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?

Keep like things together

If you were to look in some of my drawers at home, you might be surprised. For the most part, they are not pristinely organized with dividers and labels.

I tried that before in my sock drawer, purchasing those long plastic containers that are supposed to help you keep things neatly arranged, but I never ended up having the time or inclination to maintain that level of order. It's much easier and quicker to just open the drawer and throw in the folded socks. :)

Instead, I've adopted one simple principle: Keep like things together. We have a pen/pencil drawer in our desk, and while the contents may not be organized by "pencil," "red pens," "blue pens," and so forth, we know that the only items that go in that drawer are pens and pencils. They don't belong in any other drawers in the house, and no other items belong in the pen/pencil drawer.

Now, some things do need a little extra help in the drawer, like utensils. It'll just be quicker for you at dinnertime if you can easily reach in and pull out the forks and knives you need. So, it's just a matter of thinking about which things need an additional level of organizing and which things would be overkill to divide further. (Not to worry: we'll delve into this in future posts!)

It may seem elementary but if you apply this principle across your home--books stay with books, socks with socks, take-out menus with take-out menus, tools with tools, spices with spices--and stick with it, you'll find yourself well-organized in a very manageable way.

Other examples from our home: mail, umbrellas, utensils: