Our Favorite Kitchen Storage Ideas

Lids and containers together. Traditional cabinets are simply not set up to help us keep lids and containers together. They become jumbled space hogs in upper cabinets, and lids disappear into the lowers, never to be found again. Organizing food storage containers is always a challenge. This tiered pullout insert will ensure that you’ll never be digging through a mess looking for the right lid again.

Toe-kick drawers. This is such a clever solution, as if someone was looking at a kitchen and saying, ‘"Hmm, there simply must be more inches around here somewhere,” then looked down at their feet and had a light-bulb-over-the-head moment. There’s valuable space lurking beneath those lower cabinets.

How to Add Toe-Kick Drawers for More Storage

A pullout under the kitchen sink. What Lies Beneath is an ominous and scary movie title that also applies to the space under the kitchen sink. I don’t know about you, but no matter how hard I try, this area winds up a jumble of dish soap, dishwasher detergent, trash bags and a ridiculous amount of paper towels. (I keep forgetting to cancel that bulk order on Amazon Subscribe and Save!) Most disturbingly, the fire extinguisher winds up getting buried in the back instead of being front and center where it should be. A pullout drawer would be so much better than kneeling and blindly digging around down there with one hand.

Small-appliance solutions. As many savvy Houzzers pointed out in the Comments in a recent Kitchen of the Week story, these mixers are heavy. This solution lifts a cumbersome kitchen appliance like a mixer up to countertop level with ease.

Utensil canister inserts. Easy access to these cooking tools is imperative, but they don’t fit into silverware organizers and often wind up in a canister on the counter. These deep drawers with built-in canisters are an elegant and convenient solution.

The banquette stash. Lift-up bench tops are great for stashing items in your banquette, but a drawer like this means you don’t have to move cushions, pillows or people around when accessing that hidden storage.

A hidden place for charging. Speaking of counter clutter, personal devices are the worst. And they’re full of germs — not a good mix with surfaces where you prepare food. Charging drawers keep them tucked away, safe from spills and ready for playing podcasts and looking up recipes while you’re working in the kitchen.

Now I can’t stop thinking about those germs. Stash a packet of cleaning wipes in here too.

Upper cabinet storage below. With open shelving and windows where our china and glassware storage used to be, lower cabinets need to work much harder and smarter these days. When outfitted like this, it makes it easy. Well, fairly easy — think of it as getting some extra squats into your workout when you need to grab something.

The Pros and Cons of Upper Kitchen Cabinets and Open Shelves

The Lazy Susan alternative. Blind corner cabinets have a lot of extra space that can be difficult to access. And that Susan, she is lazy. When I think of her, I think of cereal boxes toppling over whenever I give her a spin. A system like this one makes it much easier to grab what you need.