Clear the Decks! (Part Two)

Continuing the countertop clearing discussion from the prior post, here are a few more suggestions for clearing your countertops in the kitchen and bathroom.

Appliances

What about the toaster, coffee maker, microwave, and other appliances? You might use these items all the time and it doesn’t make sense to keep hauling them in and out of the cabinets. Kitchen Bath Ideas has 18 suggestions on how to conceal your appliances, including “appliance garages.” In this design, Kitchen Bath Ideas stores the microwave on a shelf on a utility cart rather than taking up precious countertop space.

Paper

As the nerve center of most houses, the kitchen tends to accumulate paper . . . quickly! While you can certainly decide that paper does not belong in your kitchen, the likely reality is that you will occasionally have paper (bills, school papers, appointment cards, mail, etc.) coming in to the kitchen and it is a good idea to have somewhere to store it at least temporarily.We have a small magnetized basket, like this one, mounted to our fridge that is great for storing receipts, coupons and other small items. Wall-mounted magazine racks or baskets can also serve as great places for storing mail and incoming papers.

In the Bathroom

Storage is very limited in most bathrooms and generally consists of the medicine cabinet and the under-the sink cabinetry storage.  If you are trying to unclutter the bathroom countertop, you have to have some place to put your stuff.  Here is where some organizing tools might help you maximize the limited space.

Maximizing the Medicine Cabinet

The shelves of most medicine cabinets are so tiny and can’t hold all that much stuff. With the limited space you have, try to maximize it by stacking objects where you can or storing long products (like toothpaste or hairbrushes) vertically when possible.

Hair Dryer/Curling Irons

Use the same trick we mentioned for storing sponges in the kitchen utilizing the false front drawer space under the sink to store your blow dryer or curling irons in the bathroom. The Stowaway system is a molded plastic insert that fits in that unused space beneath the sink and holds your styling tools.  If you are having trouble fitting your styling tools inside a drawer, how about storing them on the inside of your bathroom cabinet door?  With a hair care organizer, the tools are easier to access and put away.

Garbage

In our bathroom, we have to store the wastebasket on the counter as we have little scavengers who like to dig through it. (Yuck!) To clear our clutter, we might consider an over the cabinet trash mount like this one. It would give us a little more space than just putting the wastebasket underneath the sink.

Maximizing Cabinet Space

The cramped bathroom cabinet spaces are hard to fully utilize. One problem is the lack of vertical shelving. Cabinet organizers like the slide out shelving and plastic shelving units here can be a big help if you are storing a lot of very small items. If you are storing large items, an organizer might end up wasting space.

I hope these ideas make you look at your kitchen and bathroom storage in a new light and encourage you to think creatively. How low can you go with your countertop storage? Join the adventure with me!