5 Kitchen Storage Ideas

One of the most beloved rooms of the home is definitely the kitchen. This is a place to spend mornings, afternoons and evenings with friends and loved ones cooking and entertaining.

Of course, depending on both the size of your kitchen and the number of people who live in your home, keeping things organized can be a challenge. Between dishes, appliances, food as well as cutlery, all the moving parts involved in kitchen storage need to be carefully considered.

Luckily, we’re here to offer tips and tricks for keeping things under control, so read on if you've found your kitchen organization skills to be in a bit of a pickle. 

Here are 5 kitchen storage tips

1- Customization

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Think long and hard about the features you would include in your dream kitchen. What does it look like? Now, consider how you could translate this into the way the room is organized.

Take the pantry as a starting example, and find ways to best organize each space according to your ideal. For the pantry, why not install custom shelving, pullout baskets or drawers? Would it make things more orderly if sections of this room were colour coded? Pull colours from the rest of your home or your kitchen décor and convert this into an organizational tactic.

In your kitchen drawers, build or purchase a utensil organizer that can accommodate your most commonly used tools while hiding ones that aren't used as often. Your fridge or freezer is another place to experiment with custom organization: think about makeshift shelves, levels or bins, especially when working with a family meal plan. In all aspects of your kitchen storage, think up creative and innovative ways to change up shelving, even if you've already got some in place. 

2- Onwards and upwards!

If you don’t have the width in your kitchen, don’t worry too much. This is because you can begin to think vertically and build upwards instead of outwards. Even if you can’t manage the space of a walk-in pantry or a huge amount of cabinets, it shouldn’t come down to the sacrifice of necessary storage. If you’ve got the height, why not build an exceptionally tall shelving unit complete with a pullout rack that can be easily stored when necessary?

Make use of any excess or available wall space by hanging pots and pans along the bottom of shelving or cabinets. If you don’t have anything in place, install a shelf and use the top to hold cookbooks or other kitchen accessories that aren’t for everyday use. A pot and pan rack can also be held up from the ceiling. If you don’t have the wall space, this is an option.

3- Fruit and vegetable storage

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This might not seem like a big deal to all, but fruits and vegetables that don’t go in the fridge can be cumbersome and awkward to store. We all know about the classic fruit bowl, but what about items like potatoes, squash, garlic, and onions? Place a sliding wicker basket drawer underneath the sink and use it for legumes or fruits of all sorts.

If you don’t have room under the sink, drill in an under cabinet box or basket to place apples, organs, and bananas. Another excellent consideration could be a tiered wire basket that hangs beneath cabinets or from the ceiling in the corner of the kitchen. These storage options don’t have to be limited to fruits and vegetables, they can also be used for bread or larger out-of-fridge items.

4- Open-concept and floating shelving

The beauty of open concept and floating shelves is that all items stored are readily available when needed. These units can make things much easier in a home with many people, as items can be accessed easily and will all have their individual place. Working with beautiful, custom containers, whether clear glass or coloured metal tins and storing dried goods such as pasta, grains, flours or baking supplies can free up space for less attractive things in closed-door cabinets and pantries.

Floating shelves placed around windows can offer space for dishes and glassware while creating a unique visual display. Little shelves work just as well as big ones, so don’t overlook this idea even if you don’t have an ample amount of space.

5- Consider the potential of countertops and kitchen surfaces

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To avoid clutter and keep things clean, kitchen countertops should be kept bare or used in practical ways. Consider installing a wood counter and using it to work overtime, operating as a cutting board or integrating a bowl into the design to place eggs and other items when cooking. Another note is to keep cleaning supplies and dishwashing liquids out of sight instead of stacking them onto countertops. Install a narrow pullout shelf below the sink to store sponges, scrub brushes and cleaning supplies.

Why not add a towel rack to allow dishtowels to dry or even a small tension rod underneath the sink to hang your cleaning products along? This will leave space for other storage solutions!