Every kitchen has one. A cupboard that started out for plates and mugs and now holds a bit of everything, stacked at odd angles, with something at the back you haven’t seen since Spring 2019. You open it, one thing wobbles, and you close it again. Quickly. We’ve got you covered though. Read on.
A riser that turns one shelf into two
Most of the wasted space on a kitchen shelf sits above your plates, not beside them. The DecoBros Expandable Stackable Kitchen Cabinet and Counter Shelf Organiser is a simple metal frame that slides wider or narrower to fit your shelf, then sits over what’s already there so you get a second slatted level for mugs, bowls or tins. Nothing gets fixed to the shelf itself, so it comes straight back out if you move house or just change your mind.
Good to know: it’s metal, so it has a bit of heft, and the listing doesn’t give exact height clearance for every shelf. Measure how much headroom you’ve got above your plates before ordering, so whatever you put on top actually clears the shelf above.
A turntable that stops you digging to the back
The back of a shelf is where things go to be forgotten. A turntable fixes that by bringing the back round to you instead of the other way round. The Semlos Lazy Susan Turntable Cupboard Organisers come as a pack of two 9 inch trays that spin a full circle, so oils, sauces and spice jars all stay reachable instead of hiding behind the tall bottle at the front.
Good to know: Semlos sell a few similar looking turntables in different pack sizes and diameters, so it’s worth checking the exact listing matches the pack size and colour you want before you order, rather than going on the thumbnail alone.
Containers that stack instead of a wall of odd tubs
A shelf full of mismatched margarine tubs and old sauce jars never quite lines up, and it always seems to take more room than it should. The Finew 4 Pack Clear Storage Organiser Box gives you two large and two small clear boxes with lids and handles, built to stack neatly on top of each other rather than spread out sideways. They’re sold as fridge organisers, but a dry shelf suits them just as well for pasta, rice or odds and ends from the cupboard.
Good to know: with two sizes in the set, check the individual dimensions on the listing against your shelf depth first. A box that’s a centimetre too deep is annoying in a way that’s hard to notice until it’s already on your worktop.
None of this is a full kitchen overhaul. It’s one shelf, three buys, and about twenty minutes of taking everything out and putting it back in a bit more sensibly. That’s usually all a crowded shelf actually needs.
A quick note on the pictures in this post: they’re illustrations of what each type of product generally looks like, not photos of the exact items, so the real thing will look a little different.
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