We wanted tips, so we decided to use our newfound AT muscle and ask an expert. We really like what Michelle Lefferts has done, she's the designer at Smoot Kitchen Gallery in VA, so we asked her to give us her personal tips for kitchen and bathroom organization. Below are Michelle's top 10 suggestions for creating a more useful and livable space...
Readjust the items on your shelves.
Stack your small glasses on the bottom shelf, large glasses on the middle shelf and plates on the top shelf. Especially for shorter folks, it is easier to reach the lip of a plate than a glass tucked away at the back of the cabinet....
Move and install additional shelves that fit your items.
If your space is bigger, you can also add more cabinets or open up your cabinets and shelves.
Find shelves that are the right size for your items.
For example, use small shelves for spices like the shelf pictured (from CB2).
Store items where you use them.
Keep utensils at your kitchen table so you can use the utensil drawer for other items (like kitchen mitts). For larger spaces, the trend is to set up cooking stations that suit your cooking habits, for example, a baking station or cold food station.
Create wall storage in the bathroom.
Knock down drywall between 2 studs and gain space that is the perfect depth for a medicine cabinet. You can frame the space, install a mirror in the back and buy a small door. For new renovations, install wall towers with drawer storage. This is a good option if you live in a rental or have a shared wall and can't break into the wall.
Install sliding shelves in base cabinets.
Base cabinets in kitchens are generally 24 inches deep and it's easy to lose things in the back of deep cabinets. Sliding shelves come in varying styles (utensil storage, trash pullouts, etc.) and qualities, for example from the Container Store and Rev-a-Shelf . Be sure to take measurements to the store when buying shelves.
[hamper photo from Rev-a-Shelf]
Store trays over your fridge.
The cabinets above your fridge are decent space for tray storage. Trays are light and easy to grab from the high space.
Get rid of multiples.
Do you really need 3 pizza wheels?
When buying new items, buy versatile and good quality products.
Don't buy a rice steamer if you don't often steam rice.
Remove cabinet doors.
Open kitchen spaces are trendy right now in kitchen design and removing cabinet doors is an easy way to open up the space in your kitchen. You can add color to the back of your cabinets with paint, wrapping paper or wall paper. Wrapping paper is a good option for renters, who can later remove it.
For custom help, Michelle can be reached at 703.823.7153 or Michelle.Lefferts@Smootlumber.com
- Rachael Grad
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Most trays and baking sheets don't fit in the cabinets above the fridge because most over-fridge cabinets are still only 12" deep - so we stash them on their edge in a deeper/narrow base cabinet with the shelf removed where they'll fit and you can pull the one you need like a book from a shelf. Seasonal and seldom-used items go above the fridge since it's generally the most difficult cabinet to access without a ladder.
Shorter folks would benefit more from having the most-used & heaviest items on the bottom shelves rather than smaller lighter items: If you eat off plates more than you use cocktail/wine glasses, then it makes sense to put the stacks of plates & bowls on the bottom shelf and the lighter/taller glasses on the upper shelf where you can get the stepladder to retrieve them for those occassional events.
Keeping utensils in the eating area may sound like a good idea, but sometimes you need a fork when cooking (to scramble an egg) or a spoon for a quick snack (ice cream) - so keeping an everyday set in the kitchen still makes the most sense. Instead of hidden away in a drawer, hang the potholders on a hook next to the stove so you can grab one quickly when you need to pull hot items from the oven.
view bepsf's profile
Some very good suggestions. A few things I'd like to add when it comes to organization in the kitchen at least.
Place items such as large cooking utensils in some kind of canister like container and sit it next to the stove, then the most often used items are easy to grab and find, a smaller container for the smaller items and that's where I keep the lemon reamer, the garlic press, small spatulas etc and yes, all right on the counter by the stove.
Keep often used oil, such as your olive oil in a small decanter w/ pour spout for ease of use when cooking, I'd keep pot holders near the stove in a drawer, baking and cooking ingredients/herbs etc in the cabinet(s) by the stove, if you can, keep baking stuff in one cabinet, the rest in the other. I keep a small plastic basket in the pot holder drawer for tasting spoons and teh like, easy to get at when needed.
I try to keep stuff in the general area of where I often use them, things like pot holders and stuff, by the stove, pots and pans that can't be hung, kept in the bottom cupboard by the stove, that kind of thing.
Baking and cooking ingredients in the cabinet next to the stove. All baking/cooking aparatises are kept in 2 deep drawers behind me near the sink for in this kitchen, I simply turn partially around and get get what I need. I keep all dishes and flatware near the sink whenever possible.
All kitchen and table linens are stored in a chest by the front entrance to the apartment.
But the key is, store things in logical places to where you will most likely use them whenever possible.
view ciddyguy's profile
"Keep utensils at your kitchen table so you can use the utensil drawer for other items... "
That's the most ridiculous tip I have ever heard.
view kimg924's profile
Lazy Susans are a good option for short people -- then you can move the stuff in the back of the cabinet to the front. Also, those wire shelves from Container Store and the like, which allow you to stack a second layer of things, can also save a lot of space.
view Susmita's profile
I always worry that if I keep cooking utensils in a jar by the stove that they'll get dusty and gross. Don't they stay cleaner in a drawer?
view jooly's profile
"I always worry that if I keep cooking utensils in a jar by the stove that they'll get dusty and gross. Don't they stay cleaner in a drawer?"
Not if you cook!
view hdtex's profile
How about this: store dishes, glasses and utensils as close to the dishwasher as possible. The shortest distance to the shelf/ drawer makes quickest work of the morning routine of clearing out the clean dishwasher.
view 212gretchen's profile
hdtex, I do cook, but I don't use every utensil every week. Some I hardly ever use, like my potato masher and my ladle. I keep my cooking tools in a drawer next to the stove and that works pretty well for me.
view jooly's profile
Most often things get "dusty" in the kitchen from 1) grease splatter and 2) dust from the house (or lint if the dryer is near) The ways to keep it down is to use less oil/fat or use a splatter screen and to keep dust levels down in the house.
I had roommates in college that couldn't figure out why the walls were dusty and it wouldn't come off. They all used hair spray in large amounts and it glued the dust to the walls.
I like to keep things in the drawer because of dust, pet hair and potential bugs coming in contact with them.
I am a bit of a germ-a-phob
view Cally's profile