The One Appliance Upgrade You Need If You Have A Tiny Kitchen

Plenty of recipes boast about requiring just one pot, only a handful of ingredients, or taking next to no time to make. Few and far between, though, are the recipes that require minimal space — and if you're working in a tiny kitchen, we feel your pain. Seeing that a recipe requires an invariably large and difficult-to-wash crock pot, Instant Pot, or even a large soup or stew pot can be enough to make you scroll right past, as it just isn't worth the hassle. If that sounds familiar, we have a brilliant — and brilliantly easy — upgrade for you that will change how you see and use your kitchen.

There are plenty of appliances that you don't technically need in a kitchen, but when it comes to the crucial ones, a sink is at the top of the list. If you think there's only so much that you can do to maximize space in your tiny kitchen and work within the footprint that's set aside for your sink, that's not precisely true — upgrading your faucet can make a world of difference.

It's easy to do, too: Faucets are widely available and sold in different price ranges, and swapping one for another is a surprisingly easy do-it-yourself project. The benefits outweigh the effort, and if you have a tiny kitchen, you'll wonder how you ever managed before making this super easy upgrade.

In addition to utilizing the best small kitchen appliances, installing a taller faucet is not only one of the easiest upgrades you can make to your kitchen, but it'll give you an almost shocking amount of space. If you have trouble washing everything from baking trays to pots, pans, casserole dishes, and colanders, this will be a game-changer.

There are other benefits, too. Not only will a tall faucet make maneuvering dishes easier, but if you're making a multi-dish meal but still need to get into the sink, you'll be able to — without taking the time to wash what you've already made dirty. There's a good chance it'll also be a little more ergonomically friendly: If you find yourself leaning over all the time to wash dishes, you'll love standing up straighter while you're rinsing. Need to fill a pot with water? You won't have to angle it into the sink or fill other containers to transfer water — even when a few dishes are already in the sink.

Another thing we love about this is that it's a change you can make even if you're renting. Landlords tend to frown on permanent modifications made to apartments, but this one-day, do-it-yourself project is easily reversible. Just store the old faucet in case you need to change it back, and no one will ever be the wiser.

Gone are the days of just a few basic designs in kitchen sink technology. When it comes to making the most of your tiny kitchen, there are a few designs that we'd recommend looking into when selecting a taller faucet.

For starters, check out touchless automatic faucets. We love this for sanitary reasons: Say you're prepping some raw chicken and washing your hands before moving on to something else. Anyone with a small kitchen knows how compact everything is, and if it's easy to spread a mess from the sink to the stove, it's easy to spread germs, too. A tall, touchless faucet will help you keep everything clean and contained, which is a total win. 

We're also a fan of tall faucets with spray hoses built right into the faucet itself. Side sprayers — those separate sprayers mounted alongside the main faucet — take up space, and when space is at a premium, they're just annoying. Opt for a tall faucet with a retractable sprayer, and you'll find that the next time you consider making a batch of slow cooker chili to eat and freeze ahead, you won't dread cleaning that slow cooker. And what about pasta night? You'll never fight with draining your pasta in a colander again.