3 Expert Tips To Choose Kitchen Sink Storage

What Material Should my Kitchen Sink Storage be Made of?

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.

What Cabinet Designs are Best for Kitchen Sink Storage?

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.

How to Organise Kitchen Sink Storage?

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:

• There are a few racks out there with removable shelf pieces that can be taken out and re-arranged around the pipes that prevent a standard layout.
• Or you can forego installing a rack entirely, and instead use stackable plastic containers to organize the under-sink space. With bins of different sizes, you can easily fit them around the space available.

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:

• A customizable epoxy coated steel frame with adjustable sliding parts is a great idea. It can feature shelves and removable pull-out bins, so you are not going to run out of storage space anytime soon.
• There are also organizers that give you the option to adjust the height and width to fit the dimensions of your under-sink without the need to remove entire sections. Get one with rubber grips to ensure that the whole thing does not tumble out when you slide the drawer.
• A tiered steel rack gives you extra shelves at the sides while leaving the middle area of low height to avoid brushing with the sink.
• If your under-sink area is too small, it cannot accommodate any large shelf or rack. A single-tier sliding storage can solve this problem. Better yet, get a U-shaped organizer that can fit around a large pipe and be pulled out at need.
• Most of the options we have given so far require some installation. But what if you don’t want to go through that much effort, and just want an out-of-the-box solution? A pull-out caddy is just the thing you need. It fits snugly in tight spaces, such as in the nook of your sink.

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:

• Rails can only hold so much. If you want to keep even more things here, you can get a hanging storage basket that can be used for storing cleaning liquids as well as sponges.
• Some people don’t like the aesthetics of a wireframe basket, or the mess made by the water dripping from the sponges hung on it. In that case, you might want to install floating shelves on the inside of the door.