Unless you have a huge house, odds are you need more kitchen storage space. Maximizing storage space in the kitchen is a persistent goal for both homeowners and apartment dwellers. Fortunately, no matter the size of your home, we have plenty of ways to maximize your storage space in the kitchen.
How Do You Manage Kitchen Storage?
Before figuring out organization strategies, start with the basics. They might not be fun, but they’ll improve your results.
- Empty all cabinets and drawers
- Sort
- Get rid of what you don’t use
This step is crucial to creating a more organized kitchen. By going through everything, you’ll get a better sense of what you’re organizing and the type of space you need.
Set aside anything that you use only once or twice a year, like the giant roasting pan essential for making Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas cookie cutters and storage tins. These items can go in out of the way places or the back of cabinets since you rarely use them. Even better, store them with Box&Co and free up that space.
Then set aside the items you never use like uni-taskers that can be replaced by more commonly used tools, gift appliances that don’t fit your lifestyle (did you really want a breadmaker?), and other items taking up space that you’ll never use.
If you come across items you love that have been collecting dust, find ways to use them more frequently. Instead of letting the gorgeous serving bowl sit in the cabinet, put it on the table to hold fruit. This way you get to enjoy it more, and it frees up cabinet space. Use that champagne bucket to hold kitchen tools like wooden spoons, ladles, etc.
Storing what you don’t need or use is silly when space is tight. Throw out anything expired. Donate the items that are in good shape. Be honest about how you cook. If you use your immersion blender, but the standard blender hasn’t been used in three years, keep the former and give away the latter.
Now that you have a better sense of what needs to be stored, you can move forward to organizing your kitchen to create more space.
How Do I Get More Space in My Small Kitchen?
- Use Your Backsplash
- Use the Inside of Cabinet Doors
- Utilize Cabinet Sides
- Divide Shelf Spacers
- Go Vertical
- Put Your Fridge to Work
- Hang What You Can
- Secret Sponge Storage
- Lazy Susans
Small kitchens can’t have any dead space so use the wall between your counter and the cabinets, also called the backsplash, for storage. Install a magnetic knife strip instead of having a knife block take up space on the counter. Even better, install more than one to store other items like metal kitchen utensils or even pot lids.
Or install a pegboard for maximum storage options and flexibility. Julia Child had one in her kitchen. If you rent and aren’t sure about installing anything, use Command® hooks or other adhesive organizers instead, and take them down when you move out.
You can find organizers that fit over the top of the cabinet door to hold foil and plastic wrap or kitchen tools or any number of things. Just mind the depth of the organizer versus the space.
Use adhesive hooks to hang potholders, kitchen mitts, dish towels, etc. inside the cabinets holding dishes and glasses.
If the exterior side of your cabinets is exposed instead of abutting a wall, refrigerator, etc. hang baskets or organizers there to make use of the space.
Hang mugs from the underside of a cabinet shelf and store dishes underneath. Or use risers to avoid empty space or excessive stacking.
Store cookie sheets, baking pans, and even frying pans vertically. They’ll take up less space and avoid the annoyance of having to move stacked items. Vertical kitchen organizers allow you to store these items almost like file folders or repurpose file folder racks.
Get a magnetic organizer – if your fridge works with magnets – and store items outside the refrigerator like plastic wrap, plastic utensils, oven mitts, etc. You can even buy or make a magnetic spice rack or jars to hang on your refrigerator door.
A pot rack that hangs from the ceiling frees up a tremendous amount of space. Just watch the ceiling height versus your tallest person when calculating how high to hang it. A wall-mounted dish rack can also speed up putting dishes away and save cabinet space.
Install a tilt-down drawer at your sink to hold sponges, bottle brushes and more. Every little bit of space saved helps.
Placing a lazy Susan in a corner cabinet avoids wasted space. Smaller ones can even help in other cabinets.
Above all, think outside the box when it comes to maximizing kitchen space. Use organizers designed for other purposes if it helps. Regularly purging unneeded items also helps avoid gradual build-up of clutter in your kitchen and all around your home.
Box&Co. Frees Up Kitchen Storage
Instead of letting the once-a-year, holiday cooking items take up valuable kitchen space, store it with us at Box&Co. All you have to do is request some of our heavy duty plastic storage containers, and we’ll deliver them. Then, you pack the turkey roasting pan, special dishes, Christmas cookie tins and cutters, etc. and when you’re ready, we’ll pick your stuff up and store them. We’ll return your items when they’re needed, and you can keep track of your stored items online. To learn more, contact the organizational professionals at Box&Co. today.
