It seems like you've done your best to make the most of your space. Would peg board help by any chance to hang stuff on? My only other comment would be do you really have to have a wok and a food processor and stuff that is only used for one purpose. It's amazing how little you can do without if you put your mind to it. Of course, if you already own the stuff it doesn't help much. Would your landlord allow you to paint the walls? Maybe a fresh color would make you feel better about the space? Hopefully this kitchen is only temporary and some day you will have the kitchen of your dreams.

Stuff is an issue -- the appliances and the like are all things that I've been giving by well-meaning friends who know how much I like to cook. I've re-gifted some of it -- the cappucino maker, the coffee maker, the George Foreman grill -- but I could probably prune a fewmore things like the wok. (I've also moved some things, like the waffle iron I love but only use 4-5 a year, and the fancy glasses, to the front hall closet on the other end of the apartment. Not convenient, but it looks a little better!)

Pegboard might be an option -- and my landlord might like the fact that it means fewer holes in the brick wall.

Painting is a good suggetion, too. I've thought about that -- mostly about painting the foogly cabinets. The cabinet doors are actually plastic! (The last time I did a really deep cleaning/de-greasing, they ended up several different colors -- all equally ugly -- of brown.)

The one improvement I was able to talk the landlord into was finally removing the carpet in their. Not only was it unhygenic -- it was a truely nasty brown plaid! You have to wonder what they were thinking when they put that in....

Thanks for the comments!

I can't tell if the pantry has a door but you were showing us the shelves or if it's open. One thing you can do to cut down on the appearance of clutter is to put blinds over the cabinet tops and the pantry (if the latter has no door). It's inexpensive and landlord friendly :).

used to have an apartment with the same size kitchen!! yikes it is small. hubby has a bad habit of actually using all those specialty appliances. we had to figure out which ones would stay in the kitchen and which had to be stored in the clothes closet, in their boxes. if you have the inclination, take everything out of the kitchen. put up your curtain, ask landlord if you can remove and spraypaint cab doors with lawn chair spray paint (krylon). i am a landlord and if someone asked, i would say no, but i would be willing to spray them myself if tenant cleaned them first. then slowly move appliances back in when you use them. depending on how small the kitchen is, everything that comes back in the first week (two weeks?) can stay. everything else, store elsewhere.
the exception is spices. spices are the biggest problem in a small kitchen, i believe and there really is no other place for them. good luck! kren

Well your kitchen is one foot larger in either direction than mine! I love to cook so I had to make it work. It's also a rental. I got two attractive tension rods (Umbra brand)and "s" hooks and put one across my window and one above my stove between the cabinet to its left and wall on its right. I hang utensils and a lightweight stainless bowl, strainer, etc from them. I have an Ikea rail system that I've grown to appreciate. I have a basket hanging from it that I use to hold onions and such. To one wall, I attached a narrow (12" x 24") piece of butcher block as a shelf using "elbow" brackets so I can fold it down when not in use. I have a stainless steel wall pocket, intended for file folders, and I use that to hold recipes. There's never enough room - it always looks cluttered but I have to live with that. Check out apartmenttherapy.com for its "small cool kitchen" contest entries.

Here are a few pictures of the kitchen I describe above.