and aesthetically) to a space quite like plants. And in a kitchen, plants can serve a double purpose, because if you choose to grow herbs, you can look at them and eat them, too. You may think that having a teeny-tiny kitchen means no room to grow things, but that’s where you’d be wrong. If you’ve got the light, we’ve got nine ideas for ways you can find the space.

Does your kitchen have open shelves (or maybe a spot or two where you can add some?). Try working in plants next to your dishware, like in this beautifully green kitchen from The Jungalow.

If your fridge is on the short side (or you’re on the tall side and don’t mind reaching up to water), the top of the fridge can be a great spot for planting, as seen on Oh Happy Day.

Are you lucky enough to have a window in front of your sink? You can build a shelf across it and turn the resulting space into a kitchen garden, as seen on Bo Bedre. (I also love the idea of growing a lemon tree on the kitchen counter, but admittedly not everyone has the space—and you’d definitely need a window that gets a whole lot of light.)

Amber from The Bird and Her Song used dowels and curtain hardware to hang a series of planters over her kitchen window. (Follow the link for the DIY.)

This DIY from Micasa is a little more involved, since it necessitates hanging things from the ceiling—but this is an idea that would work in front of almost any window. Follow the link for more detailed instructions.

Those not so inclined to DIY can take inspiration from this photo from IKEA, which uses (among other things) IKEA’s Bittergurka planter, which can be stacked and hung from the ceiling (it’s the two-tiered white planter on the upper right).

Here’s another solution from IKEA, this one using their Fintorp wall storage solution to create a vertical garden.

The kitchen of Summer’s Brooklyn apartment might be the most plant-packed kitchen I’ve ever seen. If you have the space but still feel a bit squeamish about having pots of dirt on the countertop, try a tiny greenhouse, like this one.

Here’s another countertop solution, from Two Twenty One. Chelsea used a tiered stand to store both fruits and plants, so she’s getting a lot of utility out of that little bit of counter real estate. I believe these plants are fake (a great solution for the not-so-green-thumbed), but you could just as easily use a similar solution for real ones.