A graphic of a kitchen with pans on the stove
Episode 283 – Kitchen storage ideas that actually work

Organising a kitchen is not for the faint hearted. Do we keep it simple or do we use intricate storage ideas? In today’s podcast we’re going to talk through some storage ideas that we know truly work.

You can see the visuals of the products in the episode on our YouTube channel.
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Transcript of this podcast episode
00:00
Organising a kitchen is not for the faint hearted. Do we keep it simple? Or do we use intricate storage ideas? In today's podcast, we're going to talk through some storage ideas that we know truly work.

00:23
You're listening to the declutter home podcast, bringing you tried and tested no nonsense tips and advice from the leading experts in decluttering and organizing your home. Now, here are your hosts, Ingrid Jansen, and Lesley Spellman.

00:46
Hello, and welcome, listeners. I'm Ingrid. And I'm Lesley. If you're new to the declutter hub podcast, you're so welcome. What you'll find is that we try and find a fun factor in the serious business of decluttering. And if you've been in for a while, you know exactly what we mean. So thank you so much for listening. If

01:06
you'd like to get involved in conversations related to this podcast, it all takes place in our Facebook group. So come and join our lovely, warm, supportive community. To find the Facebook group go to declutter hub.com, forward slash group to find out more, or you can search for the declutter hub community on Facebook.

01:25
Well, here we are, again, Lesley with a podcast and we're chatting about kitchen storage ideas that we love to use and we know that work.

01:36
Yes. And we it is fair to say we have done lots of kitchens in our time. And so we have done small kitchens, big kitchens, expansive kitchens, I was trying to work out how many kitchens I've had very privileged, right, but I reckon I must have had seven or eight kitchens, and two or three of those had been new. What is now nice right? Over the years, very nice, indeed two kitchens here in this house, and at one kitchen in my last house. And then other ones in rentals and stuff like that. So think about three new kitchens. What about you?

02:14
I don't think I've ever had a new kitchen.

02:18
bothered about a new kitchen, would you love a new kitchen?

02:21
I think this house needs I mean, this house, if on the look of it, the kitchen in this house still looks quite nice. But if you're looking to live with more detail, you're like, ooh, actually, it could do with some new shelving. But of course, it fits to how the style fits the house really well. I think a lot of people like my kitchen is quite traditional. And I don't think because I live in a very old house. It's from 19 110. So I don't think a modern kitchen would fit but on the other hand, Monday, but they redid their kitchen and put a very modern one in and I quite like it. So I didn't write my

02:54
last kitchen was super modern, and my house is 1905. So I had in this clever things that you can do to kind of blend the old with? Sure I might, the one that I've got now is much more traditional. But yeah, the last one was quite modern. So anyway, that's not we're not really here to talk about our kitchens. I guess the reason why I'm asking you that Ingrid about new kitchens is that if you you kind of some people kind of dream of what they would do in a kitchen, if you've got a brand new kitchen, you know, reconfiguring the kitchen, you know, quite often these days, and yours is quite traditional in terms of you've got lower cupboards, and you've got wall cupboards, you know, a lot of a lot of kitchens these days don't have as many wall cupboards, they have Island units, they have all those different things, there's drawers that are a bigger thing, you know, like big wide pan drawers and stuff like that, that have come in? Well, certainly in the last sort of 20 years, or something that people tend to introduce. So kitchen design has changed quite a lot. But I think it is really important to get the design of your kitchen, right, and to really think through what you need. When you're getting it. We've done podcasts on that kind of thing, you know, really thinking storage solutions through before. But I think it's also what can you do with if you're working with what you've got at the moment? What can you do to really maximize the storage and make it absolutely work for you? So there's certain things that we've found over the years that really work in most people's kitchens. Right. Yeah,

04:13
I think so. And I think that the thing is, I think a lot of people who have clutter dream of like if I could just got my kitchen out and start a fresh, and we're like, Well, you have to work with what you have first put to thinking and put some effort in, put some decluttering in, put some storage solutions in. And then it already changed how people feel about their home in their house. Right and their kitchens.

