5 Ways to Optimize Storage Under Your Sink

Posted on August 14, 2021

It’s easily one of the most disorganized places in any home and can become an oversized junk drawer, if you’re not careful. It’s the cabinet space right under your bathroom, kitchen or laundry room sink. If you look at these areas in your home right now, there’s a good chance you’ll find a mess of cleaners, cleaning supplies and some stow away items you may have even long forgotten. Don’t fear, here are five ways to optimize this space and make it more functional today.

Find what you really need, make a general plan

If you’ve used the space as a dumping ground, you can start by purging what you don’t need. The good news is that these spaces are not very large and you can get it done quickly. Once you’ve removed everything you don’t need and cleaned out the space, you can assess how you want to set things up for what you do need.

Think of the items you use daily, sometimes, and then infrequently. Make sure the items you use often are in easy-to-access spaces that don’t require moving things around to get to them. Less frequently used items could go further towards the back, and even on risers or in bins where you can still see and access them, but they’re not in the way of other things. You may need to consider another space in the kitchen or bathroom, the pantry or laundry, for certain items as well if you’re storage space is small.

Use the door

The inside of the door brings a great opportunity to store items you want easy access to. Consider the depth of the door storage tray, shelf or bin system you use. With that depth in mind, you’ll need to situate items inside the cabinet a little further back. This may have an impact on what items you decide to put on the door and in the actual cabinet space itself.

You can also opt for a door storage system that has drawers or compartments that slide side to side or outward. Consider weight as well. You don’t want anything too heavy in or on the door system. Most people store smaller bottles, sponges, and other light items on doors.

Use simple, inexpensive stacking bins and drawers for the main cabinet

There are a lot of great sliding trays and drawer options available. But if you don’t want to deal with a more involved installation process, use your tape measure and find the right sized bins with drawers that easily slide in and out. Acrylic stackable bins also let you see what’s inside the container without needing to open it. The right plastic stackable storage bins and drawer systems are an inexpensive way to keep things from getting lost in this space.

You can also use the tops of these stackable systems to store some light items, if you have room. But just make sure you keep the tops organized or limit the number of things you put on them to keep it all clean and functional.

Install sliding or rotating systems

Most sliding systems installed at the bottom of the cabinet or on shelves inside the cabinet are durable enough to hold larger bottles like bleach, cleaners and larger spray bottles. You can also put bins and trays inside the sliding tray to organize items. If you store a bulky item like toilet paper, you can stack extras in the back for storage and keep a couple up front for easy access.

There are more elaborate solutions, too, like swing-out shelving systems, multi-tiered drawers and even a Lazy Susan built specifically for these spaces. A Lazy Susan is great, particularly if you don’t have many items. You can simply spin it around to access the ones you need. But keep areas around it clutter-free so you don’t inhibit its ability to spin freely.

Take advantage of an ultra-modern aesthetic

If you have an ultra-modern sink in your bathroom or kitchen, these situations may offer some unique storage benefits. Many modern sinks use plumbing that may be housed further back in the cabinet space or in the wall. That means you can use a drawer system that looks like dresser drawers.

This can simplify your storage strategy. Basically, you can view it as if you were stocking a dresser with clothes. Only with smaller items, you’ll probably need trays and bins to keep small items separate from one another. The down side is that you may need to re-think where to put larger bottles if the drawers aren’t deep or large enough for them.

Conclusion

If you decide to tackle a under sink storage organization project, don’t forget to visit the internet and social media sites for more ideas.