KITCHEN STORAGE SOLUTIONS: HOW TO MAXIMIZE AND OPTIMIZE YOUR SPACE
By Sebastian Nagpal
Do you find yourself in the kitchen with the below-oven warming drawer tangled full of cookie trays and cupcake tins? Prepare yourself for the tupperware avalanche every time you open those cabinet doors? Wish that you didn’t have to squat down to dig out a pot, or worse, find its lid, at the very back of a cabinet? If you answered yes to any of these questions, or thought up similar questions of your own, this blog is here to help you resolve those issues and provide even more potential storage solutions for your kitchen remodel.
A great kitchen designer once said, “A well-designed kitchen has a sufficient amount of storage space that is easily accessible and organized.”
How do I maximize storage space in my upcoming kitchen renovation?
1) Ceiling Height Cabinets
The first step to taking full advantage of your kitchen’s storage solution potential is to go with ceiling height cabinets. In general, this means that there should only be enough space between the top of the cabinet and the ceiling for crown molding. If your ceiling height is over 102” you may want to consider two tier wall cabinets. The second tier of wall cabinets provides a great opportunity for you to display your whites, china, and artisanal pottery. Having designated cabinet space to display your decoratives relieves crucial countertop and shelving space.
2) Corner Cabinets
The second step is to maximize storage in your corner spaces. It may be tempting to completely forego a base corner cabinet. You may have had poor prior experiences or you are simply interested in decreasing your project cost. However, cabinet accessory companies have greatly improved the quality and number of corner accessory options available to best maximize the functionality of these spaces.
The Lazy Susan is the most popular base corner cabinet option. Lazy susan accessories vary widely in design. The perfect lazy susan does exist for your kitchen. We are more than happy to help you find the best accessory for your needs!
Blind base corner cabinets aren’t the industry go-to corner cabinet. However, sometimes there are no other design choices for that particular space. But don’t worry! Today, blind corner cabinet accessories are almost endless.
There are two common wall corner cabinet choices: diagonal and pie-cut. The greatest benefit of the diagonal wall corner cabinet is that it provides the greatest amount of kitchen storage solution space out of these two options. A con is that it is easy to lose track of goods stored in the back of these cabinets. The pie-cut cabinet takes care of this accessibility issue as it is only as deep as a standard wall cabinet. However, this does mean that you will be giving up some storage space.
Most recently, L-shaped floating shelves have grown in popularity. The functionality of these shelves closely resemble that of the pie-cut corner wall cabinets. The L-shape corner floating shelf is a great option for any homeowner who loves this exposed and minimalist design.
3) Pantry and Island Cabinets
Additionally, a space that should not be overlooked when considering your kitchen remodel is a pantry in the form of a tall cabinet or tall pullout. Tall pantry cabinets come in various depths, even in our stock and semi-custom cabinet lines. Tall pullout pantries are a great option if the pantry space is 18” or narrower.
It is standard practice to use base cabinets for the front of an island and wall cabinets with an added toe kick for the back of an island as long as there is adequate clearance around an island with a 36” depth. These wall cabinets serve as effective storage for extra sets of crockery that you don’t use regularly.
4) Fillers
Sometimes it is inevitable to have fillers between cabinets in a stock or semi-custom kitchen. This is a perfect opportunity to take advantage of filler pullouts! Filler pullouts exist for base, wall, and tall fillers and are designed for 3”, 6”, and 9” filler spaces.
How do I maximize ACCESS to my storage spaces?
1) Drawers and Rollouts
Now that you have these tips on kitchen storage solutions, facilitating access to these spaces is the next step to a successfully designed kitchen. Our biggest recommendation is to take advantage of a variety of drawer cabinets and to include rollouts in the base cabinets. Rollouts increase the functionality of your base cabinet immeasurably, and you won’t need spelunking gear to find anything at the back of your cabinets anymore. Be sure to check out the rollouts we have in our showroom if you would like to see why we highly recommend them!
2) Cabinet Accessories
As previously mentioned, a blind corner accessory really improves the accessibility and thus the functionality of that cabinet. One cabinet accessory company we work with has four blind corner accessory categories.
- The Curve
- The Cloud
- Half-Moon Lazy Susans
- Blind Corner Optimizers
Each of these categories are broken down further into different material types and color options!
How do I maximize ORGANIZATION in my storage spaces?
1) Inserts
You have the storage space, you have the cabinet accessories, now it’s time to organize! The best way to do this is with inserts and pullouts. The most common inserts we install are:
- Utensil drawer dividers
- Cutlery drawer dividers
- Spice drawer organizers
- Tray dividers
These inserts come in various material types such as maple, walnut, and plastic. You are not limited to the inserts mentioned above. A few more options that are growing in popularity are:
- K-cup organizers
- Cut-out cutting boards
- Tiered drawer organizers
2) Pullouts
Most kitchens we design at Dean Cabinetry include a trash pull-out. Designers usually use an 18” double trash pullout: one can for trash and one can for recycling. The next two most popular pullouts are the spice pullout and the utensil bin pullout. Our clients like to have these pullouts on either side of their range or cooktop for convenience. There are knife block pullouts, wine bottle pullouts, and even mixer lift pullouts. Be sure to talk to your designer about your organizational options if you are interested in including them in your kitchen remodel.