If you’re finding that your kitchen is quite cluttered and you’re unsure where to put everything, you’ve come to the right place. In today’s guide, we’ll explore nine steps you can take to increase storage space in your kitchen.
Note: Not all kitchen storage ideas are DIY-friendly and even for those that are, you should be sure that you have the right skills and knowledge to undertake the work before delving in. Also, you’d need to be sure that your specific DIY design is safe. If in doubt, consult a professional.
Kitchen Island
One of the best ways of adding more storage space to your kitchen is with an island. Of course, the primary reasons to install a kitchen island are to create additional seating space, to create a focal point, and perhaps even as means of zoning a kitchen. Some kitchen islands are even used as a new location for the kitchen sink.
However, along with the primary benefits offered by a kitchen island, it could also be used for extra storage space, such as with extra storage drawers/cabinets. Since a kitchen island may be around 4-5 cubic metres and with most of its interior space being suitable for storage, you can see how an island could really help free up space in your kitchen.
Ceiling-hung Shelf
If you have a tall kitchen with a high ceiling, you may want to hang a shelf from the ceiling itself. Of course, it’s important to ensure that this is safe to do so. If the shelf is out of reach or risks dropping heavy items upon you or another family member (especially if you have children or pets), it may not be worth the risk.
However, if your kitchen and household are suitable, a ceiling-hung shelf is a smart way of adding a little more storage. And, of course, it would be far less expensive than opting for a kitchen island. One way of achieving this could be with a smooth, painted plank of wood that is firmly tied to the ceiling via a chain.
While a ceiling-hung shelf in itself would only offer a fraction of the storage space that a kitchen island could, using various low-cost solutions could offer you plenty of space to store items in your kitchen but for a significantly lower price tag overall.
Storage Board
Storage boards come in all shapes and sizes. More than likely, you could have them added to existing cabinets as a way of organizing your stored items more effectively and thus making it easier to store them away. Whatever the case, we suggest looking around and finding the right storage board(s) for your kitchen.
Tall Tailored Cabinet
Another option that’s more on the costly side is that of a floor-to-ceiling and half-depth kitchen cabinet. If your kitchen is suitable, both from a practicality and aesthetics point of view, adding a large cabinet like this would be a great way of significantly increasing room to store kitchen items/appliances.
While this sort of cabinet might more resemble a wardrobe than a cabinet, once it is designed and painted in a way that allows it to naturally blend in with the existing cabinets, it could still look the part. Of course, as with any kitchen installation, what might work great in one kitchen, won’t work as well in another. This is why planning and finding a ‘kitchen fitter near me’ is so important.
Utensil Rails
You might want to have a utensil rail added atop your cooking space as a means of storing various utensils. Not only would this add storage space, but it would make it handier to reach your utensils than if they were stored in a drawer, and it could also look quite charming.
Make the Most of Your Drawers and Cabinets
Wasted storage space can add up. From a little bit of lost storage in a cabinet here to some unused room in a drawer there, you might find that efforts to maximise your existing storage use could go a long way to freeing up space in your kitchen.
Ultimately, you should consider having your existing cabinets or drawers redesigned so that more space is used (e.g., adding interior storage such as pantries within existing cabinets). By consulting with a professional, they may provide some innovative ideas to make the most of what you already have. Alternatively, you could opt for kitchen drawers at the base level if you’d like to have your kitchen more thoroughly redesigned.
A Space Efficient Pantry
This is another great way of maximising existing storage facilities and one that we briefly mentioned above. Adding pantries will allow you to minimise empty space between items and hopefully result in a kitchen with less clutter and more room to store items, especially whenever you buy new ones in the future.
Customised Storage Designs
This tip would be especially relevant to you if you have an unusually shaped kitchen (e.g., circular bends in place of sharp corners). Either way, customised storage designs can be helpful as they will help maximise your existing space.
Shelving Above the Splashback
Last but not least, adding one or two shelves atop your kitchen’s splashback (the wipe-clean screen that might be installed on the wall behind your sink) is yet another smart way of creating more storage.
One handy element of adding shelving here is that not only could you store various kitchen items on the actual shelves, but you could add hooks at the bottom of the lower shelf for storing a few more items, ideally those used in and around the sink.
Obviously, when adding lots of items to shelving (especially if you want to add some to hooks beneath the shelf), you need to be sure you aren’t adding too much. In general, being conscious of the load-bearingcapacity of shelves, cabinets, and drawers is important from a safety point of view.
But once it’s safe and you’ve chosen a shelf or two that fit well from a visual angle, shelving atop your splashback could be a fantastic addition to your kitchen.
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