More Favorite Things: Kitchen Necessities
When renovating our kitchen there were a few “extras” that we added in order to make it an even more organized and functional space. Pavlo and I may consider them necessities but in reality they are just things we feel we can’t live without…when you easily can!
1.) Pull out trashcan and recycling bin
When ordering our cabinetry we selected the option to have a special cabinet specifically for our trashcan and recycling bin. The greatest part of having these built right into our cabinetry is that it saves on floor space in the kitchen. Also, building it in allowed us to place the trashcan and recycling bin where we found it most convenient rather than where we simply had the space for it. We had ours placed right next to the sink and below a portion of our prep counter.
2.) Roll out shelves
In several of our lower cabinets we requested roll out shelves rather than standard shelving. This is a Steph and Pavlo favorite for a few reasons. First of all, when it comes to Tupperware or pots and pans, we are easily able to access the items in the back of the cabinet. Yup, those days of getting on your knees, reaching ALL the way to the back of the cabinet, removing a stack of items first before getting the one you desire, replacing all unneeded items and then finally standing up, are far gone. Also gone are the days of over buying grocery items because those in the back of the pantry go unnoticed and often go bad. With roll out shelves you are able to see all of your items with ease. They are seriously one of the nicest upgrades you can place in your kitchen.
3.) Spice rack
Yes, this is something that seems like a given for a kitchen these days. However, since it was technically an optional item, I thought it was worth mentioning. Another reason I’m including it is because there are so many different varieties of spice racks now allowing homeowners to maximize their kitchen space.
First we have the good ol’ lazy susan which is great for filling the void of an inside, base corner cabinet.
However, cabinet manufacturers today have found more innovative ways of fitting them into base cabinets other than just inside corners. They are now made as pullout cabinets adding to their convenience in a kitchen.
A second spice rack option, and the one we chose, is to have the spice rack mounted inside the door of a cabinet.
A third option, and the last I’ll mention (but not the last one available by far) is to have what is called a mini pantry installed as a base cabinet. It looks something like this:
4.)The Peg System
The next “essential” thing on our my list was the option for what is known as “the peg system” for two of our drawers. This is basically the use of pegs, which can be arranged in whichever way the homeowner chooses, to separate and organize items in a drawer. In our case we use them for our dinnerware. One of the two drawers has pegs that separate dinner from salad plates:
while the other has pegs used to separate bowls from mugs:
Above I scratched out “our” and replaced it with “my” because Pavlo doesn’t always agree that this is a favorite thing about the kitchen. Pavlo says he would rather reach for a plate then have to bend for one. It really makes no difference to me and I actually think the peg system is awesome for organization. I liked it for our dinnerware but maybe it would be even better for things like Tupperware that gets disorganized very easily. Hmmm, that makes me think…maybe we’ll be doing some kitchen reorganizing soon!
5.)Soft Close Feature
A final upgrade to our kitchen that we think should come standard by all cabinetry companies is the soft close feature on cabinets and drawers. We only added this feature for our drawers but if we ever get the chance to tackle another kitchen reno, we’ll definitely put the soft close feature on both.
You can’t really explain this feature with a picture so I had to actually film it for you. As you can see in the clip below this upgrade prevents slamming of drawers and, most importantly in a house with a toddler, no finger slamming!
As I already mentioned, should we ever do another kitchen, we will probably include this feature on our cabinet doors too. A couple other things we feel we’d probably add to our “dream” kitchen someday is a pot filler mounted above the stove and a tall, thin pantry (think mini pantry but full height) for items like mops, brooms and dust pans. We like to have them accessible to the kitchen but not necessarily near food. A full height, but narrow, pantry would most likely solve this dilemma of ours. Oh well, next time!
The soft close became standard the year after our house in Easton was built. We do have the same trash can/recycling cabinet. However, ours won’t stay closed flush. It opens back up slightly. Any suggestions on how to fix it? I’ve tried and tried to no avail.