04:39
Yeah, definitely. I mean, our big three, three things that you need to look at in a kitchen we talk about all the time, we talked about visibility, so you need to be able to see what you want accessibility you need to be able to get to what you want, and compromise which is what we're talking about, you know, we can all dream of having these huge kitchens that are going to be optimized to within an inch of their lives. But if that's not what we've got That's not really not what we're likely to get, then there's no point in having that dream, you've just got to make the most as we said, of what you've got. That's where the compromise fits in, you know, compromise, we might want to split up food and non food and have a designated cupboard for every single thing. But sometimes you might have to put two things together, do you not I mean, the cupboard because just haven't got the amount of space and space to categorize everything? Yeah. But really, what we're going to talk about today is going to talk about these things that you find. So a kitchen products that are available out there for us to kind of amend our kitchen configuration slightly and maximize the storage in there. And do they actually work?

05:36
Yeah, well, let me start with an obvious one. And Lesley, because we thought about this. And I'm like, I think we need to talk about containers first, right? Because I think that can be a very, very good solution. If you're kind of struggling, and everything is kind of going everywhere. Having a container can really make a difference in a kitchen cupboard.

05:59
Yeah, we're all over containerization. And honestly, those containers can be shoe boxes. If it's a little thing, iPhone boxes, it doesn't have to be something fancy. And so don't think that, you know, yes, there are things that you can buy. Of course there are, there are things that you can buy at low cost or expensive things. But really, it's about the idea that sits behind it. But we are all over containerization. If you can containerize something in its own category, then it's going to make life so much easier for yourself, but you don't need to containerize everything, there are certain things that are better if they're not containerized. So for example, in my opinion, you know, cams, you really need to containerize them because they can form their own orderly queue, if that makes sense. In a shelf, if you've got a shelf, you don't really need to put them in something else, because they kind of fine and they sort of standalone, don't they. But there are other things that are in wall cupboards, for example, spices, where it's nice to have a container, because that means that you can kind of lift it down, and then you can have the visibility and accessibility that you want. So really sort of think that through. So you know, if we're talking about bulk storage containerization into some kind of decent size box, and the box is going to be determined by the size and depth and width of your cupboard. Then just put a container in a container as your clusters container as you Rice's container, and your snacks, all those kinds of things super helpful to just do that this instance. Yeah.

07:23
And yes, I agree with you, Lesley. Absolutely. Some cardboard boxes work fine. Ideally, you would probably want to go to plastic in a kitchen just because you know, especially with food, it can leak, it can spill out it can. So it's easy to clean. But if you have no budget to work with, by all means use use a few books and see if you can upgrade later, when you kind of have more of an idea of what you want to store where and what type of container you need. That makes sure they are square or rectangular.

07:55
Yeah, so you say that in words we're talking about and people gotta go, why? Like, I've got loads of round containers. So what's the downside of a round container?

08:03
A round container always takes up more space is always more awkward to fit next to each other, you lose space on the size. Well, if you have got rectangular containers or square containers, you can kind of fit them in together nicely and would run containers you always miss that edge, if you know what I mean. Exactly. So

08:26
I think for the types of things we've been talking about, I think a square or rectangular container is useful. I think it's useful to be able to see the things that you have kind of peeking out the top so you can see what they are. And obviously use labels on everything else normal. I'm going to blow that whole concept of don't use a round container completely out the water now with our first pick Ingrid, which is actually a round container. So do we want to talk about lazy Susans?

08:50
Yes, I knew you were going to do that. Because I was like I was talking about a rectangle of contention, I thought, but one of our first choice would be Alicia Susan, which is around which kind of goes but I think a lazy Susan and maybe our listeners don't even know what it is. It's basically something that you can how can I explain it? It can you can turn it around

09:14
turntable. It's table content, a container on a turntable. Exactly.

