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. 
So exciting!!! We are in the middle of a kitchen redo too! Our faucet just went in yesterday! Along with the new dishwasher(we didn’t have one before) is now hooked up!! That may be my favorite new part 🙂 no more washing dishes by hand!!
We’ve been looking around for backsplash. The area behind the sink, stove, and counters is just so bare… we can’t seem to make up our minds about which tiles we like… or if we prefer small bricks. It’s going to be a long process!
And p.s. my boyfriend is obsessed with the faucet you got. We don’t need a new one, but if we did, that’s the one we’d get!
Steph – Oh I can’t imagine not having a dishwasher!
Megan – I love the look of the glass mosiac subway tiling for a backsplash. We had an interesting obstacle in that we have REAL subway tiling on the wall to about 4 feet and the previous owners used liquid nails to attach a laminate backsplash. So we needed something that could be glued back on.
Oh how exciting for the change! I love the redo!
Wicked jealous, I love it. My wife and I talk about our kitchen re-do all the time, even though we don’t have a dime put away for it. But when we do, it will be so fun. The kitchen is by far my favorite room in the house.
Jen: The sink and faucet look beautiful. What I can see of the blacksplash and spice rack, it looks fantastic too. I love, love, love the Vulga Blue granite in our kitchen and I think the glass tile backsplash, although very pricey, really gave the kitchen the splash of color and uniqueness we were looking for! Ok, I really love the chandeliers….they are a real conversation piece and also unique (not for everyone, especially if you are in to simple, clean lines).
Jennifer – Thanks!
Joe – The kitchen is our fav room too. A renovation is a fun/exciting/stressful time. Good luck if you ever get around to it.
Nancy – Thanks – I need to write up posts about the backsplash and spice rack/shelf. We just painted today so it’s all coming together!
It’s so funny – after reading your post on your kitchen and fancy new faucet, I saw the same faucet while at an open house and was showing off all its features to Andrew. Very cool!
I have that exact same faucets and I love it! I also have a deep stainless steel sink. So awesome!
I see that your faucet is on the right. Are you right-handed? I have seen it both ways and need to make a decision. Thanks.
Yes we are both right handed. I actually never thought about putting it on the left.
Yes the green patina looks cool on roofs and awnings. Although we’ll only be at the apartment occasionally and I admit if we arrived after being gone for many months and found the sink had turned into green patina, I might freak out!