Week of Kitchen Renovations: Storage and Organization
Our kitchen is small. Not as small as some, but definitely small. We have spent some time thinking about storage and organization such that we can maximize the square footage that we do have. Here are a couple things we’ve done to help utilize our space in the best way possible.
One thing that I like to do is use plastic or wicker baskets to store similar things together. In this cabinet above the sink, we have a basket of salad fixins and other random things like our kitchen torch, one with various packages of food (salmon, popcorn, jello), and one with cupcake liners. Yes, I can fill a whole basket with just cupcake liners. The fourth basket is just a collection of random bags of stuff that have been opened. This helps to keep things organized and allows you to use the full height of a shelf.
Another thing we use are these cabinet shelves. I got them at Container Store and they provide a great solution for stacking our plates and bowls. The other one is used to hold the cutting boards suspended over the strainer. The strainer also holds all of my measuring cups and spoons.
While I have a reusable lunch bag, Hubby takes his every day in a plastic grocery bag. Although with our reusable grocery bags, we’re hoping that we won’t have many plastic bags in the house soon enough. Inevitably, we are on the way home from work and stop at the store and have no reusable bags in the car, so we bring a few home every once and a while. This bag holder fits perfectly on the inside of the cabinet door so it’s convenient and keeps the pile of bags under control.
We really wanted to keep as much off the counters as possible. An easy organizational tool is the paper towel holder. This one is a one-handed version. So you can pull off a paper towel and tear it with just one hand.
One of the only things that is allowed on the counter is this fun red colander. It’s from TJMaxx. It holds produce that is kept at room temperature as well as some random things like post it notes and a pen.
One of the last things we added was the pot rack. I love that it helped to empty the majority of our big cabinet next to the stove. Since we have really tall ceilings, it is pretty high up. Hubby and I can both reach the pots hanging there, but someone much shorter than 5’8″ might have an issue. Hubby installed it centered over the windows in the kitchen.
A couple other smalls things we added include the tilt out drawer for a sponge by the sink. It’s just nice to have a place for the sponge.
We also grabbed a couple of these stainless steel over the door hooks. They’re great for holding a hand towel or an oven mit with a hook on it. We have one on this cabinet and one on the cabinet by the sink.
Last, I wanted to show my baking cabinet. A lot of people ask about this, so I figured I’d show it. Even though we only have two full sized cabinets on top, Hubby agreed to let me have one of the full sized cabinets to myself. As you can see I have a lot crammed into my cabinet. I like to keep that bottom shelf clean because it’s the one I use most. As for the pink plastic baskets – one holds decorating items (piping bags/tips, food coloring etc), and the other holds cookie mix-ins (nuts and a variety of chocolate chips).
If anyone else has any kitchen organization tips, I would love to hear them!
Check out my Week of Kitchen Renovations here.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I LOVE those spice jars! And the storage for it. I wonder if we could do something like that in our kitchen….
Before I read the sprinkles comment, I was uber eager to find out what spices you were rocking over the sink! Great idea 🙂
Love the idea! What a great use of the space. Thank you for sharing.
your spices were the first thing I noticed when you started showing pics. I love it! I sort mine in alphabetical order, so it’s a little easier for me to find them.
I wanted to alphabetize, but Hubby isn’t the most organized person so I’m not sure how long they would stay organized since he does most of the cooking in the house.
What a great idea! Yesterday when I was looking at the pictures I thought it was tile. (thats the blonde in me) =)
I love it! That is such a neat idea.
I LOVE it! I’m intending to “revamp” my kitchen this spring and add a back splash but wasn’t certain what other changes I might want to add. I’m going to show this to my honey and keep this in mind. Thanks!
Oh, and Happy New Year!
~ingrid
Your renovation posts have me dreaming of updating our kitchen. I absolutely LOVE the backsplash and shelf!
This is a fabulous idea. I love how you color coordinated the different spices across the shelf. It’s very practical and gives your kitchen a very stylish presentation.
Natalie @ gluten a go go
I love that idea! I looks so great with all of the different colors of the spices and sprinkles. And talk about handy, they are so easy to reach!
Love your kitchen posts…the spice & sprinkles jars are what stands out to me..aside from the backsplash. You have such a cutesy kitchen!!!
Oh my! I love love love love it!!! I just sent and IM to my boyfriend that said “I want to do this in our kitchen”…haha.
That is a gorgeous display of spices… I would love to do something like that!
I love that idea! The spices add such good color to your kitchen (and extra space, i would guess!).
Thank you ahead of time for building this in my kitchen when I get my own place.
From all your renovation posts…the spice jars are my favorite. I can’t believe there are 60! I wish I could figure out some place to do that!
I love your spice display! It must be so convenient to have everything right there whenever you need it. AND it looks fabulous in the room!
Spice Rack
I’m amazed on the way you created your own spice rack. It really complements your kitchen design, much more it helps in organizing various spices.