Large amount of whitespace when playlists are shown

[aitte]

Windows 8.1
VLC 2.2.1 64-bit, but this is a persistent problem for me
Forum searches didn't bring up anything relevant.

Handy dandy reference image:
http://imgur.com/Kgc77yg

The problem I'm having is that I can't resize the video panel. The area above the video ("Playlist...MY Computer...My Devices", etc) will not reduce below that size. I also can't find a way to remove that upper panel without fully un-toggling the playlists at all. I'd really like to have the playlist sidebar show and remove that upper element completely. Am I missing a setting somewhere, or is this something people leave playlists off for?