WinCE C# project: Menu occupies too much space

I have a menu in my C# NETCF 2.0 application. There are only 2 menu items in the top row. If I put a label beside them it's invisible, blocked by the menu eventhough the area is free. The menu seems to occupy a standard area no matter how many top menu items there are in the menu. Is there any way of making a menu occupy only 30 % of the top row instead of 80 % (what it seems to be right now)

Smart Device Development16

Which emulator or device are you targeting at runtime

A device my company manufactures themselves. It runs Windows CE 5.0 and NETCF 2.0. I've also been using the Platform Builder Emulator.

On Windows CE platform the menu (if not empty) reduces the client area by the height of the menu. You cannot display controls in the menu area