fig=plt.figure() ## AXES HANDLE ax=fig.add_axes(mpltr.Bbox([[ .14 , .14 ],[ .90 , .92 ]])) ## COLORBAR AXES HANDLE cx=fig.add_axes(mpltr.Bbox([[ .91 , .14 ],[ .93 , .92 ]])) ... ## PLOT THE STUFF YOU WANT ax.contourf(X, Y, Z, etc... ) ... ## COLORBAR cb=plt.colorbar(cf, cax=cx) plt.figtext(.91, .92, (r"Variable Z"), va='bottom', ha='left') ...