Summer 2025
By Lauren Hurwitz
The kitchen is the heart of the home – a space where memories and meals are made, and often times…the site of huge messes.
If kitchen clutter is taking over, don’t rush. Scott Weinlein, a design consultant at Majestic Kitchens in Mamaroneck (https://majestickitchens.com/), suggests taking time to do a sort of forensic inventory of what you have in your kitchen. Assess what you and your family use on a daily basis versus weekly. This will give your designer a, “clear direction on what will fit in each space—and what type of specialty products they need to include inside each cabinet to help organize it or make it easier to access.”
Even if you’re not doing a gut renovation, Elise Marchese, owner of the Kitchen Shop in Pelham (https://www.thekitchenshopllc.com/), says there are various easy must-haves that can be implemented in your current kitchen making the space more organized. Marchese says upgrading your junk drawer by adding a charging station within the drawer so you can plug in phones and computer devices is easy to do with aftermarket products without renovating your entire kitchen. “I also love a utensil drawer which is different from your everyday silverware because it holds all of your tongs, whisks, spatulas, wooden spoons, and scissors and helps you stay organized without a lot of effort,” she says. If the kitchen is large enough, you can even create workstations, “…where you’ll have one section for coffee and morning breakfast. A beverage center for items such as a coffee pot and small toaster, away from the stove and main sink so people aren’t on top of each other,” she suggests.
You may also want to consider opting for some vertical storage organizers. “Vertical storage in deep cabinets above the refrigerator or an oven cabinet is a great place for muffin tins, cookie trays, and wire racks that won’t fit in a regular cabinet. Each item will have its own dedicated storage space since you’re storing vertically. Now you don’t have to dump everything out to get to the one item and that’s a better use of space,” Marchese advises.
Speaking of space, a common concern among Weinlein’s clients before they begin their redesign is not having enough space or ease of access. So, he recommends carefully selecting doors throughout the kitchen, such as sliding doors on pantry and/or wall cabinets giving greater visibility to everything at once.
“Another option are doors that pull out with the wire racking attached so you can see what’s on both side of the wire racks,” making it easier to keep everything in order, as well as pocket doors that open up and provide the most out of the space.
Weinlein has other great ways to hide clutter from counters with an array of modern door options.
For example, doors that pocket into a cabinet, installing countertops inside of tall cabinets so appliances like blenders and coffee pots can be hidden away in a more modern way. This is an especially great idea in newer kitchens that have electricity in the cabinets. You can use an appliance while it’s in the cabinet. When the doors are closed, it simply looks like a traditional pantry cabinet. Just be sure you don’t use a toaster oven inside a cabinet as he warns. They generate too much heat and should always be removed from a cabinet when in use.
The new “big thing” is having beverage and snack drawers in another section of the kitchen that can house juice boxes and bites for little kids. Weinlein says this teaches a bit of independence. It keeps children occupied and away from other kitchen activities taking place. Snack drawers are a perfect place to throw in chips, cookies, and more. He adds some beverage drawers can even convert from a beverage drawer into a freezer and back again. You can switch up how you’re using the space depending on your needs on any given day, great for entertaining.
Another growing trend is finding more practical ways to store dishes. Because windows spans have become larger near the sink is, that means you lose cabinet space. So where do you store your dishes? Most people do it in the cabinet to the left of the windows, and then the glasses and mugs to the right. But with oversized glass windows becoming more common at the kitchen sink, you need to think of an alternative. Dishes are now going in drawer bases that have special expandable devices that conform to the size of each round dish, you can take them out and then load them in and out of the dishwasher.
Whatever upgrades you choose, Marchese says to, “Live in the home for at least six months to figure out what works and what doesn’t work. Then, sit with someone like a kitchen designer and review everything. It’s not just about the organization within the kitchen even though that’s a big part of it. It’s also about the flow in and out of the kitchen which is just as important as where the spices are going to go, where the cutlery goes, and proper lighting for each area.” You want to create a realistic budget and make wise decisions on how you spend your money. Lastly, Marchese reminds her clients, “Nobody regrets spending the money on the extra things they know they will keep them organized or keep the sustainability of the kitchen for years.”