09:19
So for example, if you've got them that are quite shallow, you've also got ones that are a bit higher so you can put like things like oils and things in there and you can kind of have them all together but if you struggle with having it in a cupboard and you constantly have to rummage through, if you actually put a lazy Susan and you can just have it on a turntable, you can flick it around and see what you have. And that is why a lazy susan either in a cupboard or in a fridge can be really helpful. So I have

09:51
a lazy susan both in my pantry and in my fridge so our pantry is like a cupboard. I do have things containerized in there. but a lazy susan are used for things like peanut butter, caramel syrup for coffee jam. So they're actually a lot of the stuff that's in there is actually round itself. And so sometimes, you know, Lazy Susan is perfect for round things. But it just means that you can kind of keep all those things in and turn them around. So, and actually, it's the same type of stuff that I've got in the fridge and in the cupboard, it's just that one needs to be refrigerated and one doesn't. And so it's very similar stuff that's in both. Now the ones that the one that I use is an iDesign one, which is the the nice kind of perspex ones that you'll see a lot. And definitely you'll see a lot of those on the HoMedics show, if ever you watch that. But they come when they come natural, a lot of lazy Susans, do they come with like dividing things in them? They're removable. And I've removed them all because yeah, it makes it more rigid and it makes it you can't put as much stuff in there. So I, you know, don't be afraid to take out the dividers if they're not working for you. And don't keep them if they're not useful for you. Once you've decided that it works just getting rid of it did not mean so I'm, you know, because we like all we need to keep it all intact. You know, it's never gonna go you're never gonna go back to it like that with the dividers in. If that's what works for you. So yeah, Lazy Susan is really useful for those kinds of jams. I don't know syrup's peanut butters, all that kind of stuff in your fridge and in your cupboard. So yeah, around container does work sometimes. Right? Yeah.

11:25
Yeah. I don't have any relationships is my house. Yeah, no.

11:28
Oh, well, would you like one? Can you see anywhere that it would work? No. No. So you've got it all under control with these options that work for some people if you've got you know, so this so it's, you don't have to have these things, right. Yeah, I do have the

11:43
next one though, Lesley. And that is a shelf divider. I actually have several of those because that works really well for me. So a shelf, the VA, what we see a lot is sometimes kitchen cupboards can be quite big. And then it's very easy for things to get lost. So I actually have a shelf divider in my pantry cupboard. So I've got one cupboard where I keep all of my rice and tins and squashes and pastures, and all of its snacks and all those kinds of things. So I've got a shelf divider in there. So it was easier for me to see what was in there. And I've got a shelf divider in my crockery because I've got a plate set for nine I've got I've got a whole sets, and the little plates kind of got lost a little bit amongst all the other stuff. So I put a little shelf divider in and it worked brilliantly. So

12:36
I think this is Sheltie binder that we're talking about is the one that almost so there's like a little stand isn't there in grid. So there's, there's some that I love and some that I really don't like at all. So the ones that I don't like and I really hope this is not the one that Ingrid's got is the one where it kind of goes down and a sort of like a ladder type thing where

12:56
let's just put in cans,

12:58
because you lose lose, you lose loads of space on those because you take it there's like a void area behind them. And so I don't like those ones, you've not got one of those, I've no, no, that's got a lot of people do, but just factor that in. Now if you're if your cupboards are not chock a block, then that might work fine for you. But if you need to get as much stuff in there as possible, don't lose any available space by having a shelf divider, that's going to kind of take away from what you're trying to do, which is get more stuff in there and see it more easily. But yeah, shelf divided means that it's just a race thing. And what that does is it allows you to put kind of two sections, you know, one on top of the other without having to move all the bottom stuff to get, you know, all the top stuff sorted to get to the bottom stuff. So you know, it's good for weight, isn't it? You know, so if you have plates and you put your dinner plates underneath, for example, then you put your side plates on top, that might be 20 plates. And if you want a dinner plate, you've got to move 10 plates from the top before you get to the bottom one. So if you can subdivide them, then it's a little bit easier to get to exactly what you want really gives you that accessibility. So Sheltie buyers are useful. I do not have any shelf dividers. Oh,

14:08
okay, perfect. That's all right.

14:10
I don't feel left out I'm fine.

14:13
Another thing and this is this is a good one as well, is something that you use in the past, but you no longer do but you still think it's a really good idea.

