If your New Year's resolutions include clearing away some of the clutter of life, a good place to start is in your kitchen. Throw away those mismatched plates, orphan cutlery and scorched pans and take an inventory of what you have left and what you need to buy. (You can take advantage of those post-holiday, January White and President's Day sales to stock up.) Then rethink the storage available in your kitchen and consider renovation.
Wouldn't it be great to finally have a place to put everything and still have all you need close at hand? Innovative storage is the answer, integrating ease-of-use and style. Here's some ideas how to create great storage in your kitchen.
Consider Function: Cookbooks need to be near the cook and those hand towels need someplace to dry. Use a little imagination to craft solutions that are both practical and pretty. Clever storage makes lighter work for the chef.
Use Lots Of Drawers: They are not just for silverware anymore. From produce to spices, hide away what doesn't need to be seen but does need to be ready at-hand for the cook. Also take advantage of what used to be considered dead space—like hollow columns—as handy storage space.
Go High Tech With Pantries: Everyone wants a big pantry but may not have the space to spare. Modular pull-out shelves multiply the space and options, like stainless steel restaurant rack shelving, helps create a clean feel. The days of shelf paper and clearing the back of crumb-filled shelves are past.
Integrate Appliances: Dishwasher and refrigerators can be built-in to be absolutely flush with the cabinetry around them—not wasting one inch of useable space, even in the smallest kitchen. The appliances themselves can even do triple duty with the top compartment being the refrigerator, the middle the freezer, and the bottom a wine cooler. Or a small wine cooler (or soda cooler for the kids) can be a built-in appliance on its own, keeping a perfect temperature for your favorite vintage or lessening your energy bill from kids opening and closing the refrigerator constantly.
Make It Modular: Keeping everything in its place is easy when every item has its own cubicle. Open boxes can also show day-to-day dishes, making table-setting (and clean up) a breeze.
Dramatize Your Drawers: A little molding or trim makes storage feel customized. Make the drawers adjustable to serve your changing storage needs. A pull-out just above the drawer can also serve as an extra cutting board or prep space.
The advice of an experienced kitchen designer can open your eyes to a whole new world of storage available to you in the space your (inconvenient) kitchen currently occupies. Call Jason Landau and his team at Amazing Spaces, LLC today at 914-239-3725 and get started on an uncluttered 2012.
extra photos courtesy of GE Monogram
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