Around the House: Maximize Your Storage Space Underneath Your Sink

By Yehudit Garmaise

Just because the space underneath your kitchen sink is dark and cramped and has bulky pipes running through its center doesn’t mean the irregular storage space can’t be transformed into an organized oasis of calm.

Maximize storage space down under while making it a pleasure to see and use whenever you need to grab cleaning supplies.

1. Remove everything you store underneath the sink so you can carefully examine what you have. Chances are you store several random and nearly empty things cluttering the space. 

2. Wipe down the surfaces of your cabinet, and if you like liners, put down a cheerful, clean liner that appeals to you. 

3.      Categorize the things you store by grouping similar things together, such as by grouping similar kinds of spray cleaners. 

4. Toss anything that's expired, leaking, and empty. If you have two bottles of the same product, consolidate them into the newer bottle and toss the old bottle. Try to pare down what you store to make it quicker and easier to spot what you need.

5. Consider whether you were storing items under your kitchen sink that you could possibly store elsewhere, such as putting bathroom cleaning products underneath the bathroom sink, and stashing extra grocery bags on a higher shelf to more easily grab on the way to the store.

6. Install a small, wireless LED “puck light” that lights up only when touched so you can see what you need in a dark space.

7. Put down a plastic turntable on the larger side of the bulky sink pipe to rotate spray bottles to better see them.

8. A few inches from the ceiling of the shelf, install a tension rod, which is like a curtain rod but shorter, to provide another, higher place to store spray bottles by hanging their spray triggers off the bar.

9. By suspending spray bottles, you will free up the floor of the shelf for clear bins or woven baskets that can store sponges, scrubbers, dishwashing gloves, and dishwashing powder, gel, or pellets. On the floor of the shelf, store only those sprays, such as oven cleaners, that do not have spray triggers to suspend from the tension bar.

10. Hang hooks on the inside of the cabinet door and even on the walls of the shelves for extra storage. Oven mitts, cleaning brushes used irregularly, SOS pads, bottle cleaners, extra dish towels, rags, and dishwashing gloves can all hang neatly on hooks that are of the same size and color.