7 Surprising Kitchen Storage Ideas When Space Runs Out
7 surprising kitchen storage ideas
to use when your cabinet space runs out.
Find valuable cooking real estate
in ways you may not have thought of.
Are you ready for it?
We have some surprising kitchen storage ideas for you today.
And we know they work,
because we learned the hard way.
Once upon a time our kitchen cabinet doors wouldn’t stay shut.
They couldn’t.
They were smashed full of dishes and staples and cereal and Jell-O boxes.
So if we wanted the kitchen to look tidy,
we had to come up with storage ideas that didn’t involve cabinets.
We already only kept the necessities in the cabinets
because we didn’t have room for extras.
No drawer for linens. No space under the sink to store soap and scrubbers.
We were extremely kitchen-space deprived.
And that’s how we came up with storage ideas
that didn’t involve cabinets.
Because a kitchen remodel wasn’t in our near future at the time.
Here’s what our desperation came up with:
1. Hanging Tiered Baskets
That was an era before tiered trays,
and the baskets took things off limited counter space.
One tier for tea towels, one for rolled dish cloths,
and the top little tier that I could hardly reach?
A little collection for the current season.
Maybe sea shells and star fish collected on a beach trip.
Or pine cones and colored leaves in the fall. Also collected and free.
Today’s tiered trays could answer in the place of the baskets.
2. Divided Wooden Box
This is an idea I still use.
We have a narrow long box with 4 perfect dividers for condiments.
It’s gone through several styles.
The current version is whitewashed wood
perched on the back ledge of our stove,
holding a fancy bottle of oil, a pretty vinegar jar, pepper mill and salt shaker.
Condiments used in many meals, right at our finger tips.
The box would also be great for a line up of little pots of herb plants
or a collection of loose leaf teas in jars or tins.
3. Vintage and/or Decorative Tins
The top of my fridge held my collection of tins
including my grandma’s tea tin,
a tall pasta tin that looked like I brought it home from Italy,
but actually came from the Yellow Front.
Which was Dollar Tree in that day.
These tins got all my pastas, rice and tea out of the cabinets
to leave room for other stuff.
Today we’d probably use glass cannisters with cute labels.
4. Office Size Garbage Can
under the kitchen sink
because there wasn’t any floor space available
for a kitchen size garbage can.
I liked that idea so much I do it to this day.
If I got a new kitchen I would plan pull out drawers
for the garbage and recycling cans.
5. Mug Rack
My sister gave me a cute solid oak 2 shelf wall rack
with cup hooks under the shelves.
So the shelves held cute kitchen décor,
like a mini tea house tin that held sugar packets,
while efficiently hanging coffee mugs underneath.
These shelves, in a modern farmhouse look
are still very popular for extra storage or décor.
6. Cabinet Inside Door Racks
This idea is just as modern as it is old.
People have done this ever since kitchens were built
without enough cabinets.
Or even without cabinets at all.
Your great-grandma’s Hoosier cabinet maybe had racks on the doors,
although in her day there were no boxes of foil and plastic wrap.
Mine was made of plastic
today you can buy them in any material that strikes your fancy.
7. Top Surprise Storage: Dough Bowl
Today people collect wooden dough bowls
and fill them with decorative objects.
My dough bowl was earthen ware.
It was dark cream colored with a raw brown top edge
and pocked with tiny holes and dark marks
that spoke of the batches of dough
mixed in it for the family’s bread.
I had the tiered baskets for tea towels and dish cloths,
but I needed a place for the kitchen hand towels.
They looked great rolled up in the old dough bowl.
Other Kitchen storage and organizing posts to check:
Best Kitchen Storage Ideas for Organized Cabinets
Keep an Easy-Clean Kitchen, No Rubber Gloves Necessary
How to Create More Kitchen Storage Without Remodeling
Pantry Organizer Labels | Water and Oil Resistant Stickers
Pantry Label Printable (Kitchen Storage)
Do you hide things in plain sight, as part of the kitchen décor?
I love the concept of economy, both cost and simplicity, of using decorations as storage.
If you agree, pin this for later perusal…
