Tips for great kitchen storage

While the primary function of a kitchen may be cooking, when you consider what consumes the most real estate in this pivotal room, it's all about storage. Storage plays an essential role in how well a kitchen functions: Is it easy to find what you need, put away the groceries, unload the dishwasher? How well does it work for making lunches, cooking for a dinner party or choreographing the intricate ballet of the entire family trying to grab breakfast at the same time? No matter how large or small the room, if it's not well organized and efficiently arranged, if there are cluttered counters and overflowing recycling bins, it will undermine the space as well as your sanity. So we  tried to answer some of the more pressing kitchen storage questions and dilemmas.


What are the key storage elements that are recommended when remodeling or building a kitchen?

Some standards might include a double trash/recycling pullout; cutlery dividers; spice rack either inside the cabinet door or in a drawer; deep drawers for pots and pans; drawers for snacks and leftover containers; and a set of vertical tray dividers. Roll-out shelves for base and pantry cabinets are a great addition along with peg systems and lid holder within pots and pans drawers.


What are some good organizers that you can retrofit or add to existing, older cabinets?

Try retro-fitting cabinets with roll-out shelves and bins in the vase cabinets, pull-out trash bins, cutlery and knife block inserts for drawers; pullout bins beneath the sink and tray dividers. Even in a new kitchen, interior amenities are often better outsourced from companies like Rubbermaid and the Outwater catalog so you can custom-fit them to your needs. Another company, Rev-A-Shelf, have terrific accessories. If you cabinets aren't too old, you may even be able to contact the manufacturer and order pull-out shelves for your base cabinets.

Do you recommend drawers rather than base cabinets, or some of each?

Drawers are great for pots and pans, dish storage, kids snacks- any area that gets a lot of use. You still need standard base cabinets for items like small appliances and then a roll-out shelf increases functionality. As great as drawers are, if you're on a tight budget, roll-out trays in standard base cabinets will save money.

What's the most common mistake people make that leads to a disorganized kitchen?

Not placing items within their particular work zone will issues. If you have to walk across the room, wait for your son to close the refrigerator door, dance around the dog and back again simply to get the flour or mixer for baking, you're taking more steps and time than you need to. Not storing like items together can also create problems. When you're making your grocery list, you don't want to go on a scavenger hunt to determine if you have baking powder. It can help to label shelves for pasta, canned goods, baking supplies, etc so everyone knows where to find and put away things.

What are some overlooked storage opportunities and ways to take advantage of them?

Go vertical: Install a rail system on the backsplash, like those by Hafele or IKEA to hold cooking utensils, paper towels and spices. Use the backs of cabinet and pantry doors Elfa door units can hold water bottles or soda bottles in the pantry or spices on a cabinet door.
Adding extra depth to a cabinet increases capacity too. For example, a standard upper cabinet at 12 to 13 inches deep can be increased to 16 inches without much added cost, yet it allows an extra row of glassware or food items. You might think about adding shallow base cabinets that are 12 to 18 inches deep to the end of a cabinet run, or on the back side of an island or peninsula. they're perfect for small appliances, cookbooks or toddlers cereal bowls at that heart-stopping age when they think climbing on the counter to reach the cabinets is fun! Another tip: Pull base cabinets forward to create a larger, deeper counter surface, which is helpful given all the appliances are accessories we tend to keep there, and it's better proportioned for today's larger kitchens!