Making the Most of Your Cabinet Doors

I've lived in a lot of houses over my lifetime and I've had to deal with a multitude of different storage challenges, but the worst by far for me is a too-small kitchen.

I have always loved to cook and bake. I have a crock pot, a bread machine, a stand mixer, a blender, a food processor, a mini-chopper, an electric grill, a coffee maker, a toaster oven and a microwave oven to contend with in my kitchen. Plus a host of bake ware, serve ware and pots and pans. Just the standard stuff.

When storage space is at an obvious premium, unless you want to store the new juicer in the linen closet, you have to think outside the box.

The best source for unused kitchen storage space I have found are the cabinet doors! There's a wide variety of gadgets out there to store just about anything on a cabinet door. Here are some of my favorites:

Over-the-door-baskets: You can find scads of these in every shape and size these days! Ones made specifically for cleaners, kitchen tools, plastic wraps, even ones for http://www.stacksandstacks.com/3-tier-door-or-wall-pantry-rack/.

Spice racks: Spice racks have come a long way - If you don't have the counter space for a standard spice rack, consider mounting a spice rack to the inside of your cabinet door!

Bag storage:You can find over-the-door and door mountable storage for paper and plastic bags. There are even mountable racks to hold a garbage bag out of sight!

Towel and pot holder storage: These hooks and bars are fantastic! They require no hardware or adhesive, and will keep your pot holders handy and provide an out of the way place to dry your dish towel. Another great idea for towels is the Swing arm towel holder. Four times the towel storage in one place!

Mail and message centers: Something you may not think to store on you cabinet doors are a message center or a place for outgoing mail.

Lid storage: Lids of all kinds are generally flat and easy to store in mountable lid storage racks. There are even racks for plastic lids.

Paper towel storage: Even paper towels can hang over the door and out of site!

I hope this has given you some ideas to tackle some of the storage problems in your kitchen! Know of any other clever cabinet door storage ideas? Let me know in a comment!

Posted March 26, 2009, filed in How I de-cluttered, Clutter Control Products, Living Simply