The kitchen is the one room in the home where it is easy to acquire an array of gadgets, appliances and cooking paraphernalia. With limited space, however, you’re probably going to need to get storage savvy in order to keep your kitchen organised and clutter-free.  For some inspiring kitchen storage ideas worth mulling over, read on.

De-clutter

Before you even start thinking about storage solutions for your kitchen, it’s worth having an initial de-cluttering session.  Ask yourself if you need all the gadgets and implements that you’ve got.  Check sell-by-dates on items lurking at the back of your cupboard.  Do you really need so many pots and pans?  Just having a good sort out can help eliminate things you don’t need, and make it easier to start focusing on finding places for the things you do want to keep.

Make use of cupboard space

Your cupboards are going to be your biggest allies in the fight against kitchen clutter.  Take everything out of them, and start all over again.  A little bit of re-organisation can work wonders for increasing the amount of storage space you’ll amass.  Cupboards are great, as well, as they hide away your items without them needing to be on show.

Consider if there are any kitchen items in your cupboards that could be put elsewhere, to free up valuable space for other things.  Pans, for example, could be placed inside the oven.  Cooking utensils could be hung up on the wall.

Hidden storage

Hidden storage is the new trend amongst leading kitchen designers.  It basically involves incorporating storage space that is hidden behind doors or cabinets.  The options of what you choose to store are endless; you could have a wine rack incorporated behind the door, for example.  Perhaps you could have a rack for storing tea towels and kitchen roll, or an area to hide away your kitchen bin. Or, for a small, slim area you could incorporate a spice rack behind a cupboard drawer.

Drawers under the sink

The area under the sink is an often under-utilised space, but it can be transformed into a tidy storage place for cleaning items.  By turning the front part of the under sink area into drawers, you can neatly stack items away.

Storage jars

Jars and containers make fantastic kitchen storage vessels for dried items such as pasta, rice, sugar and flour.  They also look attractive, especially when different sizes of jars and containers are mixed together.  Don’t just go for the obvious glass jars; use your imagination with interesting containers you might find at markets or junk shops.  Baskets, for example, add appeal to a kitchen.  You might even want to get a bit creative and paint the containers in bright colours.

Inside of doors

The inside of a cupboard door could be used to store small items that would normally take up space in your drawers and cupboards.  For example, you could fix a small piece of long wood to the inside of the door with hooks on it, to store and hang up items such as measuring spoons or other lightweight kitchen utensils.

Shelving

Adding shelving to the walls of your kitchen is one of the best ways to make the most of the space that you’ve got.  But consider interesting and quirky ideas for shelving, such as floating shelves or those made from unusual materials.

This article was written by Amy Elliott for Kitchen Appliance Centre, suppliers of Neff and Caple appliances.