14:24
I do but I kind of kind of pimped it up basically. So basically, I've always been a fan so we were family of five when we were our peak six on bought one pint and water bottles, you know and you know, refillable water bottles are a big thing here. We've got flask, we've got water bottles, we've got travel cups, we've got all of those kinds of things. And so what I was finding particularly when the kids were little or not that little but you know teenagers like say then they would never put these these things back neatly. Okay, and then they will go oh, I don't want that one. I want this type of one. You know you've always got your favorite It's different things, haven't you? Yeah. And so I'm a big fan of just like, You know what, get all the water bottles containerized get a big, you know, I used to collapse, but I used a collapsible crate, chucked all the water bottles and chucked all the ledson. And then it's a kind of you can rummage through and find exactly what you want. And it's easy to put them back and it's easy to get them out. So I'm a big fan of doing that because trying to kick because a bit top heavy, often water bottles, so they fall over the odd shapes and sizes, there's really tall ones, all that kind of stuff. There's awkward if you go running, there's like overly tight ones and just a bit awkward. So don't be afraid of using a big sort of collapsible crate or a larger storage container to put all your water bottles, flasks, all that kind of stuff in. So I've always done that for years, put it into loads of clients houses as well, then I got a new kitchen three years ago. So what I did was I created a drawer, which now I can put all of my water bottles, I can it's got psi, you know, tall asides. And I can put all of my water bottles one behind the other, and they all stand up because it's got a rubber bottom. And I just said, Just containerized the lids separately. So now it's all nice, it's neater, it's neater than it was. But you know, if you've got you've got a lot, you know, I've changed a lot. And we're going to talk about the the way that I do my kitchen now has changed a lot because I've got a little bit more time than I did when I was a kind of full time mom, if that makes sense. I just thought I can spend a little bit more time giving it that extra little bit of time than I did before. And so it miles right kitchen organization evolves. Yeah,

16:33
I mean, I've also seen some really cool become bottle holders that you can either use in the fridge for for, I don't know, bottles of water or whatever. But people also use those for water bottles. So that can be a great solution. I mean, I just found one small, narrow, higher cupboard in my kitchen, which is perfect for water bottles. But I'd recently did a clear adolescente and, you know, from the depths of the cupboard, things came out. I was like, Oh, nobody uses this anymore. So, you know, great way to donate some stuff.

17:04
They've got a ridiculous amount of water bottles. I mean, really, you know, I bet we've got 20 to 2024 water bottles. I mean, it's a lot. I think it is a lot. But every time I go through it people like yep, use that. Use that. Use that use that, you know what I mean? So there's younger, because they've all kind of slightly different purposes,

17:22
right? Yeah, yeah, no, no, some of them can have hot drinks better or better for cold, you know what I mean? Yeah. And for some reason, I don't want to put my water in a thing where I put my my warm drink sand up there, you got that again.

17:35
But it's all a good thing you know, so to allocate space in your kitchen to water bottles, which ultimately is going to, you know, safeguard the environment and mean that you're not buying plastic bottles of water is a good thing. And so I think it deserves its space in our kitchen. So keep it simple. Give yourself a box that you can rummage around and find what you need. And that and that will be the same. But other things. There'll be other things in the kitchen. Tupperware is another example of that, you know, plastic containers, you know, don't spend loads of time like stacking them up and make them all look perfect. If you haven't got time for that. Just throw them all in and you can find what you want in there, but at least the containerized and not spread it out over your whole cupboard.

18:08
Yep, definitely. So the next storage idea that we want to talk about is using drawer dividers in your drawers in your kitchen. Because if you've got larger drawers, it can be kind of very easy to kind of throw everything in and hope for the best. But you really want to put some dividers in yeah,

