13 Best Kitchen Storage Solutions
Are you looking for ways to keep your kitchen organized and functional for daily use? We have listed over 12 ways to better store the items you use most, least, and everything in between. Prime Cabinetry has a great selection of functional cabinet hardware to choose from, helping you get the most practical and appealing kitchen for your money.
There are a plethora of items you can add to your cabinets including: roll out shelves, spice storage organizers, utensil trays, tip out trays, peg drawer inserts, etc. With all these options and more it can get a bit overwhelming to know what is best for your space.
First, consider if you have a small, medium, or large kitchen. For small and medium kitchens with limited space, it is important to add only what is most helpful to you in the daily use of your kitchen. In a large kitchen however, the sky is really the limit with functional hardware. These organizational tools will allow you to dedicate a place for everything without cluttering the room.
1. Upper Cabinets
At Prime Cabinetry, we offer our upper cabinets in three different heights: 30”, 36”, and 42”. Depending on your ceiling height, the taller the upper cabinets your space allows for the more storage you have. You can even take the upper cabinets to the ceiling with crown moulding so there are no dust collecting gaps. The top shelves of these upper cabinets are great for storing seldom used items such as party or holiday dishes and other specialty cooking items rarely used.
2. Island Storage
If your layout permits, adding an island or peninsula is a great way to increase storage while maintaining an open concept floor plan to the home. By working with a Prime Cabinetry designer, we can help you craft just about any island idea you can come up with. The size of your island will depend on the size of the room and walk through clearance available. Working islands can be as small as 4’ x 2’ whereas islands made for seating can be as large as the room allows. We often add extra storage to the back of islands when designing, and can even include shelves at the end to mimic a bookcase.
3. Pantry Storage
Our tall pantry cabinets can provide a great amount of storage in one location and for many purposes. We have seen customers use them in kitchens for food storage, in bathrooms as a linen closet, and in mudrooms or laundry rooms as a cleaning supply closet. Prime Cabinetry’s pantry cabinets come 24” deep and in varying widths and heights; 18”, 24”, or 30” wide and 84”, 90”, or 96” tall. You can also add full depth roll out shelves to these tall cabinets creating an easy access option for your items. They are great for kitchens that do not otherwise have a pantry and give you the freedom to use your uppers and lowers more strategically.
4. Use Cabinet Drawer Bases
Similar to the reason for using roll out shelves, a drawer base cabinet can offer you the space to store heavier items while making them easily accessible. Lifting items out of a drawer is easier than reaching back into a base cabinet with a half depth shelf. In a 3-drawer base cabinet you can use one large drawer to line up your plates and another to store pots and pans. Prime Cabinetry’s peg system drawer inserts come in different sizes and are perfect for deep drawers to organize plates beautifully.
5. Recycling and Waste Storage
Who really likes the look of a trash can sitting in plain site at the end of a cabinet run? Not us! For that reason we love designing with trash and recycling pull outs that can fit in smaller base cabinets. Rather than leaving it out to stink up the room, this is a great alternative and will hide your trash can from your guests until it is needed. Prime Cabinetry’s waste container pullouts can fit into a 15”, 18”, or 21” base cabinet including door/drawer bases or full height door base cabinets. The cabinet size determines if the pullout will have one 35 qt trash can or two 35 qt trash cans. It is also common to design a layout so the trash base is by the sink or cooking surface for easy access while working in the kitchen.
6. Tip Out Trays
Have you ever wanted to make use of the faux drawers on your kitchen or vanity sink base? Now you can! By installing a sink front tray kit you can gain access to these faux drawers creating extra storage you didn’t even know you needed. Prime Cabinetry carries two different sizes that are compatible with either a 30”, 33”, or 36” sink base. This is a great tool in the kitchen for housing your dish washing sponges and soaps that you despise leaving on the counter. In the bathroom, it can be perfect for storing bobby pins, hair ties, dental floss and any other small items currently cluttering your drawers.
