Adding this island was truly a game-changer. It not only gave us a much-needed prep space, but it also serves as additional storage for our cooking gizmos and gadgets. 

To really make it feel part of the space, we painted it to match the rest of the kitchen, which has created a nice and seamless look. 

Not only does this give us more counterspace, but it also simultaneously gives us easy access to the things we use the most, like our salt, oven mitts, and Sharpie and tape combo for labeling things. There are a plethora of these magnetic holders available online, from ones with even more storage to ones that are simpler. This one fits our space so well! 

Once we found out that our apartment didn't have a dishwasher, we immediately got to researching our options because having to hand-wash all of our dishes wasn't going to work for us. Through our research, we learned about the invention that is the cute and compact countertop dishwasher. We were definitely skeptical at first, but our options were either handwashing everything or giving it a try, so we opted for the latter option, and we were pleasantly surprised. We can fill it up with our dishes after breakfast and lunch, and run it just before dinner, and it helps keep our kitchen so tidy. We still mourn the fact that we don't have a full-sized one almost every day, but we are still very happy to have found a solution that works for us.