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It’s not too little space, it’s too much stuff

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By Belle Elving | Sunday, January 14, 2007 |

We remodeled our kitchen two years ago, replacing curling linoleum and rusted metal cabinets with more counter space and cupboards than we’d ever had. Yet when the friend who designed it called, I told her the drawer by the stove for hot pads and towels was too small.

“How many hot pads do you have?” she asked.

“Only 11 or 12.”

And so began my reality check about kitchen storage. It’s usually not about too little space: It’s about too much stuff.

Plastic bags are a major culprit, says District of Columbia professional organizer Scott Roewer. And so are food storage containers. And food itself is a particular problem among warehouse club shoppers.

“A typical household cannot use 5,000 individual packages of sweetener or the 24-can case of chicken broth,” he says.

Then there are spices — way too many spices that are way too old, says Fernando Alban, the manager at Chesapeake Kitchen Design in Washington. That’s not to mention appliances: “People buy a new coffeepot and keep the old one, buy a new food processor and keep the old one,” he adds.

Plus, old utensils and gadgets, “like cheese graters pushed way back in the drawer,” says Dana Souksavanh, a design specialist in the newly opened kitchen showroom at Bradco Supply in Hyattsville, Md. And don’t get her started on placemats and napkins. “People keep buying new ones and stuffing them in until the drawer won’t close and the fabric is wrinkled. Do you really need more than a couple of nice sets for eight or 10?”

So here’s the word from the experts: Admit what you have too much of and reclaim the space it’s taking up.

Plastic containers: Sort by size and shape (each one must have a lid) and then send the overflow to recycling heaven, Roewer says. Zipper bags work for almost everything and take a whole lot less space to store.

Food: Set aside a cabinet as a dry pantry for pasta, cereal, jars and cans, Souksavanh suggests. Using one cabinet is more efficient than scattering food storage around the room.

Knives: Knives you don’t use are a waste of drawer space, she says. Get rid of the ones you never reach for and store the rest in a wooden block on the counter; it looks good and protects the blades.

Don’t overstock cleaning products, Alban says. And if you remodel, look for newer sink designs that position the drain and disposal unit toward the back wall, freeing up under-sink storage.

Turn excess into display. One friend has a weakness for dish towels. Rather than monopolize a drawer or two, she shows them off in a basket on the floor.

Bottom line: Get realistic. “If you have a little apartment, maybe you shouldn’t try to make room for that turkey fryer,” Alban says.