18:27
I've got I use drawer dividers in various places in my kitchen. They're kind of different things. Obviously, I've got the bog standard kind of cutlery drawer type one. And then I also have a nice kind of wooden one that I've got, because I've got wide drawers right, so I've got pan drawers, and some of the drawers are divided into two, you know, we've got a top one that comes out separately. So I have subdivided my utensils as well. So I've got like, it's probably got about six sections, but it's a wide draw. I also use a drawer divider in my kind of a drawer of useful things, which a lot of people will know as a junk drawer. So I've got pens in one section, you know, like I've got a little pot actually for a US batteries, different things like that. So it makes everyone needs like a drawer of useful things. So we're not we're not against having things to handle in a kitchen that you need. But we are kind of we would advocate for it being organised rather than just thrown in there and a big jumble. So that's where a drawer divider can come in, you know, like, so the type of thing that you would use to divide your cutlery, use that to divide your drawer of useful things as well use that potentially to divide your utensils, although it needs to be bigger. The sections need to be bigger with utensils because the utensils themselves are bigger. And so I used drawer dividers there. I also use drawer dividers, which actually, I don't like that much. If I'm being really honest, which are again, they're the I design ones, the plastic ones to kind of expand to just kind of subdivide the drawer and they just it's not that I don't like the drawer divider but they don't don't work well. They don't hold properly. So they've got a kind of ratchet system on them that kind of, so they should stay in place and they come loose all the time. It's a bit annoying, and then they go off. So I wouldn't I need to buy a new I need to go to our own Amazon shop and buy the ones that actually do work, don't I? Yeah. I'll start in our shop, the ones, the ones that work or in our shop, because they use them. And I just need to practice what we preach, right?

20:30
Yeah, so if you're like, Amazon shop, yes, we do have a tiny little Amazon shop, because a lot of people kept asking us but Ingrid, allegedly, what kind of stuff? Do you mean, and where can I get it and blah, blah, blah. So if you go to declutter hub.com and click on Products we love, you can see the things that we talked about, if you click on kitchen, organizing a lot of the stuff that we have in today's podcasts you will find in there. So don't worry about having to kind of search the web. For the things that we're talking about. We kind of put it all together. So we hope that's helpful. Now, Lesley, I, we were talking about utensils. So let's then also talk about a Have you got a utensil drawer, jar or not on the side next to your cooker or next to your stove? No,

21:16
I haven't because I favor a more minimalist work surface. So I already have quite a few appliances out. So I'm looking really because I've got and I built this into the new kitchen. So I've got one of those I've got like a an appliance covered with all my big appliances like a slow cooker and my active fry and my food processor and stuff like that. It's all kind of behind a door. But I can just I can just pull the door open and it sits on my work surface. But then I've got the other side have got things that I use all the time. So I've got my toaster, my coffeemaker, a knife block. And if and else. That's it, but they're out on there. They're out on the work surface. So I've not really got space for a utensils drawer and the May I'm happy to get the utensils out of out of the drawer, which is right next to them. I don't need it out. But some people favorite out and I know you've got some out,

22:09
right? Yeah, yeah, so I've indeed next to my cooker. On the left side, I've got a knife block. And on the right side, I've got a just a little little nook and cranny where exactly the little jar can live a larger jar, where most of my utensils are are in I do have besides my two coupler drawers, I do have one drawer, which has the overflow of utensils that I don't use on a regular basis at all. But the things I use all the time that pass to drain are the wooden spoons, the tin opener, all those kinds of things there next to my stove, because we I cook from scratch a lot. I mean, I know you do too. But you've got a larger kitchen to work with. Although my kitchen is not small. The way it was built at the time by the previous owners, it means I do not have a utensils drawer next to my cooker Bambara though I have not had the utensils. Yeah,

23:02
yeah. And I think it is about that. And I think it's about looking, sort of taking a step back from what you've always done. So things like utensils, jars and work surfaces. I think people think we've got to have one. Like, that's just what people do you know what I mean? And you've got it because it makes sense for you to have that because of the configuration of a kitchen. I've not gone because but you don't the reason you don't need it. You don't need those things right next to where you cook, because you can go and get them out of a drawer quite easily when you need them. And so I think what we struggle with sometimes and what we try to kind of eradicate in kitchens that we work with, not necessarily it's not our core, but we'll talk about to the clients. But if you've got three or four utensils, drawers, utensil jars, sorry, on your work surface, which is quite common. Do you need all those there? And have we got an alternative? You know, it's important that if you do you want a sort of curated collection, which Ingrid is saying her Absolute Vital, most used utensils are right next to her cooker, and her other arms are off somewhere where she doesn't need them quite as frequently. Just think about that. Because if you've got four lots and you've got everything, including your melon baller and your strawberry holler and your whatever, you've gotten your chops there, and they're all in there, and they're all out then that's going to add to your visual clutter. Do we have an alternative? And so I think it's important to keep that stuff that's on your work surface to a minimum. If you want to talk about lazy Susans as well you know, a lot of people could use a lazy Susan for oils and vinegars as well next to the hub or the stovetop or whatever. So Lazy Susan can come come into its own there as well outside on a work surface. It's entirely up to you how you do it. So for me, I kind of prefer it to be clean, cleaner lines on my work surface. But if you can't do that, or don't want to do that, for whatever reason, it's fine, but it's just about looking at it and asking yourself the question, I think, isn't it?

