Home Cabinetry
Planning your cabinet project
Need new cabinets? If the answer is yes, planning is the key to finding solutions to the problems your stuff poses. The following are tips to consider when planning cabinet storage space throughout your home.
- What do you do and where do you want to do it? Throw out the rule book and make your home support what you want to do. If you want to sew in the family room, organize the space to accommodate the sewing machine, ironing board, serger, and provide adequate storage for fabric and notions storage. Plan a spot to layout fabric for cutting or storing a quilting frame when it´s not being used. If you have a mannequin and don´t consider it art, include a cabinet specifically to store it.
- If you´re not interested in sewing, but need a spot for the kids to do art projects, set up a cabinet to house all the pens, pencils, markers, paints, and papers that go along with crafts. Whatever they are, define your activities, then walk through each process from start to finish. The more detail you put into designing your storage the more functional it will be.
- What if you don´t want to get too specific? Every family changes; what works today, may not work tomorrow. Plan accordingly. Get drawer units that can accommodate various dividers and inserts. If you don´t know what you´re going to store in five years, make sure drawers are variable depths. Shallow drawers are fine for some things like silverware, but a bank of four shallow drawers could easily equal four junk drawers.
- Use cabinet doors for pot lid racks or tray storage. Spice racks may also fit. Anything that you use often needs a designated spot so it is close at hand and easily accessed. There are many organizational accessories that easily mount inside cabinet doors.
- Create ventilated pantry space for foods like root vegetables, or add a bread box for bakery goods and cereals. Add bins for grains if you enjoy scratch cooking. Build in a wine rack for a few bottles of wine.
- Consider ergonomics. Put heavy appliances in an appliance garage on the counter or use a mechanical shelf extension that uses a lever to raise the shelf to counter height. It´s useful for any heavy appliance that you want to be able to use and store easily.
- Measure and plan to accommodate the giant mixer, the poster board, or the circular saw. Regardless of room, each has items that are oddly shaped, bulky, and hard to store.
- Generally, drawers are more convenient than cupboards. If you can see what you have, there won´t be so many dark corners for things to hide. Cupboards tend to develop into black holes and swallow stuff, but they can easily be customized with wood and wire trays that slide out.
- If you can build it in, do. Don´t hesitate to build in recycling centers, laundry hampers, cookbook stands, and keyboard drawers. Do what you can to get it off the floor, off the counter, and out of sight. It makes cleaning incredibly easy.
Regardless of the stuff you have to store, new cabinetry can help you work more efficiently, find what you need more easily, and look really great, but it won´t solve your packrat tendencies if you have them.
See Update Renovate for more information.
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