Big Thanksgiving Dinner, Small Kitchen

I just moved the turkey from the freezer to the refrigerator to begin the defrosting process, so Thanksgiving is feeling very close! I'm doing all of the cooking this year, so fortunately I have a spacious, luxurious kitchen in which to prep all of the fabulous dishes. Ha ha ha! Good one! In reality our kitchen is pretty darned small and counter space is practically nonexistent. I'm used to it by now, so I thought I'd share a few of my workarounds for creating a holiday meal or big party in a small kitchen.

1. Do as much as you can ahead of time and freeze. I've already got the corn pudding, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, an apple tart and half of the stuffing done and I plan to do more later this week. I have the luxury of an auxiliary freezer in the basement (which is lucky, since our ice maker just broke and lovely libations require a lot of ice) and getting these things done ahead of time means I won't be scrambling for space to prep those dishes later. If you have room in your freezer, freeze!

That freezer is about half the size of our kitchen!

2. Co-opt space. I just watched the Thanksgiving episode of "That Girl," in which Ann tried to make many more dishes than her kitchen would allow, and she cleverly borrowed her neighbor's oven to get it all done. Of course disaster ensued, since "That Girl" is a comedy, but the idea is sound. If you can borrow oven or refrigerator space, do it! 

Poor Ann

3. A solid cutting board is your friend. We have a Corian cutting board that I can lay over the stove to create counter space. The stove should, of course, be off - you don't want to set yourself on fire! And make sure that it's resting evenly, so it doesn't move around. But it beats using the floor!

What I wouldn't give for those cabinets!

Do you have a small kitchen? If you have any tips you'd like to share, I'd love to hear them!