You know this kitchen. Maybe it's even yours: counters crammed with clutter, table buried beyond hope of excavation for even the simplest meal.

Inadequate storage is the most common gripe we have about our homes, a National Association of Home Builders survey confirms. And the kitchen - where we cook and entertain, organize our schedules, take messages, do homework, pay bills, stitch costumes - remains a popular spot for remodeling, census data show.

With many families constantly on the go, it's especially tough to maintain order there, says Debbie Lillard, a professional organizer who has appeared on HGTV's "Mission: Organization."

She and other experts agree: Getting a kitchen to peak performance is critical, no matter how big it is.

In Judy Guston's trinity (a house with essentially one room on each of three floors), the 15-by-6-foot kitchen started out as a shed-like structure attached to the back wall of her living room.

There was little contiguous countertop space and even less storage.

With the help of architect John Andrews, a plan was developed to take down the wall between living room and shed, and create a new, more efficient kitchen that would serve as a backdrop for the living room.

Now, its "kitcheny" elements are camouflaged, its architecture played up.

Where the wall stood between the living room and the kitchen, a peninsula now occupies part of the length, boosting storage and counter space.

The refrigerator, which had been on the rear wall, is now off to a side. There are no above-counter cabinets on the back wall, creating a sense of spaciousness.

Instead, the cabinets are floor-to-ceiling on both sides (where they can't readily be seen from the living room). Some include custom-made "garages" to keep small appliances off the counter.

A 12-inch-wide trash compactor precludes the need for a trash can. With city code ruling out a window in the rear, a skylight now pours light onto "wells" in the back wall, creating a sense of depth.

In South Philadelphia, Gregory and Pam Fierro faced a different challenge as they scouted row houses with Teknika Design Group. (Co-owner Roe Fierro is Gregory Fierro's sister.)

The couple needed a kitchen large enough to accommodate a six-burner Viking range, a 24-inch-deep hood, a sizable island with six stools, a score of small appliances, three dozen pots, 30 baking pans, 20 serving trays, a library of 50 essential cookbooks and a pantry big enough to stow the more hard-to-come-by ingredients for several of the world's cuisines.

Gregory Fierro is a professional chef who watches the couple's two small daughters by day while his wife manages the medical staff office of a city hospital. By night, he teaches cooking, experiments with recipes and occasionally caters.

The couple found a row house where they could swap the kitchen with the larger dining room (17 by 11 feet), which they weren't planning to use. A half-wall between the two rooms was removed, and the Fierros made a playroom of the old kitchen.

Some inspiration from the Fierro kitchen:

- Drawers for pots instead of base cabinets (for better access).

- A large pantry with pullout shelves. Extra-tall cabinets near the ceiling for less-used items.

- A pair of trash bins (one for recycling) on the back of a cabinet door instead of a trash can.

- A wall rack for condiments and a pot rack over the island.

"It's like a suitcase that's so carefully packed, you can't believe how much is actually in there," Gregory Fierro says.

At the split-level where organizer Lillard's parents, Barbara and Dietrich Koletty, live, she is helping them develop a plan to tame and update their overflowing late-1960s kitchen.

Her strategy for the 12-foot-square space is part renovation, part smart storage, part mail handling system.

After raising six children in this suburban home, it's just the Kolettys now with their 23-year-old son and a grown daughter who has just returned. So they're looking beyond durability to style and efficiency.

Lillard urged them to build a peninsula, replacing a ledge between kitchen and dining room.

Some other advice:

- Weed out the mail at the door. Pay bills at the rolltop desk in the living room.

- Get rid of the rolling tray with the microwave. (Space can be found for the microwave elsewhere, possibly over the range when new cabinets are installed.)

- Fixing a critical eye on the welter of newspaper clippings and photos on the fridge - "a scrapbook waiting to be born," Lillard says - she suggested slipping a few photos into plastic magnetized frames and clearing off everything else.

Of course, there's the tedious work ahead of sifting through drawers and cabinets and purging the excess. Lillard opened a cabinet door brimming with plastic tumblers, and suggested it was time "to grow up the kitchen a bit."

"Just save enough," she said, "for when the grandkids come over."

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