Are you looking for better ways to organise your kitchen storage areas? Are you renovating or building and want to maximise your kitchen storage space? If you're starting from scratch, a kitchen design professional in your area can help you get everything just right, but even then, your input will be invaluable. Check out these top kitchen storage ideas and get the most out of your existing kitchen or find the perfect storage solutions for your new kitchen.

Kitchen Drawer Ideas

A standard kitchen comes with one bank of drawers in a single four or sometimes five drawer cabinet. Silverware usually goes in the top drawer, cooking implements in the second drawer. After that, it's more a matter of personal preference, but the bottom drawer is often the designated "junk drawer" and gets filled with a mish-mash of rarely used items. There are better ways to utilise drawers:

• Vertical space: Your cutlery may be already neatly arranged in a plastic cutlery insert, but look how much vertical space is not being used. You could double the amount of usable drawer space simply by installing two shallower drawers or a single drawer with an extra slide-out cutlery tray. The main drawer can house your everyday silverware while the upper tray can house your fine silver or carving knives.
  
  
• Storage drawers: Why not store your dishes in drawers rather than on shelves? What about your everyday pots and pans? Storage drawers make it much easier to access plates, bowls, pots, pans and other frequently used containers.
  
  
• Drawer inserts: Most kitchens come standard with a single plastic drawer insert to keep your tableware organised, but that is rarely enough. There are many products on the market that are inexpensive and invaluable for organising the contents of your drawers. Dish racks prevent dishes stacked in drawers from sliding around and dividers are available that can be custom fitted and adjusted to suit your individual needs.

Kitchen Shelving Ideas

Once you discover all the innovative ways you can use drawers in the kitchen, you will probably also find many ways to use drawers instead of shelves in your lower cabinets. If that is not an option, take a look inside your existing cabinets and look for ways to improve your existing shelves. A good kitchen fittings supplier or hardware store in your area will be able to supply you with everything you need.

• One inexpensive shelving solution is to get a local cabinetmaker to install slide-out shelves in your most used lower cabinets. You may not want to slide them out every day, but you will never have to get down on your hands and knees to find that rarely used kitchen appliance again.
  
  
• If you have a corner cabinet, think about installing a lazy susan. All those things that were lost in the dark corner of your kitchen will suddenly be at your fingertips just by rotating the lazy susan.
  
  
• Why not make use of the insides of your doors? Wire, plastic and stainless steel racks are available in innumerable sizes and configurations. Store pot lids, spices, breakfast cereals, cans and bottles on door mounted racks and make life easier for you and your family.

Kitchen Pantry Ideas

If you are installing a new kitchen, make the most of your wall space by including a pantry:

• With all the pantry options available today, a lack of space is no excuse. There are slide-out pantries available that can fit neatly next to your fridge and take up next to no space at all.
  
  
• If you do have space for a larger pantry, make the most of it by getting cut-out rather than full depth shelves. While cut-out shelves do reduce the shelving area, that is more than compensated by the ease of access. Even items stored on the pantry floor can easily be reached and there will be no more forgotten containers at the back of deep shelves.
  
  
• A corner pantry is perfect in many kitchens. Standard corner pantries require 90cm of empty space on each perpendicular wall. This is ideal, but custom corner pantries can be built as well.