My kitchen is small too. And not much storage. I have to keep my canned goods down on a shelf in the basement as there is no other place to put them. My microwave is on a mico wave cabinet which has storage for boxed type pantry items below in a closed cabinet. It is in my office and there is no way I could get it in my kitchen. So yes, you do what you can and I just deal with it. There is no way anything is going to change in my house.
