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Saturday, September 4, 2010

Take advantage of vertical space

We have a tiny kitchen. The cabinets and drawers simply don't offer ample room for our basic gadgets, pots, pans and cooking utensils. So, we got creative and figured out how to maximize the wall space, from eye level all the way up to our ceiling (thankfully, we have high ceilings!). Last year, we took a trip to IKEA, hoping for a fairly cheap and sophisticated-looking fix. As usual, IKEA didn't disappoint. Here are the results:

This wall faces the kitchen entrance and fits between the refrigerator on the left and cabinets on the right.
A nicely hidden storage shelf over the kitchen entrance for items used infrequently.

Directly over the sink, this setup provides convenient access to heavily utilized items.

In case you're wondering, the IKEA products that appear in the above images are as follows (I wish they paid me for this, but alas, I just like sharing info about good organizational deals!):

Photo 1 (kitchen wall):
EKBY shelves/brackets
GRUNDTAL long rail
GRUNDTAL large hooks
GRUNDTAL small hooks

Photo 2 (above kitchen entrance):
LACK wall shelf

Photo 3 (over the sink):
GRUNDTAL short rail
GRUNDTAL wall rack
GRUNDTAL small hooks

We love these organizational improvements but we've still got one or two projects left in the kitchen. For example:

 

We use the top of our cabinets as storage. This is okay for now, but we would love to find some shelving to run around the top of the three main walls in the kitchen.

I'd also love to organize the inside of our cabinets by installing pull-out shelves and the like. I'm pretty happy with the utensil drawer but most other drawers and cabinets need a little work.

What large or small kitchen project could you tackle today? This weekend? Next month?














2 comments:

  1. Vertical storage for us goes beyond the kitchen even. We got ELFA for the bedroom closet and the wall in our office in order to store more stuff than traditional closet design and bookshelves offer.

    Also, if you do this, you're going to need a small step ladder. We got a cheap one from Big Lots that folds up awesome.

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