Our Favorite Kitchen Storage Ideas Now
Make the most of every square inch with these clever cabinetry solutions
Becky Harris
May 30, 2017
Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe as "collected."
I got into design via Landscape Architecture, which I studied at the University of Virginia.
Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe... More
This article is from our Most Popular stories file.
If you can’t find a lid for every pot, your herbs are a jumble, your baking sheets are buried and everyone’s charging devices have taken over your kitchen countertops, this ideabook is for you. Kitchen and cabinet designers are constantly coming up with solutions to make working in your kitchen easier and more functional. Here are some of the best ideas they’re sharing on Houzz.
If you can’t find a lid for every pot, your herbs are a jumble, your baking sheets are buried and everyone’s charging devices have taken over your kitchen countertops, this ideabook is for you. Kitchen and cabinet designers are constantly coming up with solutions to make working in your kitchen easier and more functional. Here are some of the best ideas they’re sharing on Houzz.
Lids and containers together. Traditional cabinets are simply not set up to help us keep lids and containers together. They become jumbled space hogs in upper cabinets, and lids disappear into the lowers, never to be found again. Organizing food storage containers is always a challenge. This tiered pullout insert will ensure that you’ll never be digging through a mess looking for the right lid again.
Easy cutting. This pullout is so clever. It has a nice extension for chopping at counter height, and when both drawers are pulled out, you can swipe the waste directly through the hole into the bin.
Cabinets 101: How to Get the Kitchen Storage Your Want
Cabinets 101: How to Get the Kitchen Storage Your Want
Toe-kick drawers. This is such a clever solution, as if someone was looking at a kitchen and saying, ‘"Hmm, there simply must be more inches around here somewhere,” then looked down at their feet and had a light-bulb-over-the-head moment. There’s valuable space lurking beneath those lower cabinets.
How to Add Toe-Kick Drawers for More Storage
How to Add Toe-Kick Drawers for More Storage
Cookie sheets and cutting boards. These pieces are shallow but hard to find a good spot for. If you don’t have the aforementioned toe-kick drawers, they wind up toppling over pots and pans or getting buried beneath them. A narrow cabinet takes up very little room and can house cutting boards and baking sheets. And check out how well-organized the spices are in the adjacent drawer.
See the 15 Most Popular Kitchen Storage Ideas on Houzz
See the 15 Most Popular Kitchen Storage Ideas on Houzz
A pullout under the kitchen sink. What Lies Beneath is an ominous and scary movie title that also applies to the space under the kitchen sink. I don’t know about you, but no matter how hard I try, this area winds up a jumble of dish soap, dishwasher detergent, trash bags and a ridiculous amount of paper towels. (I keep forgetting to cancel that bulk order on Amazon Subscribe and Save!) Most disturbingly, the fire extinguisher winds up getting buried in the back instead of being front and center where it should be. A pullout drawer would be so much better than kneeling and blindly digging around down there with one hand.
Racks for linens. Tablecloths can be tricky to store. Mine are folded up in a drawer, which means they desperately need ironing when I pull them out to use them. And I hate ironing, so they just look bad when I put them on the table with all of those fold marks in them. This solution keeps them much more dinner-party-ready.
Small-appliance solutions. As many savvy Houzzers pointed out in the Comments in a recent Kitchen of the Week story, these mixers are heavy. This solution lifts a cumbersome kitchen appliance like a mixer up to countertop level with ease.
Browse small kitchen appliances
Browse small kitchen appliances
Deep pullouts. Other small appliances like blenders and smoothie makers can be stashed in deep pullouts like this one, which is camouflaged as a lower cabinet door.
Utensil canister inserts. Easy access to these cooking tools is imperative, but they don’t fit into silverware organizers and often wind up in a canister on the counter. These deep drawers with built-in canisters are an elegant and convenient solution.
The banquette stash. Lift-up bench tops are great for stashing items in your banquette, but a drawer like this means you don’t have to move cushions, pillows or people around when accessing that hidden storage.
A hidden place for charging. Speaking of counter clutter, personal devices are the worst. And they’re full of germs — not a good mix with surfaces where you prepare food. Charging drawers keep them tucked away, safe from spills and ready for playing podcasts and looking up recipes while you’re working in the kitchen.
Now I can’t stop thinking about those germs. Stash a packet of cleaning wipes in here too.
Now I can’t stop thinking about those germs. Stash a packet of cleaning wipes in here too.
Upper cabinet storage below. With open shelving and windows where our china and glassware storage used to be, lower cabinets need to work much harder and smarter these days. When outfitted like this, it makes it easy. Well, fairly easy — think of it as getting some extra squats into your workout when you need to grab something.
The Pros and Cons of Upper Kitchen Cabinets and Open Shelves
The Pros and Cons of Upper Kitchen Cabinets and Open Shelves
With the help of pullouts like these, pantry storage can be moved below as well.
Find pantry and kitchen cabinet organizers
Find pantry and kitchen cabinet organizers
The Lazy Susan alternative. Blind corner cabinets have a lot of extra space that can be difficult to access. And that Susan, she is lazy. When I think of her, I think of cereal boxes toppling over whenever I give her a spin. A system like this one makes it much easier to grab what you need.
Share: This one made me laugh when I thought of my own blind corner cabinet. It’s full of small, cheap, corporate-swag coolers my friends inevitably leave here every year during my neighborhood’s big summer festival. Does your kitchen have a problem area? Did you come up with a solution or are you looking for one? Did you leave a soft AutoTrader.com cooler and a leopard print Jen’s Bachelorette Party koozie at my house last year during Summerfest? Let’s help each other out in the Comments.
More
Stash It All: Know the 3 Zones of Kitchen Storage
Browse the latest kitchen photos
Share: This one made me laugh when I thought of my own blind corner cabinet. It’s full of small, cheap, corporate-swag coolers my friends inevitably leave here every year during my neighborhood’s big summer festival. Does your kitchen have a problem area? Did you come up with a solution or are you looking for one? Did you leave a soft AutoTrader.com cooler and a leopard print Jen’s Bachelorette Party koozie at my house last year during Summerfest? Let’s help each other out in the Comments.
More
Stash It All: Know the 3 Zones of Kitchen Storage
Browse the latest kitchen photos
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@Megan NY Seattle is fortunate along with other cities that can provide that service and people are willing to pay for it. Not everyone lives in that type of locale. I am rural. We don't have those services. I compost because it's cheaper for me to do so and it's beneficial to the plants and soil. About every two months, I take paper, tin cans, plastic bottles to the recycle center about 20 miles away. Things I cannot recycle or I cannot reuse go into the trash pick up that I share with two other neighbors. What I sent to the track pick up amounts to one small plastic retail store bag aka grocery bag. Since I don't use them (I have my own grocery bags from Red Oxx that will outlast me), I tend to pack the plastic wrapping into the plastic salad bags or other plastic food bags or plastic containers that I cannot burn and are not recyclable. All metals such that I cannot recycle normally I take to the metal salvage place. They actually give me money for them. It's not much but it adds up over time and they can melt down the metals and reuse them. I try to keep my footprint as small as possible. :)
I really like the pullout cutboard idea. You dont realize how useful something like that is until you actually get to use one. Also it helps with the trash bin directly under it.
These are all great ideas. If you are an interior designer or specifier, please check out our cabinet hardware and accessories. We distribute quality exclusive products.Marathon Hardware