Kitchen Storage Ideas

The kitchen is the busiest place in the house, and it’s also where storage and organization become the trickiest. It is where stuff like appliances, cooking gadgets, cookware, tableware, chinaware, food keepers, cutlery, cleaning materials, condiments, dry ingredients, raw food items, and groceries are kept. All these diverse items make every storage spot easy to fill up, and sometimes with no more room left to spare. But thanks to designers and creative house owners, a lot of innovative kitchen storage ideas have been invented to make effective use of space and to keep the kitchen clean and organized. Here are some clever tips that can solve your kitchen storage problems, and even help decorate it:

1. Customize your pantry.

1. Customize your pantry.

Having a walk-in pantry with plenty of shelving and drawers is an enviable kitchen luxury, but it still needs to be organized to be of good service to you. Customize your pantry to better support your storage needs. Add shelves, shallow drawers, and pullout baskets. Group similar items in them, and keep the shelves labeled so it would be easy to find and replace what’s on the shelves. Have everything visible at one look (or at least make all labels easily visible) so you won’t end up losing a lot of time looking for that measuring cup or buying a bottle of paprika when you still have one.

2. Maximize the sink cabinet.

The cabinet under the sink has a lot of storage potential with that space available, but because of the pipes, some people tend to just stack and hide the hose, cleaners, brushes and trash bags in there. Some just make use of the cabinet floor and that’s it – leaving a substantial space above it. It can be tricky to add storage around those pipes, but you can make better use of it by adding a sliding steel organizer, which typically have two tiers. Add storage bins for supplies like sponges, brushes, and rags. Place hooks inside the door for more storage.

3. Have a utensil drawer.

If you are the type of person who doesn’t like kitchen utensils being hung or stored in an open space, have your own utensil drawer. It can be built-in in a deep drawer with pits so you can store your ladle, spatula, whisk, servers, can opener, peelers, and the like. You may also store in your cutlery like spoons and forks in there. But if you want how it is stored but can’t have it custom-made, place stainless steel utensil holders or pots in a deep, empty drawer.

4. Install an appliance garage.

You may have been using your coffee maker, juicer, toaster, and electric kettle every day, but it doesn’t mean you always have to keep them in plain sight. Having an appliance garage will keep them accessible yet out of sight. It also frees up counter space, once the appliances are not in use.

5. Choose pullout shelves over fixed cabinet shelves.

Pots and pans stored in back corners and deep cabinets can be hard to reach when needed. Sometimes when pulling out one specific pan, everything else gets in disarray – the stack of pots gets tumbling down and creates an awfully loud noise that catches the attention of the whole household. If this has been a familiar situation, you need pullout shelves that provide easy access to your pots and pans. These shelves have front trays that pull out and easily reveals what’s stored in it and has a shallow lip around each shelf to keep stuff from falling off. Even the narrowest vertical space can be maximized with pullout shelving. Vertical pullout columns and racks are great for storing spices, jars and cylindrical items like canned goods and bottles.

6. Stash items in open shelves.

Open shelves are a hot trend for kitchens nowadays. It provides plenty of storage while keeping things easy to spot and retrieve, while also helping a cramped space to open up. It also lets you display your pretty kitchenware and flaunt some of your spice collection. It’s best to maximize your vertical wall space with open shelves that extend to the ceiling.

7. Squeeze in floating shelves.

If you have extra wall space but don’t have enough room and/or budget for additional cabinets, add some floating shelves on a countertop. To maximize space, place two to three tiers on either side of the window, and also one above the window. You can install hooks under the bottom shelf so you can hang utensils, pots, hand towels or mugs.

8. Maximize corners.

Always having trouble looking for stuff in your deep corner shelf? Make search, retrieval, and storage easier by installing corner drawers. These drawers run diagonally into the corner, making them deeper –thus letting you store bigger items. But if you plan to store smaller items like cleaners and sprays, or bottled drinks and snacks, use a carousel-style rack that spins to allow easy access to every item.

9. Mount a chalkboard to your pantry door.

Keep track of your grocery needs by mounting a piece of chalkboard panel inside the pantry door. By having a chalkboard inside, you can easily remind yourself or anyone in the household the items you need to buy on your next grocery trip. It can also serve as a reminder for tasks and for your to-do lists. Get a chalk holder, attach it to a ribbon, and keep the ribbon in place through a hook on top of the board so you won’t need to dig through your drawers when you need to write something.

10. Repurpose office supplies.

Office organizers like magazine files are also useful for the kitchen. Mount a magazine file inside a cabinet door to store cleaning supplies, sprayers, or perhaps rolls of aluminum foil and plastic wrap. These magazine files can also be stored on a countertop under wall cabinets, to store items like your kids’ water tumblers. You may also mount a wall file into a cabinet door for storing lids of your food containers.

11. Use clear containers.

11. Use clear containers.

Keep a uniform look for your countertops and storage cabinets with clear storage containers. Buy spice holders and jars in bulk to store spices, flour, dry cereals, candies, and even pet foods. Using clear, transparent storage makes it easier to identify your goods, and it’s also better if you would add labels to avoid confusion because white sugar also looks like salt and cornstarch also looks like flour. This works for your refrigerator, too. Sometimes, people tend to keep leftover foods or short-shelf-life items for too long in the fridge, forgetting that it might expire. Use stackable, clear plastic containers to keep frozen foods visible and nicely stacked. This way, you won’t forget the food items you do have.

12. Make use of that little drawer under the sink.

Do you have that fake drawer fronts under your sink? Some of these are transformable into tilt-out bins that are perfect for hiding sponges and scrubbers. Free up some valuable counter space with this hack.

13. Hang steel baskets.

The backsplash is a storage area waiting to happen. Steel baskets are helpful for making this space useful. Place a pair of baskets above the sink or in any available backsplash space using adhesive hooks or a metal rod. Use it to store kitchen utensils, pot holders, cleaning supplies or fresh fruits or vegetables. Its wire design allows you to easily see what’s in it, plus, when put above the sink, it helps sponges and wet rags dry quicker.

14. Use pegboards.

A simple pegboard wall can give you a variety of storage possibilities. Have them fastened to a part of your kitchen wall, then add hooks so you can hang utensils, pots and other kitchen gadgets for easy access.