Deep drawers and shelves

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Started 2 years ago by viola
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viola
Member

My kitchen (rented house, so not much I can do about it) seems to have lots of storage, but I'm finding it really difficult to keep everything organised.

The main problem is that I've one food cupboard - but there's only one shelf on it - so two deep, wide areas for storage, if you see what I mean. And then there's 4 really deep drawers - I use them mainly for dishes, pans etc, and one is for all my baking supplies.

I feel that there's so much space wasted - and I'm constantly going nuts trying to find things - a problem which isn't helped by a cleaner who puts things in the strangest of places - knives in the baking supplies drawer etc - I kind of think that if there was better organisation, she (and my husband and myself too!) might find it easier to find things/put them away in the right places.

Any suggestions?

Posted 2 years ago #
mugwump
Member

I have a corner kitchen cabinet we use for food storage, and I'm short. I put everything on turntables; I can fit two small ones on each shelf. It makes everything very accessible.
The extra space in the corners I fill with stackable storage bins or boxes of crackers and such.

Posted 2 years ago #
Nina
Member

I also live in a rented apartment and the kitchen cupoards didnt have enough shelves so I had some cut to size. I think most home depot places I think do this and it's not that expensive.

As the cupoards are also pretty deep and I never could get to the things at the back easily so I got plastic containers which have a lot of things in them and behind them are cans ect. that I can now easily get to when I take out the conainer. I also have smaller containers ones in drawers to organize things.

Posted 2 years ago #
javamonster
Member

Plastic containers. And ask your cleaning person to *stop moving your stuff*!

Posted 2 years ago #
charmed2482
Member

I use those turn table thing in my cabinets also for all the spices and I recently went through and was able to get a bunch of stuff out of there. if there is any space on top of the cabinet you could use that too. We only have one cabinet with one shelf in the middle of it, but there is a little space on top. I put all the dry stuff in mason jars and labeled them all and it freed up a lot of space in the cabinet. Also I made my boyfriend take all the tea he wasn't using out of there and take it to work since he only drinks it at work now anyway.

Posted 2 years ago #
Aunt Cloud
Member

How about big clear Rubbermaid bins where you put all the "likes" - i.e one bin for baking supplies (baking powder/soda, sugar, flour etc.), one bin for cans, one bin for dry goods (rice, lentils), one for sauces/condiments etc? this way you pull out the entire bin instead of rummaging through a pile.

I had a deep pantry with shelves that were too high and too far apart, it drove me nuts and the wasted space was enormous.

Posted 2 years ago #
badkitti
Member

I used to have the same problem and had shelf systems like this:

http://www.betterware.co.uk/productdetails.aspx?pid=057682&cid=921&language=en-GB

or

http://www.betterware.co.uk/productdetails.aspx?pid=036044&cid=104&language=en-GB

to add vertical space

Posted 2 years ago #
trillie
Member

If you are allowed to drill holes into the cupboard walls, you could also add baskets, for example some like these:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10072647
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/54259583

If that's not possible, you could go for the kind of shelves that badkitti suggested or ones that you can jam into place, like this one:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20136564

Or if you're a little into DIY, you could build a shelf that fits right into the room in your cupboard.

As for organizing the inside of your drawers, you should definitely add some trays, bins or baskets to make sorting everything easier, like the others suggested. Maybe you won't even have to buy anything because a shoe box could just be the right size for you. Before you buy (or find) anything, you could try to take everything out and sort it into categories that make the most sense to you, like cutlery, spatulas, "things that get used near the oven", "things that get used near the sink", "things made of plastic" and so on. Then, you can assign all these things a place that makes sense either in where they are used most often (thus convenient to reach) or that makes sense because all the other things of that kind (like cutlery) are also there. This way, it will be easy for you AND your cleaner to sort things (have a talk with him or her, if it's your house, it's your system of sorting. He or she is getting paid for helping you, not to make cooking difficult). Oh, and don't forget to measure the inside of your drawers, and have fun looking for containers you like! :o)
Two ideas:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00074393
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50021095

Posted 2 years ago #
Gypsie
Member

I used things like these: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=122786&RN=0

and

http://www.amazon.com/Inch-Under-Shelf-Storage-Basket/dp/B002OJ7U0I

Posted 2 years ago #
viola
Member

Thanks for all the great suggestions! Plenty of links to follow - and probably a trip to Ikea coming up soon too.

I think the idea of big containers with 'like things' in the cupboards might just work.

Whether it will make a difference to the cleaner or not is another issue - it's an ongoing battle (that and explaining which things - i.e. my crystal! - shouldn't go in the dishwasher!)

Posted 2 years ago #
trillie
Member

Good luck, viola! Have fun sorting and finding containers :o)

And please excuse me for being so outspoken -- I think it's time to put an end to the "ongoing battle" with your cleaner. I believe that sometimes, life is too short to waste energy on getting angry about small stuff like looking for your knives. (And stuff like that would drive -me- crazy.) As I said before, your cleaner is there to make your life easier, and this sounds like there is just a transfer going on: Instead of worrying about finding time/energy to clean, you worry about whether your crystal went into the dishwasher or not. I know it's difficult to find a cleaner you trust, and if she is a nice person and the "battle" has been going on for a while, it's hard to find clear words about how it's either "my house-my rules" or firing her. I think you need to find out how important this is to you, if the money you pay for having a cleaned home outweighs the time you spend being angry, how much energy you are willing to spend on it, and then take the necessary steps :o)

Posted 2 years ago #
viola
Member

Thanks again everyone - the cupboard now has a selection of containers holding my stock powders etc, and the fridge is a work in progress too. The baking drawer is a revelation - now that I can acutally find things I might be baking a lot more often!

Trillie - no worries about being outspoken (but have you been speaking to my husband, we had the exact same discussion recently!). We're getting to the stage of trying to find a new cleaner. We were stuck for a long time as her mother was out babysitter - and there's a huge network of cleaning/childminding people here who are all connected - and we didn't want to be left without childcare or a cleaner. We sorted out our childcare arrangements, so the cleaner is next to be sorted.

I think final straw came last night when I couldn't find ANY of my silicone baking trays (I have 5!). And in the process of looking for them, found 2 broken glasses and 2 chipped serving dishes.

Posted 2 years ago #

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