9 Tips For Entertaining In A Shoebox Kitchen Slideshow

When you've got a small kitchen, every inch counts. Start by tossing out what you don't use. Using mismatched dishes is fine, but if you're yearning for something new, opt for white. Move your wine bottles off the counter with this modular hanging wine caddy (left) that you can add to as needed or opt for a wall-mounted rack (right). Then use something like this to keep your knife drawer free to use for serving essentials and cocktail napkins. Then continue to detox your kitchen of clutter with more tips here.

Maximize the space that you do have. That means clearing your counters of clutter, useless kitchen appliances, and last week's mail. Your home will instantly feel larger and you won't have to worry about your friends seeing how much you rang up on your credit card bill. Then continue to maximize your serving to counter space ratio by stacking cake plates and serving trays when setting up the meal.

You don't need a dining room table to entertain guests. I've been to many a dinner party where we've dined on small stools with plates in our laps, or have been seated around a coffee table, sitting on the floor or a fireplace hearth. If you have a couch and a coffee table (or even a basket you can put a tray or oversized cutting board on), great! You've got a space to entertain. Serve your food buffet-style from the kitchen (on your clutter-free counter), then let guests pick where they'd like to sit.

When entertaining, offering your guests a glass of something cool is just as important as the meal itself. So what do you do when your fridge is full of appetizers and your beer and bubbly need chilling? Turn your sink into an ice bucket. Close the drain with the stopper, add your booze, and then cover it in ice. Plus, it makes cleaning up easy.

When you are short on space, choosing the right dish to serve matters a lot when entertaining. Cara Eisenpress and Phoebe Lapine, the big girls behind Big Girls Small Kitchen, are seasoned small kitchen hostesses. Their secret? To keep it simple, and serving a one-pot meal is their go-to favorite. Try this hearty chili or tagine (at left), or check out the whole section of ideas in their book and on their site for more recipes to try. 

Cooking for a crowd is challenging enough. But as many small kitchens lack a dishwasher, cleaning all those dishes, glasses, and utensils by hand can be even more terrible. The solution here is to reduce the number of plates, utensils, and glasses dirtied during the night. Start by making sure no one loses their glass by marking each with a fun glass charm. Then serve up finger-friendly foods like crostini, mini flautas or tarts (at left), and prosciutto rolls. 

It's a trick private chefs like Sarah and Lydia of Apples & Onions and small cooks like Cara and Phoebe swear by. No-bake appetizers and desserts can be a breeze to assemble with the right pantry staples, like cheese and crackers, or the berries and whipped cream at left, and nothing is wrong with picking up a loaf of bread on your way home to serve with that stew.

At the end of the day, your dinner party is a party because you're sharing good food with good friends. The girls at Big Girls Small Kitchen see it this way: When it comes to entertaining in a small kitchen, "it's all about resisting the little extras and focusing your attention in the kitchen." Don't worry about pressed linens or beautiful china — all your guests need is something festive to drink, a warming meal, and good company.

Really short on space? Forget the meal and just serve cocktails instead. A couple of strategically placed bowls of cocktail nuts or potato chips pair perfectly with bubbly, while beer goes quite well with cheese.