Your cabinets are among the most important elements of your kitchen. Not only do they help tie together the aesthetic design of your space, they serve as your main storage spaces. To further extend your cabinets’ function and get the most out of them, here are a few very useful accessories that you can add to your kitchen cabinets.
Pullout / rollout shelves and organizers
There’s a wide variety of pullout shelves and organizers available, but they all basically do one thing: let you easily organize similar items in cabinets. Pullouts are particularly useful in base cabinets as they let you store items in smaller spaces without having trouble getting to them. Rollouts work much the same way, but are installed horizontally and act as dividers. A base cabinet can usually accommodate up to three shelves. If you’re storing larger items like pots, pans, and other cookware, you may be limited to two rollout shelves.
Pull-down shelves
These accessories let you easily gain access to otherwise hard to reach upper cabinets. They are basically levered shelves that you can pull out and down to reach whatever you’ve stored in them. Push them up and in to store them back into the cabinet.
Swivel shelves
Another option for upper cabinets is a swivel shelf. A swiveling shelf system can swivel out, bringing your stored items closer to you. Accessibility, flexibility, and organization all get a bump up.
On-door storage
You can also use the inside of your cabinet doors as extra storage real estate. Thin items are especially easy to put in on-door storage systems. Some popular options include storage mounts for chopping boards, cookie sheets, and dish tray drains as well as towel racks. You can also attach shelves to your cabinet doors to store items such as spices and cleaning supplies and eliminate the need to bend and reach deep.
Trash can pullout
A single pullout shelf used to accommodate one of two waste baskets is the perfect way to keep the smells and ugly look of kitchen garbage. You can choose to keep them in a base cabinet right by your food prep area or under the sink so disposing trash is quick and easy. You can also use a deep drawer to accommodate your waste baskets.
Lazy Susan
If you have a lot of smaller kitchen items like spices, baking ingredients, and some canned goods, a revolving Lazy Susan lets you organize them for easy reaching and quick finding. Lazy Susans are available in a wide range of sizes, styles, and materials, so there should be no problem finding one that fits right into with your kitchen cabinets.
Cabinet dividers
Need a quick and easy way to better organize the items in your cabinets? Just use dividers to separate them. These accessories are most ideal for dishes, baking trays, cutting boards and the like that have similar shapes and thicknesses.
Stemware holders
Stemware holders are essential accessories for storing fancy wine and champagne glasses. They are usually installed under upper cabinets with the stemware hanging upside down. You can also use them in conjunction with an under-cabinet wine bottle organizer so you can display your wine bottles right next to your stemware. Just make sure to mount them away from your stovetop or gas range.
Knife blocks and knife rack pull-downs
Other useful accessories to attach to the underside of your upper cabinets is are knife blocks and knife rack pull-downs. While knife blocks are usually bulky, there are slimmer blocks now available on the market. Pull-down knife racks are typically slim already, and can accommodate more knives than knife blocks.
As you can see, there are plenty of accessories that let you make better use of your kitchen cabinets. You could even mount small appliances to the underside of your upper cabinets such as a light coffee maker. You just need to use a bit of imagination and put your organizing skills to the test.