Need More Kitchen Storage? Do These 10 Things

by Amara Holstein

In most kitchens, a little extra storage space can provide a whole lot more breathing room to move around and cook. After all, hunting for saucepans in overcrowded cabinets or searching for a potato peeler when water is boiling on the stove can make kitchen prep extra stressful.  Here are 10 clever ways to create a better-organized kitchen that take ceilings, walls, and your current storage options into account.



1. Ceiling Solutions

Start by taking a deep breath and looking up. Ceilings are a great place from which to hang pots and pans, keeping them within reach while freeing up cabinet space for other important items. Plus, it’s a decorative touch that works well with every aesthetic—and there are even lighted pot racks for added room illumination. When shopping for a ceiling rack, make sure a rack can hold the number and weight of all your pots and pans. Having a handyman or contractor help install a rack is recommended; they’ll know how to secure the rack into studs and beams so that pots stay in place and don’t end up on your head. Make sure your installation professional also takes into account your height and the height of your ceiling so that you can easily reach your pots overhead.

2. Cover the Walls

There are many ways to store your utensils and pots right out in the open. Take a look around at your walls for any extra real estate. For example, small spaces above ovens, countertop backsplashes and blank side walls are all perfect places to suspend spoons and towels from hooks, knives from magnetic strips, and pots and saucepans from racks.

 

 

3. Aim High

When planning for extra storage, there’s no reason to only consider wall spaces that you can easily reach; also use areas that are higher up. Installing extra-tall cabinets that reach to the ceiling is a clever fix for an overhead space that is typically left unused.  The upper cabinets near the ceiling are filled with small kitchen appliances and other objects that are not necessarily needed on a daily basis. The sliding ladders allow for easy access to these unreachable cabinets while breaking up the monotony of an all-white series of cabinets.   If you'd rather not commit to a built-in ladder, you can always opt for a collapsible rolling version.




 

 

4. Get Organized

Making better use of the storage you already have can free up space and increase your efficiency in the kitchen. Instead of the usual jumble of pots and pans, take charge of your cabinets and drawers. Wooden peg inserts can keep dishes and china in place. Knives line up nicely in drawers, wine racks keep bottles in place, and dividers in cabinets can provide slots for baking sheets and cooling racks.

 

 

 

5. Island Time

If you’re remodeling or have square footage to spare, consider installing an island to help with your storage needs. But instead of outfitting it with the usual generic shelves or cabinets that easily become overcrowded with clutter, customize your island’s storage specifically to its uses to keep your kitchen organized. If you want to use your island for eating, you can install drawers for utensils and placemats, along with cabinets tailored with spaces for servingware. A prep-heavy island can have slide-in cutting boards, built-in knife blocks, and spice drawers. 

 

 

 

6. The Cover Up

Small appliances like toasters and coffeemakers can hog valuable countertop space, yet they need to be easily accessible for everyday use. So-called appliance garages hide these objects behind customized cabinet fronts such as swing-out doors, louvered doors, and roll-up doors, all of which slide into cabinets and let you pull appliances out. Taller cabinet spaces can also hide away appliances—such as a microwave, mixer, and blender—on multiple shelves, saving even more room. Or put your mixer in an under-counter cabinet on a pop-up shelf, so it can come to working height whenever needed. You can also tuck appliances into a backsplash area (which means you have to carve out space in the wall), which frees up even more counter room. 

 

7. Let in the Light

 When cabinets aren’t an option, shelves can work well. On walls, shelves are easy to install and items stacked there immediately take on the luster of decorative objects. But don’t stop there! In front of windows, as room dividers, even as a sculptural element, shelving can provide storage and still let light through. In the case of this home, hanging shelves where incorporated and anchored to the ceiling and walls on stainless-steel rods. Dishes and glasses have a place to sit, and the room still feels airy and open.




 

 8. Hide and Seek

There are plenty of often overlooked and almost always underutilized places in kitchens, so search for hidden areas to incorporate additional storage. Drawers can be slotted in the gap between a dishwasher and range, pull-out shallow bins can be fitted into the kick space, and the area over the refrigerator is usually found empty—and makes the perfect space for an extra cabinet, a wine rack, or even a television. Want to be seriously space-efficient? Mimic this smart design in which oils and spices perch on shelves within a custom-created range hood.

 

 

9. See-Through Storage

Storage doesn’t have to be stodgy; make it into a design statement instead! Wine racks can showcase your favorite bottles, colorful grains can become a pretty countertop complement when arrayed in glass jars, and ceramic canisters can be both lovely and practical. Or combine function and form in drawers that both display and contain food, such as the pasta drawers. Only four inches deep, the drawers are set into the end of an island. In addition to pasta, You can also put candy or pretzels in there. It’s something that adds fun texture to a room.

 

 

10. Cut Clutter

Instead of always trying to create more storage solutions, perhaps the simplest—yet most ingenius—idea of all is to decrease the actual amount of stuff you need to store. Spend a weekend weeding out your kitchen. Let go of cookware, table linens, and kitchen tools that you don’t use anymore, or have never really liked. Also consider investing in small appliances that serve multiple purposes, so that you can cut down on counter space while cooking more efficiently. Sounds like smart storage to us.

 

 

Cabinet-S-Top can help you create clever kitchen storage to help you get organized.  We are located at 1977  Medina Road, Medina, OH 44256.  330-239-3630.  www.cabinet-s-top.com