6 Design Hacks for your Kitchen
Organization is key to a happy kitchen. And happy kitchens make happy people. Here are some ideas to get you started with the kitchen that works best for you.
1. Park your appliances in a garage.
Smaller appliances like your toaster, blender, and food processors take up a lot of counter space while you may not be using them on a daily basis. Find a lesser used corner and install an ‘appliances garage’ to house these and other bulky kitchen utensils. Find one with a ‘pocket door’, a sliding door that disappears into the unit, to minimize space needed.
2. Add a floating shelf.
This will be dependent on the available space in your kitchen (corners work nicely and maximize unused space). Floating shelves can accent your existing cupboards while not dominating the overall design of the space. This idea can add storage space that looks more open and less cluttered than adding another cabinet.
3. Go vertical.
Do you do a lot of baking? Then you probably have an array of cookie sheets, muffin tins, and other flat bake-ware stacked up in a teetering mound. Utilize some vertical shelving to create ‘slots’ that will house your trays in an organized, easy to access system.
4. Hooks, rails, FINTORP and GRUNDTAL systems.
A cheap and aesthetically pleasing solution to kitchen clutter is the use of rails and hooks. These minimal installations will create unique places for specific kitchen utensils, while keeping an easy access flow to your environment. FINTORP and GRUNDTAL are both inexpensive hook and rail systems that can be bought at IKEA and are highly customizable to your particular kitchen needs.
5. Base cabinet organization.
Just like your corners and walls, your base cabinets can maximize their storage space with some attention to their organization. These cabinets are some of your largest storage space available, which is why they tend to get cluttered with everything but the kitchen sink. Various baskets, sliding drawers and rotating carousels can keep your utensils organized while still allowing for ease of access when needed.
6. Hack non-drawers into drawers.
We’ve all seen those ‘fake’ drawers that look like real drawers, but are there more for looks than function. Don’t let someone’s poor design skills dictate what is and what is not a drawer in your kitchen! This one will take a bit of do-it-yourself cabinet work, but nothing you can’t handle with a basic set of tools. The space behind these ‘non-drawers’ can easily be converted into tip-out drawers that can hold any number of kitchen tools you use regularly.
