The Kitchen Cabinet Style That Puts An End To Countertop Appliance Clutter

The sad truth is that people with huge kitchens and people with kitchens that feel full when a second person enters probably actually have the same number of countertop kitchen appliances. Bread makers, standing mixers, air fryers, food processors, blenders, toasters ... and if you live with a coffee lover, add single-serve coffee makers, bean grinders, French presses, electric kettles, and pour-over coffee brewers to the list of potential counter clutter. The very things that make daily tasks easier can also make life harder when it comes to kitchen storage. 

The key to hiding the eyesore of kitchen appliances is slide-out cabinet drawers. These are great for a few reasons. For one, they bring the appliances directly to you, without the need to bend down or sit on the floor to retrieve them. They are also easier to keep organized than cavernous cabinets. If you don't have deep slide-out drawers in your kitchen already, you can have them professionally installed, or install them yourself if you have some DIY know-how. You can even have them installed in your existing lower kitchen cabinets, which will save you from doing a complete cabinet overhaul. You'll be decluttering your kitchen in no time.

To maximize kitchen counter space, first decide which appliances are not used every day, and which ones require constant access. Your Kitchenaid stand mixer is beautiful and makes you look like a proper chef, but if you don't use it every single day, it takes up a lot of space. Some may use their rice cooker everyday, so you'd want to keep it on the counter, while others may make a large batch of rice at the beginning of each week, so it'd be no issue to keep it in a cabinet. Others may have gotten a rice cooker from an elderly aunt on their wedding day and have used it once — in which case, you'd want to donate or move it to storage. Ideally, you can purchase multipurpose appliances to take up less space overall, like a single-serve coffee maker and carafe coffee maker all in one, or a convection oven with toaster and air fryer functionality. 

If you already have sliding cabinet drawers in place of lower kitchen cabinets, you may have to choose which appliances to store based on what will fit. If you are installing slide-out drawers, measure your biggest appliance and have the drawers built deep enough. Be sure to keep the weight of the appliance in mind as well, and note the static (weight limit of closed drawer) and dynamic (weight limit of drawer pulled out) weight ratings on purchased cabinet drawers. Finally, consider buying a drawer outlet, which will allow you to keep your appliance plugged in for use directly in the cabinet. Check the safety guidelines for any appliance to make sure this is a safe option first.