Kitchens are called upon to store everything from food, cooking equipment to pots, pans, small appliances, and many more! For an effective kitchen storage solutions, it is most important to be organized and have a place for everything you want in your dream kitchen! Regardless of whether your space is small or you have the luxury of lots of cabinets and walk-in pantry!
Whether you have a compact galley kitchen or an expansive open-plan kitchen, optimizing & ensuring your kitchen storage is the essential part! By prioritizing your kitchen storage in your design you can create a highly functional and ergonomic space!
Before you start your hunt for kitchen storage solutions, make a list of what you need to store? You may have more or less stuff! Before planning any storage, think about how you use the kitchen and what you need from it!
“The amount of kitchen storage needed depends on the person or family using the space”
Tips for Planning Kitchen Storage
Followings are the tips which should be kept in mind before you plan kitchen storage in your kitchen:
01. Be Realistic!
Fitting lots of storage into a kitchen is a sensible goal, but make sure you don’t end up having an overcrowd space! Think about how you are able to move around your kitchen to carried out different activities. Be realistic about what you fit in! If you are spending money on a new kitchen, you don’t want a design that you can’t move around easily or a space that looks crowded & over-stuffed!
02. Calculate Your Kitchen Space!
Every kitchen is different, as it depends on the needs of the people using it, but all the kitchen will require a certain amount of storage! Calculate how much storage you required under & above the counter along with the tall larder. A tall larder is really helpful for storing fresh food also by adding cutlery drawers and pan drawers – that’s a good place to start!
03. Above & Below the Counter
For a perfect kitchen there should be adequate storage space in kitchen which can be provided by both above and below the counter. Decide where you want a drawer and shutter? Although, cabinets often cost less than drawers, the architects & interior designers all agree that deep and wide drawers tend to be more useful and comfortable. They allow you to use the entire depth of a space! It is good to have a mix of both drawers and shutters!
If you are remodeling, consider how you can change the layout to add more kitchen storage cabinets.
04. Easily Seen, Cleaned & Grasped!
There should be sufficient space such that stored items can be easily seen, grasped, reached, taken down, and put back without any strain. This can be easily achieved by having pull-outs shelves, sliding, trays etc.
05. Make it Flexible!
Your kitchen storage space should be flexible enough to permit the arrangement of different sized storage containers for different items which can be achieved by having adjustable shelves.
06. Kitchen Items – Easy Accessible
Make sure that your Crockery, Utensils, Food items, etc are stored closed to your all work centres and easy accessible.
07. Aesthetic of Kitchen
For an elegant view of your kitchen, the unattractive items can be stored within solid shutters. While the attractive or designer crockery ware will be displayed and stored within glazed shutters, so that they are easily visible, and makes your room look lighter!
08. Overhead Kitchen Storage Cabinet – Depth
Overhead kitchen storage cabinet depth should not exceed to 0.35 meter (14” inch) to prevent your head while cooking.
09. Height Between Countertop & Overhead Cabinet
Minimum height between countertop and overhead kitchen storage cabinet should be in between 0.45 meter (18” inch) to 0.60 meter (24” inch) which is allowed for easy working and prevent yourself while cooking!
10. Avoid Storage Over Stove
It is advisable not to provide storage over a stove, there is possibility to get damaged due to constant heat arise while cooking. Instead there should be provision of chimney hood above stove at minimum height of 0.75 meter (30” inch).[
11. Human Height Accessible
Plan kitchen storage such that the woman should be able to reach overhead storage containers / shelves with the maximum height of 2.00 meter (72” inch) above floor. If your overhead cabinet height is more, then it would be inconvenient and need a ladder or stool to reach, and sometimes that can cause small accidents.
Hope these tips are enough to start planning on your kitchen storage! Share your experiences and ideas on kitchen storage solutions in the Comments below!