Small appliances like toasters, blenders, food processors, ice cream makers, waffle presses, and coffee grinders are great additions to a modern-day kitchen. Especially for people who love to cook. The problem is that when they are left out, all these small appliances can eat up a lot of countertop space. While you can fit many inside cabinets and cupboards, they too start to eat up precious kitchen real estate that might otherwise be used for storing dry goods and dishware.
Finding the best ways to store small appliances away in your organized kitchen, while still keeping them close at hand, can be a real challenge. Especially if you have a small kitchen with limited traditional shelf space. If this sounds like a challenge that has you frustrated, you might want to consider some of the following ways to conveniently store small kitchen appliances out of the way, yet still, keep them close at hand.
Storage Alcoves In Plain Sight
A lot of small kitchens have upper-shelf alcoves. While they were originally intended for things like pictures, vases, and other small decorative items, there’s no reason why they can’t be repurposed to hold functional kitchen appliances. Especially when you consider some of the esthetically pleasing models small appliance manufacturers are putting out these days.
Install Adjustable Shelves & Shelf Dividers
One of the biggest drawbacks when it comes to storing small kitchen appliances in cupboards or cabinets is that they tend to leave a lot of empty space above or beside them. This is due in part to their often odd three-dimensional shapes.
One way to maximize the internal space of your cupboards and cabinets is to install adjustable shelves. A lot of times this is as simple as small metal tracks with removable brackets that snap into place. This lets you create anchor points for installing new shelves. The overall density that you can pack into each cupboard or cabinet might increase by as much as 20 to 25% with thoughtfully installed adjustable shelves and dividers.
Install A Carousel Or Lazy Susan
Lazy Susan carousels are a great way to make use of the volume behind a shelf in a cupboard or cabinet. They tend to be commonplace in a lot of large corner cabinets for holding heavy pots and pans. Though there’s absolutely nothing that says you can’t put a small Lazy Susan carousel in an open cabinet or cupboard to hold a myriad of small kitchen appliances. When you need to get at something in the back, just give the carousel a slow, gentle turn.
Heavy-Duty Overhead Hooks
While it isn’t a great idea to hang a toaster oven or a blender from ceiling-mounted hooks, it can be a very convenient way to store some of your more commonly used pots and pans. In fact, a lot of professional chefs do this in their own home kitchens! Then you can use the cabinet or storage space previously reserved for pots and pans to keep toasters, blenders, and food processors.
Under Shelf Basket System
Wire baskets can be mounted under shelves on simple slides. This is a great way to keep things like small stick blenders, temperature probes, and other small loose kitchen tools. With them stored conveniently away, you will inevitably have more room for small appliances like a toaster or a blender.
Make Use Or Overhead Cabinet Space
Some homes don’t have cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling. This is especially true for some older homes where the cabinets are essentially mounted on rails or French cleats. If you have a couple of spare inches above your kitchen cabinets and cupboards, they might be a great place to store some lesser-used, yet essential kitchen items. This includes things like crock pots and tea kettles that are light enough to be put up there but won’t be cumbersome to bring down.
Install Some Small In-Wall Appliances
This is an idea that was very popular in the late 1980s and 1990s. Some small appliances like toasters and blenders can be installed onto pull-out shelves with a door that then slides the shelf and holding bracket into the wall. If you aren’t comfortable with the engineering necessary to alter the wall itself, you can always install the toaster or other appliance in a pull-out drawer in a central kitchen island.
You can then pull it out at a moment’s notice when you want to use it, yet keep it neatly tucked away when you don’t.
Organize The Pantry For Additional Storage Space
There are some small kitchen appliances and gadgets that don’t get used as often as others. This includes things like crockpots, electric meat grinders, and stand mixers. By rolling up your sleeves and getting your pantry better organized you can gain the additional shelf space to hold these bulkier kitchen appliances.
One of the best ways to maximize pantry shelf space is to install adjustable shelves and shelving dividers. You can even install pull-out basket systems to help hold loose items and small kitchen tools.
Install Pull-Out Platforms
One of the problems with a lot of lower kitchen storage cabinets is that they are so deep and so far down that a lot of people are remiss to store things in the back of them. Rather than having to get down on your hands and knees to pull out a stand mixer, crockpot, or convection toaster oven, you should try installing pull-out platforms.
The hardware sliders are available in a wide range of heavy-duty styles and seat firmly in place at the bottom of the lower cabinet. The bearings inside are engineered to slide out smoothly and then hold the shelf in place. At that point, you can then lift with your legs to pick up the kitchen appliance or put it back in its assigned spot.
Make Sure Of Velcro & Magnetic Strips For Small Gadgets
Small kitchen gadgets like probe thermometers and carving forks have a knack for eating up a lot of drawer space. Mounting small magnet or Velcro strips to the inside of cabinet and cupboard doors lets you attach them out of the way, yet close at hand. You can then repurpose their drawer for something else like a small toaster or a coffee grinder.
