Kitchens are all about storage, but it can become rather predictable: Think rows of built-in cupboards and wall cabinets, with an emphasis on practicality over personality. So how can your cooking space ingeniously accommodate everything you need while also looking original and exciting? These 10 great solutions offer some fresh ideas — not to mention storage eye-candy!
Go full-size. Pantries are huge news in kitchen storage and for good reason. While a conventional base unit requires you to get down on your knees with a flashlight to find that last can of beans, anything stored in a tall pantry like this one is easily visible and accessible.
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Create an island library. Passionate home chefs accumulate lots of cookbooks over the years, but not always the space to store them. Volumes kept near the stove can become scruffy and grease-spattered and perhaps don’t merit being displayed prominently.
How about this, though: neat shelves on the end of an island? The books are visible — and add color — without being central to the design of the kitchen, and they’re easy to grab when you’re searching for a recipe.
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Scale up. A pantry that’s also a breakfast station is sure to set any storage fanatic’s pulse racing. This is perhaps the ultimate piece of kitchen furniture, one most of us can only dream about.
It combines oodles of storage with a dedicated space where you can prepare your coffee and toast. You can then stand and gaze at your neatly arranged shelves while you eat. Life doesn’t get much better than that, does it?
Repurpose a hanger. Dishtowels go on a cupboard or oven door handle, right? Wrong. You can hang them on a hanger that is hanging on the wall! Original, quirky, inexpensive storage.
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Carve out space for the unwieldy. Chopping boards and trays are sizable, often heavy pieces that benefit from a dedicated home like this compartment incorporated into a run of cabinets. It’s such a simple little storage detail, but so invaluable.
Opt for a lovely long shelf. There’s a growing trend for long shelves that simply break up a run of units rather than provide workaday storage. They can become home to beautiful objects or the odd cookbook or plant, helping to personalize a built-in design and lighten its look.
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Hang it high. Making use of vertical space is a smart move in a kitchen, where storage often has to be worked into a small footprint. For example, add a metal rack to hold pans and utensils.
Resist the sleek. Kitchen design often tends toward the sleek and efficient, but it can also rock a more edgy, homemade look while still packing in tons of practical storage. So think laterally and use old piping and boards to make some shelving — you’ll get storage and original style at the same time.
Add a twist to the typical. Kitchen storage needs to be well-designed and abundant enough to hold everything from mugs to marmalade. But really great kitchen storage does it while adding a twist of unique style.