Kitchens typically overflow with utensils, pots and pans, glasses, plates and other utilitarian—but cumbersome—objects. Cabinets can become cluttered and drawers, a jumbled mess.
To avoid kitchen chaos, it’s important that you optimize the storage space you have. Here are a few tips you can apply right now, easily and cheaply.
More Cabinet Shelves
The way kitchen cabinets are configured doesn’t always match our needs. An insufficient number of shelves or an awkwardly divided cupboard may waste a lot of space. Consider the cabinet in which you store your glasses and cups. Wouldn’t it look less cluttered with an extra shelf on which to distribute your drinkware?
A Small Door-Mounted Waste Bin
Now that many cities and municipalities offer a compostable waste collection service, having a large trash can underneath the sink is increasingly impractical. All the more so since a bag containing food waste should be thrown out every day to prevent odours. Get rid of your big bin and replace it with a more compact door-mounted model that fits below the sink. And voilà: more space!
Cabinet Organizers
Major online retailers offer a wide range of small shelving inserts to organize your spices, plastic containers, pasta, etc. Some models have a rotating mechanism or can be moved forward to provide easy access to your products. Just remove the existing shelves (if necessary) and install the unit inside your cabinet to make your day-to-day life simpler.
Food Storage Jars
Commercial food packaging is often bulky. You’ll gain space by decanting your pantry goods into glass or plastic canisters, for example.
Utensil Crock
Tongs, spatulas, whisks and other cooking utensils will look great standing in crocks on the countertop! Especially if you coordinate colours and materials.
A Kitchen Cart
Don’t have an island? Buy a cart on wheels where you can store all your coffee nook tools (percolator, sugar, mugs, etc.) and place it along a wall or in the dining room.
Wall-Mounted Shelves and Hooks
Don’t miss out on all that vertical real estate! Is there enough room for hooks or shelves? They will undoubtedly allow you to maximize storage. For instance, your nicest pots and pans can take pride of place on a wall or hanging under the cabinets. By the by, the trend for minimalist interiors has long since passed.
A Separate Spot for Superfluous Items
Go through your cupboards and drawers and pull out the cooking implements you use infrequently (or not at all), such as the blender, coffee maker or utensils that only come out for special occasions. Also remove superfluous items and doubles. Do you really need all those plastic cups? Put everything in a bin you can stash somewhere else, like the basement.
All these changes can significantly increase how much you enjoy spending time in your kitchen… and also help you sell your house since visitors will see how much storage space there actually is.