7. Spice Storage
If you love to cook, this hack is for you. As your kitchen overflows with spice jars you are probably already in need of proper storage for them all. At Prime Cabinetry we have a few ideas to help with that. In cabinet spice pullouts and between cabinet spice pullouts are one of the most used options we sell. Include a 9” cabinet or leave space for a 6” filler between two cabinets in your design and you automatically have the perfect home for this pullout. Including three adjustable shelves so you can store short and tall items in this pullout is a game changer. Two other great ways to organize your spice jars consist of a trimmable drawer organizer that works well for a small top drawer to most base cabinets and wall door mounted spice rack that can be hung on the inside of an upper cabinet door.
8. Utensil Organizers
In every kitchen we know we can find a drawer with necessities like forks, knives, and spoons. The question is, are they thrown into a drawer in random order or neatly displayed? We prefer the latter! Using a cutlery tray or utensil tray is basically a necessity for all kitchens. These trays come in several sizes and are trimmable so you can customize it to fit the cabinet you dedicate them to. A great option for storing larger utensils includes a cabinet pullout made just for them. Prime Cabinetry’s base cabinet pullout utensil organizer consists of two shelves and cylindrical buckets to toss in your wooden spoons, spatulas,pie servers, etc. Place these in a small 9” cabinet by your cooking surface for easy access.
9. Tray dividers
Cookie sheets, cutting boards, and muffin tins are all needed for cooking but where do we store these flat items? Some of us admittedly have them in the warming drawer under our range; yikes! While it is not entirely bad to store them there, we have better ideas that will keep you from heating up your cookware every time you turn on the oven. Prime Cabinetry’s base cabinet pullout tray divider is a great option for perfectly organizing those pesky platters. If you prefer to hide them in a cabinet above the fridge or your double oven, consider using our chrome tray dividers as a viable option. The heavy-gauge wire will keep your trays in place and out of the way until needed.
10. Floating Shelves
Add shelves to your kitchen by installing floating shelves in place of upper cabinets. Prime Cabinetry offers floating shelves that come with mounting hardware in several sizes. They are available to match the paint or stain color of select door styles, and are a great alternative to upper cabinets if you desire a minimalist aesthetic. In tiny kitchens where appliances are close to one another or in kitchens with grand windows, adding uppers can make an already small space feel cramped. Floating shelves are compatible with modern, minimalist, and eclectic style kitchens and even though they work well in small rooms, are actually great for kitchens of any size.
11. Small Appliance Lift
This unique storage option can provide the luxury of storing away your stand mixer or another small appliance and freeing up your well deserved countertop space. Prime Cabinetry’s base cabinet pullout appliance/mixer lift shelf is compatible with an 18” wide full height door base cabinet and comes with a soft closing feature. Never again will you have to bend over to pick up your heavy mixer or leave it out taking up too much room.
12. Food Container Organizer
Finally there is a better way to organize those pesky plasticware containers and lids. Prime Cabinetry’s base cabinet pullout food storage organizer is compatible with 18” wide door/drawer base cabinets and includes a soft closing feature. The sturdy construction and adjustable dividers allow for limitless customization and a quality product that will last for years to come.
13. Pot and Pan Storage
Outside of the already mentioned drawer base solution for housing pots and pans, we wanted to share another great idea to this never ending storage dilemma. You guessed it, another cabinet pullout. Our base cabinet pullout glideware allows you to hang your pots and pans on a glider with hooks that can be pulled out of your base cabinet for easy access. Imagine never having to stack your pots and pans again, but rather utilizing the smart hook system set up with this glider. This is a storage solution you don’t want to live without!
No matter the size of your kitchen there are plenty of ways to make the most of the square footage you have. Get started on your project with one of our professional kitchen designers to further discuss your options. Talking with a designer is a great way to put this list to use and decide what organizational tips will work best for you. Stop by our functional hardware page at www.primecabinetry.com to see what we offer, and happy organizing!