24:54
Yeah, definitely. Well, fantastic idea so far. So let's go for a break because we've We've got more for you guys. So see you soon. Hi, everyone. Welcome back. Well, we're discussing great storage ideas and solutions for kitchens. And let's just dive in the next one that I think I actually realized I don't have this, but you have it, I think, and it's actually really helpful. I think it doesn't fit in my kitchen, if it would have probably would have been,

25:24
The suspense is killing me. Well, let me know what you're talking about. I don't know whether I've got it because I don't know what it is we're talking about what

25:31
we're talking about, like pen lid holders, and holders where you can put like baking sheets in or chopping boards, you know, that like these Ira little racks with little holes, you can kind of put stuff vertically instead of horizontally.

25:47
So I think there's two different things. For me, there's two different things in there. Go I have a cut something that I put my pan LEDs into, no for storage. And don't I put my pan LEDs into my a large, not very often used pan, you know, like, massive thing. And I put my smaller pan lids into that. And I just grabbed them out if I need them. But I don't cook with lids on often. So I've actually got rid of a load of LEDs because don't use them. Right. Yeah. So I think that's very relevant. Some people love a panel lead, right. And so that's up to you in the way that you cook. There's no right or wrong way. I lit it up and laid I mean, obviously I've got some panels because you need them sometimes. But sometimes they haven't. So I just use a bigger panel to put the panelists for the smaller pounds. But I am an absolute super fan of the the metal racks and was talking about four chopping boards, and baking trays, you can use them for panels, but they're not quite as good. There's something a little bit different, I think, than what we're talking about. But it can be an absolute game changer, because it holds these things vertically, which means that you can just pull them out without having to wrestle with all the stuff that's on top. It keeps them nicely containerized it looks intentional. And yeah, really good. And they're like, next, they're not that much money, right, you know, like now, under 10 pounds, I would say for them, it's definitely definitely worth it. Particularly if you're a baker or I've got a lot of baking sheets. Yeah, I

27:14
think if my kitchen would be configured differently, I would have one. But the way it's working in my kitchen, I just can't fit one in that makes sense. But I am a fan. And I would indeed suggested to clients who actually indeed do a lot of baking or love cooking, have good luck, chopping water, things like that, and we've got the kind of a space, I would go, that's what we should get. So you

27:35
can still replicate that you can still replicate that vertical kind of thing you might know, it's nice to have it all content, what you're doing is subdividing it in those metal racks, you can still do that you can still stack your baking trays vertically, and then you know, hold them in with a plate and then pull them out in the same way. It's not quite as easy, but you can still do that. You know, put your chopping boards, my chopping boards have always been vertical stacked at the side of something else. You know, to me, I split this alarm, in fact, because I don't use that. For my shopping. I have a cupboard that's got things like cheese, you know, odd things cheese graters, and potato Rice's and jokes and you know, measuring jokes, you know, those kinds of people, those random kind of kitchen things together. And my chopping boards are just nicely sliding down the side of that cupboard vertically. So don't necessarily need a rack, but it just makes things a little bit easier. And they're definitely in that Amazon shop because I love them. And I put them into loads of clients houses and met our members love them now as well, don't they? Yeah,

28:35
absolutely. Next one is the dreaded corner cupboard Lesley that a lot of people have in their kitchen, there's a cupboard in the corner. And it's always has an awkward door, you can never really reach into it. But some people have something called a Lamont unit. It's kind of a kidney shaped gadget that when you open a door, it kind of comes out it's like I don't have one because I don't I have a rectangular kitchen. So I don't have a quarter cupboard. But if I'd have a corner cupboard ever, I would want one of these.

