Kitchen Storage Tips (November 19, 2009)

Providing convenient and suitable storage for small, large and variously-shaped kitchen tools and equipment is one of the most important aspects of kitchen planning.

Whether you choose to have enclosed cupboards, or open shelves , the important thing is that everything should be easily seen, accessible and in the most convenient place.

Shelving

Open shelving

is cheap and easy to install, and suits people who like the look of their kitchen equipment and use it often. Shelves can be fitted where cupboards cannot, (for example, in front of windows, on the backs of cupboard doors, under sloping ceilings and in small recesses). An up-and-over shelf can also be fitted so that a heavy piece of equipment, such as a food processor, can sit in a cupboard and swing out, when required. Shelves can also be of different depths. Wider shelves are good for large plates, jugs and bowls, but it is useful to have some narrow shelves. One narrow shelf, running along the wall about 12 inches above the worktop and above any electric sockets, is indispensable for jars of herbs and spices and any other small items, which would get lost on deep shelves.

Cupboards

Enclosed cupboards can be very dominant in a kitchen and will usually set the style for the whole room. You can choose the simplest wooden, Shaker-style design and paint it, or you can have an elaborate, molded wooden kitchen in a dark stain and in between these, there are many variations of wooden, veneered or plastic-finished kitchens to choose from. If you plan carefully, you should not have to cover every wall with cupboards. It is often more pleasant to have some open wall space to hang a picture on, or to act as your home office. Having too many cupboards simply means you can shove things into them, which you don¡¯t need and never even glance at. For a narrow kitchen where cupboard doors may open straight into your face, you can get cupboards with sliding doors, but these can be irritating to use and small things can often get hidden behind them.

Plan the interiors of cupboards carefully. A narrower shelf fitted inside a cupboard will mean that you have room to hang a set of shelves on the back of the cupboard door, which can be a more convenient way of storing small items. Low cupboards are easier to use if the shelves pull out on runners, so you can see what¡¯s on them. Wire basket shelves will prevent things from rolling off. If the kitchen is next to the eating area, equipment for eating and table laying can be kept in a double-sided peninsula unit, to make more efficient use of the area.

Drawers

Drawers are among the most useful forms of storage. They can be any depth and size: shallow for linen, table mats and cutlery, square for dry foods and smaller items such as string and labels, and deep for upright bottles, saucepans, a basket or waste bin.

You can buy standard drawers and design the interior for a specific purpose (for example, fill them with wire baskets for vegetable storage, bottles and jars or laundry). Very narrow drawers, fitted with wire shelves, are available as part of some ranges of kitchen units, which can store nearly all your tins and dry foods in a very compact space. Such units can be short in height to fit next to an under-the-worktop refrigerator, or tall to fit next to a large refrigerator-freezer or indeed into any spare, narrow space in the kitchen.

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