Tip #3: Optimize ANY Kitchen Series

See Tip #1

See Tip #2

TIP #3:

You don’t need fancy or expensive kitchen cabinet accessories to store things in a way that makes them much easier to access.

Many bloggers with absolutely no design experience are writing lists of the best cabinet accessories to buy for your kitchen. They are writing these to make money through the links they provide, not because those are actually the best things to use. I’ve remodeled over 200 kitchens and I haven’t found one of these lists that I actually agree with. They know that they can get your attention because the accessories LOOK cool. Trust me, a good kitchen can store things efficiently without expensive, complicated accessories.

Below are examples of the basic affordable cabinet accessories I recommend to make your kitchen A LOT easier to use. I do not make money from anything I recommend in this series. Please be VERY careful to read online instructions and take careful measurements before ordering these things. You might want to only buy things that are returnable.

If making these choices seems like more than you want to do alone, I do offer short consultation packages. I completely understand that most people can’t afford help from designers. That is why I’m writing this blog to help you make decisions on your own to improve your experiences in your kitchen.

The two most important things are drawers and vertical dividers. Start with these two things:

#1. Install roll-out drawers in your deeper cabinets wherever you can afford to. The most important things are that you are not on your hands and knees digging through cabinets and that you can access the things in the back of deep cabinets. If you can't afford to install these now, that's fine, move to the next tip. Note- you can take these with you when you move.

Single Metal Shelf: Installs to bottom of a cabinet or on a secured full depth shelf

Single Wood Shelf: It has different mounting options (some brackets ordered separately so read carefully)

Double Metal Shelf: Top and bottom roll-out drawers together. You only need to attach it to the bottom of the cabinet with 4 screws

#2. Use inexpensive vertical dividers to store your pans, lids, cutting boards, cookie sheets, pyrex pans, cupcake tins, etc. It’s much easier to access things by sliding them out rather than pulling a heavy load of stacked items out and then unstacking them in order to get the one you want.

You can make vertical dividers with wood.

You can buy something new like this:

Or, you can use something you already have or find something used on

craigslist (etc)

In my next blog, I will cover more accessories that can be helpful to make things easier to access and create more space. Stay tuned.

If you've missed any of my tips, go to my blog to get up to date on the series.