29:11
And there are other kidney shaped ones. So it's kind of almost the I think this is what you have to put these things into your kitchen when they are when your kitchen is constructed. And for sure you can probably do it retrospectively. But normally it's done within the construction of the kitchen, right? And so basically it allows a shell to kind of whiz out and beyond the outside of the cupboard almost. Yeah. And so they're absolutely brilliant for tins. I've put the packets of pasture on there all containerized at the moment, I've got some overflow kind of appliances in there at the moment. So you can pull out all different kinds of things. But the nice thing is allows you to get to the back of the cupboard really easily without going on your hands and needs and going into the depths of beyond which is what we always have to do. I mean we we dread it, don't we inward when we're doing kitchens and we have to kind of get into the back If the cupboard with our cloths and you can't like your torch on your phone to see whether you've got everything, it's like, oh, I would

30:07
I've been known to disappear Delia, one of them but like we're like I'm stuck, I'm stuck in the corner.

30:15
And the thing is these these cupboards should be an absolute joy because it gives you loads of extra space that you haven't got. The key to those corner cupboards isn't if you haven't got them on this unit is not putting stuff in there use often you know, you need to put stuff in there that's like for parties or whatever don't use your most often use things in there. And you can replicate those LeMans units with boxes as well. So quite often we will containerize you'll find two boxes that will fit sort of side by side in that cupboard, you know, fill one with, seldom use things and put the most used things at the front. And then you would just have to take one box out and then you can drag the whole box. The nice thing about a containerized using containers is that you're not trying to drag one item at a time you can bring the whole box out then you can rummage find what you want, and then put it back. And so you know you have got an option to replicate these kinds of things as well.

31:09
Yeah, I love it. I love it. Another thing we enjoy using the kitchens are canisters. But one is not the other is it? Lesley?

31:19
I know, yeah, you've really got to think about and we talked about at the beginning of the podcast about using square rather than round canisters now Round, round things in kitchens are lovely from an aesthetic perspective, then they're lovely for things that are out on display where space is not a premium. But generally if you are using the canisters, and there could be plastic or glass typically at the moment, as few bamboo ones out there and stuff like that as well. But they need to be square or rectangular, really don't let Ingrid if possible. And do you really kind of fit if you are going to start to come out to the camp things was a conversation about the counting things you've got to be careful about whether it's the right thing for you to do where you are in your decluttering journey. So obviously, there's reasons to Deacon stuff as well. And, you know, pests and, you know, keeping things fresh and all that kind of stuff, it's a good idea. If you're, you know, not a big family to decal, your cereals, and keep them you know, there's loads of different reasons why you should or shouldn't do can't cereals, or any other kinds of things. I have started decomposing things more recently. And I use glass containers with bamboo tops, which is nice. And they're all labeled. I really thought it through but it's a big, it's a big amount of money. You know, I told you Ingrid, it was hundreds of pounds to get the right containers for those cupboards. So I had to do it gradually over time to make sure. But I had to really plan it out in terms of what size canister do I need for you know, how, how much space do I need for noodles? How much do I need for rice and there's no point in me having a massive container for something that I need very little of you know, like, I have one for like brown sugar that I rarely use, you know, I mean, that's got a really small container. So you've really got to plan it out. But no, there's loads of nice things on there. But glass or plastic, the OXO Good Grips are on a fantastic, aren't they? They're plastic, if you want if you're happy to go down the plastic route, and glass you can get from all different places. But it is fragile. So do you you know the problem is that if you get glass, it's gonna smash if you drop it, you know what I mean? And so I've had a couple of a couple of breaks on it. You just have to be careful, I guess if you've got little kids might be a bit more tricky. So just think that through but yeah, wherever and rectangular square really rather than round.

33:32
Yeah, it's interesting, because I think a lot of people who've been listening to focus for a while they know how quite meticulous I am with things and how I like it just as but I'm just not ready to do the decanting and I know you weren't for years and years, either less than it's more than when you redid your kitchen, you really start to think okay, the kids are, you know, all kinds of fruit flying the nest now I feel that's not as you know, you feel that you want to spend the time on that. I'm just not there yet. You know, we go through rate of knots Sherman canola pasture rise, and I'm like, I just for me, I just don't see the point yet to the candidate and to get all the containers and the labels and do all of that. So I'm just not ready yet.

