When everything in a kitchen has its place, it creates a pleasurable space in which to cook, unpack shopping, tidy up or just hang out. The key to good storage is not always to create more space — it’s often about being smarter.

No one knows this better than kitchen designers, so we asked three for their best and most useful storage design tips. Read their ideas below, then add them to your own homes.

Hide your draining dishes

Even if you have a dishwasher, there will usually be some things that get washed by hand. In addition, depending on how good your machine’s drying function is, certain items may need a quick air dry to finish them off.

The result is that the countertop area around the sink can easily get — and remain — messy. A better solution is an over-sink draining cupboard declutters the [countertop] area around the sink.

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Carve out space for a pantry

Pantries are the best way to store canned goods, jars and bottles, as they keep everything in one organized space.

Of course, not all of us have the luxury of being able to incorporate a huge pantry, but even a small one can be a real bonus.

Place pullout shelves or shallow drawers at the lower levels, especially if the cupboard is deep, so you don’t have to kneel down and reach for the items at the back.

Swap bottom cabinets for drawers

Base drawers are another way to optimize your storage, drawers are so versatile and are almost always soft close these days. They’ll take a lot of weight — [more than 70 kgs] with some brands — so you can store everything from potatoes to entire dinner sets in them.

Drawers and other pull-out storage can help to reduce food waste, as you can easily see what you have. Drawers are fully telescopic — everything in the back of the cupboard comes right out to the front, so you can have a bird’s eye view of the contents.

This minimizes duplication and food waste.

Simplify recycling

Add a recycling center to a kitchen — usually a cabinet with pull-out units containing different bins positioned under a sink.

Some units allow food waste to be directly scraped from the countertop into a caddy below.

Incorporate a part-time countertop

In smaller kitchens, where countertops are also used to store the microwave and other bulky items, extra pull-out countertops can add a valuable food preparation surface when needed.

Build on your base

Use the toe-kick area — that space at the bottom of your cupboards generally filled by a decorative strip.

Rather than just blocking this off, fit toe-kick drawers under some cabinets. In one of the cabinet brands the toe-kick drawer doubles up as a step to help you to reach tall shelves or for children to stand on and assist with food prep.

Exploit skinny spaces

Another area ripe for exploitation in the name of storage is the gap between a tall fridge and the wall.

A bespoke kitchen designer will know what’s possible and what isn’t and will often find several solutions to problems you didn’t know could be solved.

Add wheels

Storage units on wheels, which can be pulled out when access is required, can be made to look as if they’re part of the fitted kitchen and also double up as island units or serving tables when needed.

They add a valuable amount of storage space as they can have drawers and pull-out shelves and include a pull-out countertop, with the advantage of being movable.

Supersize your Fridge and Freezer

Never underestimate the amount of fridge and freezer space you might need.

One of the most important storage areas in a kitchen is the fridge, yet most people settle for a 70/30 fridge-freezer. This amount of fridge space is generally never enough for more than two people in a household.

A full-height fridge will cope with fluctuations in shopping, such as at Christmas, but also hold beer, wine and so on all year round, as well as ‘the big shop.

If the Covid-19 lockdown has taught us anything, it’s that there’s still a demand to freeze. A full-height freezer enables homeowners to store batch cooking, but also to be very organized — you can even label the contents of your drawers with whiteboard markers.

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This article via Houzz does not constitute advice; readers should seek independent and personalised counsel from a trusted adviser that specialises in property, a tax accountant and property design specialist.