The Problem: An over-the-sink kitchen cabinet without a center shelf.
Many RVs have these, and many RV owners, not possessing the carpentry skills or nerve to drill into their cabinets to add a shelf, need ideas to make use of the wasted vertical space. Enter the art of kitchen storage. I started out by stacking my dishes high on the right side and using the other side of the cabinet for the many different types of drinkware I carry. This included stackable aluminum tumblers, thermal coffee cups, my Camco wine glasses, reusable water bottles and a few “to go” paper coffee cups with lids, as well as a cocktail shaker. They fit neatly in there, but when I arrived at my destination, the cabinet looked like it went through a spin cycle in the washing machine.
My first attempt at fixing the problem was to add plastic-coated wire shelving and, although that did give extra vertical space, it did not solve the problem of keeping everything in place. The plastic-coated wire shelving slides around and is not always sturdy. I then tried baskets, but I didn’t like that I couldn’t see what was in them.
The Solution: Clear plastic containers to corral items and keep them in place.
Being able to stack dishes upright, rather than vertically, allows me to get the one I am after without having to move the ones stacked on top. These rv storage containers fit snugly inside the cabinet and don’t slide while driving. The ones I found from mDesign fit snugly in the cabinet and generally don’t move. If you have leftover space, you can sit them on the shelf liner or add clear adhesive rubber bumpers to the bottom to keep them from moving around. I chose the clear, tall box with a ribbed interior bottom for my dishes, which has handles. I can pull it out and take it to the picnic table in a snap. The ribs on the bottom keep the upright dishes from sliding around. These boxes come in many different sizes, so you can choose them based on your cabinet dimensions.
For my drinkware, I chose the mDesign caddy with a center handle. These also come in different sizes. The remaining space in the cabinet was the perfect fit for my thermal tumblers and water bottles. I was so pleased with this that I redid my kitchen drawers with the smaller, lower clear bins. Now I can see everything at a glance and I’m not digging around for my stuff. As a wise man (my dad) often said, “There’s a place for everything and everything should be in its place.”
This article on the Art of Kitchen Storage by Janine Pettit was originally published in Girl Camper Magazine.
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