34:14
But, you know, I mean, to be honest thing really, it wasn't really, you know, it was time of course, and I had the time to do it. But it's really because I really wanted a pantry. That was my color dream. I wanted a pantry cupboard and I got one. And it looks lovely with all of the containers in like that, you know, so it's, it's only now like I was quite anti it for a long time because I was like, just more time, more effort, more energy. I haven't really got but now if I can't find, you know, an extra 20 minutes on Saturday mornings do count a few things and something going wrong at 55.

34:46
Anyway, interesting. I think the same goes a little bit for fridge scaping. I mean, that is maybe a term that you have never heard before, but I think over the last couple of years we've suddenly seen all these beautiful fruit edges appear everywhere with all these amazing plastic containers. Now, actually, I have bought two plastic containers from my fridge because my fruit was always in the little plastic things that you get from the shop and I now actually put them in and also some of my lunch meats. We ate a lot of bread. I'm Dutch, I can't help myself. So we've got like salami, and hams and cheeses and all those things. So I've got a little plastic container, and I decanted but I don't have everything in plastic containers and organise them into this light. But some people absolutely love that stuff. I

35:35
think it's quite I've gone in and out. So tried it. Do I love it? Not really. I think it takes a lot of space up. Yeah, you know, it takes more space than it adds. Yeah, I think you've really got to have either a massive fridge. I don't know, really, by now, the problem was any kind of containerization anywhere, is it has to be quite precise. And so what you'll find when people decomp things is that they've got everything decomposed into a nice container. And then they've got an overflow area with you know, but the problem is a fridge, you can't have an overflow area, because typically most people have only got one fridge. And so yeah, overflow would need to be in your fridge. Fine. And so I think that, you know, I have I've got two of those containers. And I had ones that were like little drawers and drawers out. And I just used the actual didn't have it as a unit with a tarp on. I just, it's not I'm not really a fan. I've got my lazy Susan. And I've got two of these plastic containers that I can throw a bit of fruit in. But I do still find that I've got fruit on the side that I can't fit in the containers. You know what I mean? Yeah,

36:38
yeah. And I think it's just so interesting, isn't it? Because we've pulled this episode kitchen storage ideas that work, but it just shows that some things work for you. And something's worked for me. And something's worked for both of us. And it's just I think, and that's why we do never do it one size fits all. Do we let's they always say you have to look at your own house and see what works. Right Lesley? Well, let's do one more than just because we can. We also really like something called a mop or broom holder. Fantastic storage solution for a kitchen.

37:14
The game changer in my opinion. I mean, ideally, if it's not in the kitchen is better, because you don't want really want your mops and brooms in your kitchen. But sometimes we have to have them in that. And if you've got a utility room, then they obviously they're gonna go into there. But you know, you need to keep these mops and brushes off the floor if you can or not, because they all fall over. And it's a dead simple little rack. That means that you can like hook these things in. It's kind of got rubber. It's really hard to explain, isn't it, but it kind of it grasps the handle of the broom or the mop and keeps it rigid and in the same place and off the floor. And it's like, fantastic. I love it. Yeah,

37:51
I know. And I think you've also installed them in a garage, right for like, brushes and brooms and garden equipment and things like that. It's worked really well there as well. Yeah, exactly. So perfect. Well, listeners, we hope that you've enjoyed our ideas for kitchen storage ideas and solutions. And let us know if there's anything in your home that you're using. That's a game changer. You think? Why have listening? Ingrid not talked about that in our podcasts? Let us know in the comments we would love to know. But for now. Thanks so much for listening, and we look forward to seeing you next week.

38:35
Thanks so much for listening to the declutter hop podcast. Don't forget to subscribe to us in your podcast player so you don't miss an episode. And we'll see you next week.
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Episode 283 – Kitchen storage ideas that actually work

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Episode 387 – Our 2025 year in review – the big Declutter Hub round-up

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