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Ask any homemaker what the most disorganized part of their home is, and they would undoubtedly point toward their kitchen’s under-sink storage space.
The mess of pipes and dripping water is notoriously hard to deal with, often leaving you with an underutilized space with plenty of difficult to reach areas. So how do best choose a kitchen sink storage cabinet that overcomes all these issues? Let’s find out.
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If you have already used timber for the rest of your kitchen furnishings, you must be tempted to go with wood for this too. Don’t.
Thanks to the wet and corrosive nature of the things that will generally be stored here, anything other than plastic is a waste. Your expensive timber-based shelves will have to frequently replaced due to swelling unless you take care to line the shelf with plastic film.
But even plastic lining can only protect it so far. It is better to not use wood in the first place for kitchen sink storage. These days there are many melamine look-alikes in the market that are actually made of synthetic waterproof materials and are quite robust and durable.
Your normal rectangular kitchen cabinet is just not going to cut it. Here are some alternative solutions to maximize space utilization.
The Upper Cabinet Section
The curved sink means that you will end up wasting a lot of space by installing a simple box. A better way is to make a U-shaped drawer that matches the shape of your sink, filling up the nooks on either side.
Another solution is to convert that space into a tilt drawer to store constantly needed small items. This takes advantage of the usually overlooked narrow section in front of the sink.
The Lower Cabinet Section
Due to the pipes and plumbing present at the back, the portion of the cabinet beneath the sink lacks proper depth. The best way to capitalize on this space is to install sliding drawers that give you easy access to an otherwise hard to reach area.
Instead of getting a custom cabinet made to fit the shape and size of your sink, you can opt to just partition that space with a door, and use other storage solutions to organize the internal volume.
Wire and Steel Racks
Wood, as we discussed earlier, is not a good fit for storing sponges and other wet materials under your sink. Instead, you can take install racks and trays made of stainless steel or aluminum.
The advantage of such a setup is that you can use various products of different sizes to fit around all the obstructions under the sink, while also keeping everything visible. Keep in mind that you need chromed or plastic-coated products to avoid rusting.
Here are some options:
Sliding Storage
The best option, however, is to install sliding storage. Since the space under the sink is limited, these storage options can be pushed into the space when not in use.
Moreover, reaching the sponges and cleaning liquids stored in these containers is easy as they can be slid out for easy access. It is for this reason that the greatest variety of under-sink storage organizers available in the market are sliding in nature.
From plastic drawers to expanding metallic baskets, there is no dearth of options for sliding storage. Here are some of these:
Door Mounted Storage
The inside of the door itself can be used to mount small racks or tea towel rails. This is a good place to store damp cloths and sponges as they dry faster and are more easily accessible. Here are some other options: