Do you want your food to stay fresh for longer and have all the necessary cooking accessories at your fingertips? To do so, it’s worth organizing proper storage in the kitchen. We have collected the best ideas for this room.
Taking care of convenience in advance
Ideally, the question about the organization of kitchen space should be asked not even at the time of purchase of furniture sets and appliances, but even earlier – during the renovation. That’s when it is decided about where the sink, heating radiators, outlets, lights and so on will be located.
There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all kitchen. Their appearance and filling depends on the tastes and lifestyle of the owners: how many people in the family, whether they store a lot of food, how many dishes and other items they have. It is important to consider how often people will be cooking in the kitchen and who exactly will be doing it – this is needed to make the space most ergonomic for that person specifically. For example, people who are shorter than average would be more comfortable using a lower work table and sink.
The possibility to organize the space remains even when the renovation of the kitchen is already done. Completely remake the furniture does not have to – enough to improve its internal filling – add shelves, dividers for drawers, organizers.
Today there is also a large number of modern mechanisms – door closers, lift fasteners for fronts and more.
Traditional and new storage systems
The deciding factor for convenience is not how many cabinets there are in your kitchen, but how they are organized. There are systems that can help you keep your pots and pans and utensils as compact as possible. They also make it very easy to access the things you need. Modern sets use such systems:
- Roll-out drawers and baskets. Their advantage is that they allow you to inspect all the contents at once. They can be of different shapes and heights – low ones store cutlery, cooking utensils, high ones store tableware, and the largest drawers will even hold pots and pans. The drawers can store both food and textiles. The main thing is that they can be pulled out without any effort on your part. Organize your storage inside the drawers will help dividers, which are easy to make with your own hands.
IMPORTANT. Extractable drawers need a place not only inside the set, but also outside – in order to be able to fully withdraw and at the same time stay close to them. This principle is also true for hinged cabinets, and for the oven and dishwasher.
- “Carousels. Useful devices that facilitate access to the most hidden areas of corner cabinets. These are movable shelves strung on a rod inside the module. “Carousels” can be semi-circular and circular. Semicircular ones slide out on their own when the door is opened. The round ones are inside the cabinet. Usually they are located in the lower sections. On these shelves you can store quite heavy items – large pans, pancake pans, pots and lids, canned food in jars.
WARNING. “Carousel” cannot be installed under the sink because the drainpipe is located here.
- Cargo, or bottle holders. Narrow, yet tall, pull-out baskets made of metal. They can be installed where there is not enough space for wide sections. Bottle holders are convenient for storing bottles of vegetable oils, sauces and beverages, groceries in cans.
- Stationary drying, consisting of racks and tray. If the cabinet has no bottom, no tray will be needed. This, on the one hand, is more convenient – dishes dry faster. On the other hand, droplets falling into the sink from the plates can be annoying.
11 tips if you don’t have the space in your kitchen
It only seems like there’s no more storage space. Here are a few options for what you can use:
- If space allows, install a bar counter or island. These, too, can hold a variety of supplies and groceries. In a small kitchen, use a mobile mini island or nightstand as an alternative.
- The sides of edge cabinets are usually unused. Hang hooks or organizer pockets on them and store all sorts of little things there.
- On the apron you can fix a rail with hooks and shelves. In this place it is convenient to keep different utensils, mugs, napkins, towels and all the things that you use every day. Preferably, they should be beautiful items – then they will simultaneously serve as a decor of the work area.
- The inside of the door is a great place for relatively light things – a ladle, a whisk, towels. Here you can fix an organizer-pocket or hang hooks.
- Ordinary high shelves can be improved by equipping them with hanging baskets that are attached to the bottom of the shelf.
- On a free wall or on the apron will look good perforated panel. This is also a kind of organizer, which can easily be modified with hanging baskets, hooks or shelves.
- Extend the window sill and use it as an additional surface.
- If your furniture set does not originally have drawers, use ordinary plastic or wooden baskets on the shelves instead.
- Open shelves often accumulate various small things. They will look neater if placed in baskets or storage containers. You can attach labels to baskets and sign what is where.
- Put a narrow and tall shelf or a rack for the most beautiful dishes – it will not take much space, but it will decorate the free corner of the kitchen.
- Another unusual place to put neat cabinets or shelves between the window opening and the ceiling. On them you can put things that you don’t use often.
