Kitchen cabinets and storage organizers
Kitchen storage fails when items don’t have homes, and that’s usually why countertops clutter up and drawers get messy.
Before investing in cabinets, drawers, and organizers, think about where you’ll use them. Here are some questions to consider as you start planning.
Inventory Daily-Use Items First
Before you get fancy, take inventory of the small appliances, food items, and tools you use often. Sort them by frequency: What do you use on a daily basis? Which items are for special holidays and events only?
Ask yourself whether your cooking habits match up with your storage space. Are you buying too much storage for your habits? Maybe you’re not big on baking and you’re not interested in filling upper cabinets with decorative dishes. Do you need more storage? Maybe you like to stock up on groceries, and your pantry needs more bulk storage than you have.
Once you get a sense of your storage needs, ask yourself if your kitchen makes use of them. Think about where things are right now, and why they’re there. It may be obvious: you keep cooking tools near the stove and cleaning tools by the sink. But is that because it’s convenient or because there’s not room for them elsewhere?
Let Countertop Clutter Expose Storage Gaps
Keep a list of items that stray to countertops. Come back to it a week later and check for items that seem to linger there frequently. That might be a good hint as to what’s missing from your storage plan.
When they’re deep, base cabinets can swallow up items. If you open the door to a shelf full of pots or supplies, you may need to pull out the items in front before reaching for what you came for.
Make the most of the space and ease the hassle with these ideas:
- Pull-out shelves and roll-out bins. Instead of shelves, pull-out bins can hold heavier items like pots and pans.
- Built-in drawers. Built-in drawers are an option if you have more expensive cabinets to work with.
If you’ve remodeled and have deep cabinets, check out organizers for deep kitchen cabinets; the practical side of kitchen storage solutions Davie starts there.
Put Storage at the Point of Use
Organized kitchen drawers and cabinets
To make storage more efficient, think about how often and how you use the kitchen:
- Food storage should be nearby refrigerators and pantries.
- Food prep tools belong near the space where you prepare food.
- Pots and pans and cooking tools should go near where you cook, alongside cooking oils, spices, and other items.
- Dishware and glassware should be near the dishwasher, so unloading the machine is quicker.
- Cleaning supplies belong near the sink or the place where you put dirty dishes.
By planning storage around where items belong, you’ll move more efficiently and reduce the chance that two cooks will get in each other’s way. The team at Kitchen Remodeler Davie works with this kind of planning, though this is overkill when existing cabinets already fit daily needs.
Add Specialty Features Only Where They Help
Once you have a general plan, look into special organizers to fill in the gaps:
- Corner cabinets. Corner cabinets can be outfitted with pull-out organizers, but it may be better to use this space for a couple of drawers.
- Spices. Spice racks can be added to a kitchen. Consider a thin pull-out spice rack to keep spices close at hand where you cook.
- Trash and recycling. Some cabinets can accommodate trash cans for easier recycling and trash separation.
- Cutting boards, baking sheets, and lids. Consider storing these items vertically. It’s easier to reach for what you need, and lids won’t get separated from containers.
- Charging station. If you cook with small appliances often, consider a drawer or shelf designed to keep cords and chargers (Wired’s version at wired.com/story is the least fluffy) organized and in reach.
Open shelves are an option for some people and not for others. Make sure you’re willing to maintain organization if you choose them – cluttered or dusty shelves can become a source of stress.
Give Every Item a Maintainable Home
The ideal kitchen storage plan doesn’t necessarily add more cabinets into the mix. Often, it is the reverse, simplify the layout to fit how your family uses the kitchen.
- Wide drawers near the main cooking area can keep pots, pans, serving dishes, and mixing bowls organized.
- A bank of smaller, shallower drawers will keep tools and cooking utensils organized, along with wraps and other items.
- The pantry can hold a lot of items, but it’s hard to organize them, so plan shelves carefully to avoid a jumble of stuff.
- Items under the sink can get cluttered; add organizers for a better way to store cleaning supplies.
Choose organizers that are easy to maintain and will change with your family’s storage needs – see tips here. Modular drawers are a good choice, as are shelves that can be adjusted if your habits and appliances change over time.