Simple Kitchen Storage Upgrades - How We Made Our Cabinets Work Smarter

The drawer below is our designated tool drawer. Maybe it sounds a bit odd, but we’ve kept a tool drawer in every kitchen we’ve had over the last 16 years, and we can’t let it go! Some tools we rarely use are in a hall closet, but having our frequently-used items here is handy for quick fixes like hanging a picture or measuring something.

The bottom drawer is the deepest, and it’s perfect for one of our favorite Ikea features: a hidden drawer inside! Now we can store all our glass bakeware, food containers, and the kids’ lunch prep items all in one place – a huge improvement from the limited drawers we used to have.

To keep everything organized, we added Ikea’s pegboard divider in this deep drawer to keep all the containers in order. It looks a little busy in the picture (it would blend better if it came in white!), but it’s been fantastic for keeping things stable and easy to find. That open spot in the back left is where the kids store their lunchboxes – you’ll notice they’re not there in this photo since these were taken during school time.

It may seem odd, but this little 24-inch cabinet has brought us way more satisfaction than those three old cabinets ever did!