Your kitchen has a tough job to do. You want it to be an attractive room that feels elegant and spacious, but it also needs to be a practical space. The best kitchen storage ideas will help you keep your kitchen essentials neat, organized and within easy reach.
Install Retractable Organizers
One of the best things that you can do to optimize your kitchen storage is to add retractable sliders to your drawers and cabinets. Being able to pull out your shelves and other organizers makes it easier to see what you own, take out what you need, and put items away neatly.
You may find that this allows you to use your cabinets more efficiently so that you can store more items in less space. The more sliders you have, the more organized you can be. Consider adding retractable features for your:
- Pots and pans: They can hang from a retractable row of hooks.
- Baking dishes: A retractable set of shelves in graduated sizes is ideal for this type of kitchenware. You can also use this shelves like this to hold dinnerware or pots and pans.
- Pantry items: Store cans and jars in a narrow retractable cabinet.
- Cleaning supplies: A retractable basket or shelf under the sink can keep your cleaning essentials neat and tidy.
- Waste bins: Sliding containers for your garbage and recycling are handy for keeping your kitchen trash out of sight.
You can see several types of retractable units in the video below:
Make Space for Shelves
Open shelving is a popular look right now, and it’s just right for the homeowner who wants to make a kitchen feel more spacious. An upper row of cabinets can make a room feel small or dark. Take them out, and your space will suddenly feel larger and lighter.
Strategically placed shelves let you put some of this open space to work without making the room feel closed in. They also allow you to be flexible about where you store items since you aren’t restricted by the fixed shape and limited size of a cabinet.
You may find that you become a better organizer if you replace your cabinets with open shelves. Because they put your items on display, it’s only natural that you’ll want to set them down neatly instead of shoving them to the back of the cabinet with a halfhearted promise to yourself that you’ll get around to organizing them someday.
If you need a hand with keeping open shelves tidy, consider adding built-in organizers. Vertical rods will allow you to neatly store trays or baking sheets. A series of open cubes can serve as an eye-catching way to organize coffee mugs.
Include Storage in Your Island Design
A kitchen island increases the available workspace in your kitchen. It should also increase your storage space. A hollow island is a waste of valuable kitchen real estate, but a well-designed island can put every square inch of this fixture to good use.
Consider the following types of storage that you could include in your island design:
- Bookshelves on one side of your island give you a place to stash all your cookbooks.
- A grid of narrow cubbies can easily store bottles of wine.
- A pull-out drawer with angled shelves is good for positioning spice bottles so their labels are easy to read.
- Tilting drawers or sliding baskets are just right for housing vegetables like onions and potatoes that need to be stored in a cool, dry place.
- A built-in paper towel dispenser keeps these handy paper goods at an easy-to-grab level.
Tuck Appliances Out of Sight
Kitchen appliances are a must, but they can leave your kitchen counters looking cluttered and busy. Hiding these in discreet places will automatically give your kitchen a more streamlined look.
A shelving unit with French doors is a good place to put the coffee maker and other small kitchen appliances. You’ll have easy access whenever they’re needed, but you can hide them when you want the kitchen to look its best.
The doors on a unit like this should automatically tuck into pockets as you open them. That way, they won’t block other cabinets or take up space in the walking path.
You can also build appliances into your island. Install them on the side that is out of sight to guests who are passing through your kitchen. The microwave and the dishwasher are some of the best candidates for this spot. A wine refrigerator is another great appliance to build into your island.
Put The Counters to Work for You
If you’re used to a countertop that quickly becomes cluttered with bowls and other prep dishes, consider ways that you can add convenient built-in features to your counters.
One suggestion is to have your builder to add an integrated bowl to your countertop. This is a small depression that can hold eggs, fruits or other round items that are apt to roll away. This type of bowl features a very gradual slope, so it’s easy to wipe it clean between uses.
This idea will work only with certain types of countertop materials, such as wood butcher blocks. If you decide that this isn’t the right storage solution for you, consider another space-saving counter trick: a built-in cutting board that slides out from under the countertop. Watch the video below to see what that looks like:
Utilize the Front of Your Sink
In many kitchens, the cabinet space in front of your sink is completely wasted. There isn’t room for a full drawer there, so the spot is given a false front and written off as useless.
To make your kitchen seem as uncluttered and as spacious as possible, however, you need to take advantage of little nooks and crannies throughout the room. Ask your contractor to use this spot to install small tilting drawers with storage pockets on the inside.
You can use the pockets to store odds and ends for dishwashing and other kitchen tasks. This may include sponges, scrapers, vegetable peelers or measuring spoons.
The more organized your kitchen is, the roomier it will feel. The best kitchen storage ideas also help your home look clean and elegant.
At NDA Kitchens, we can help you design a kitchen that’s brimming with practical storage solutions. To get started with the design process, set up a free consultation today.
