Everyone would like more storage in their kitchen as we love to collect glasses, dishes and all sorts of gadgets to make cooking and baking more fun. The challenge with all these collections is where to store them, and how to organize them so we can find everything easily.
When you pick out kitchen cabinets today, you have lots more choices beyond the standard drawers versus shelving. Many new cabinets are designed to store what you need right where you need it.
Sliding Shelves Have Many Uses
Sliding shelves are made of wood, metal or plastic. Most are shelves with sides to hold in the stored items as you pull them out and some are meant for one item like shelves that hold trash and recycling bins. You can order sliding shelves when you get your cabinets or add them later once you decide where you want to store things.
Sliding shelves are really helpful with deep cabinets (24 inch) where it's hard to reach what you've stored in the back. That's why you'll see them in:
- Kitchen base cabinets.
- Under the sink cabinet (kitchens and bathrooms).
- Tall pantry cabinets that are as deep as base cabinets.
Now I have to share a funny story, along with a bit of advice for homeowners with small children. My younger son loved water which created many adventures until he was old enough to join the swim team (and he's in the Navy now). Sometimes the band aids in the bathroom drawer became fish when Ryan filled the drawer with water. When Ryan learned to climb on a chair, I found a tsunami sloshing towards me one day when I pulled out a shelf in my pantry. He had filled every pot to the brim with water – 4 sliding shelves!
Drawers and More to Stay Organized
Drawers are an essential feature in every kitchen. One of the biggest challenges is deciding which items to group together in a given drawer and then how to keep everything organized so you can find what you need. It helps to think outside the box, or should I say … drawer. Here are ideas for organizing your kitchen in different ways:
- Use small boxes or baskets to keep things inside larger drawers organized.
- Don't hide everything inside a drawer. Baskets on open shelves are great for storing vegetables like potatoes and onions. A spice rack can offer a nice array of colors and make it easy to grab the spices you need when cooking.
- Drawers can serve a special function like the freezer shown below (center) that holds ice and more for those who like to entertain.
- Build shelves into kitchen nooks for cookbooks, spices and more.
- Add hooks below shelves and hang your favorite coffee cups where you can enjoy them.
- Over-sized pots and pans can be hung from a ceiling rack or stored in a window seat.
I totally agree when you said that we should not keep everything inside drawers. Things we use a lot are easier for us to get to when needed, if they’re on the counter top. With that in mind, I will be buying storage items that we can just put some of out things on. This is perfect for the festive season since we cook a lot for the holidays, so we can use the utensils and the spices displayed near the counter. We just can’t put them on the counter because we already have appliances there which will make it look too cluttered if we add more.
Millie, You’re smart to keep things out that you use frequently. As it sounds like your counter tops are pretty full with appliances, one idea to consider is a narrow shelf underneath the wall cabinets. I like to put cups & glasses there, hanging the cups from hooks below the shelf. You can make the shelf any height you want … so measure your spices & make sure they’ll fit.