What You Can’t See Can Cost You (and How Organized Cabinetry Can Save You Money)
There may be money hiding in your kitchen cabinets. Unfortunately, we don’t mean the good kind.
It’s the $8 bottle of salad dressing you bought because you couldn’t see the other two. The bag of produce that disappeared behind something else until it was too late. The batteries you replaced because nobody knew where the batteries lived. And somewhere, quite possibly, there’s a gift card quietly aging in a junk drawer.
Individually, none of these things will wreck the household budget. Collectively? The numbers get surprisingly big. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the average American spends $728 every year on food that ultimately goes uneaten. For a household of four, that adds up to $2,913 a year or $56 every week. That’s more than 11% of household food spending. And food is only one example of money we spend on things we don’t ultimately use.
So perhaps there’s another way to think about home organization. It’s not simply about making a room look better; it’s about making it easier to use what you’ve already paid for:
$2,913 Worth of Reasons to See What’s in the Pantry: Food waste is a massive problem in the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 30–40% of the American food supply goes uneaten. Not all of that happens in our homes, of course, and no pantry design is going to eliminate food waste. But some of the reasons we throw food away are remarkably ordinary: we forget about it; we can’t see it; or we buy another one because we don’t realize we already have one.
That’s where thoughtful cabinetry can make a difference. A pantry doesn’t necessarily work better simply because it’s bigger. Deep shelves can hold an impressive amount of food right up until the second and third rows disappear behind the first. Full-extension pantry pull-outs bring the contents of the cabinet out where you can see them. Roll-out trays make the back of a deep cabinet as accessible as the front. Narrow pull-outs can keep bottles, oils, and sauces visible instead of three-deep on a shelf. Even strategically using shallower shelving can sometimes make a pantry more useful by keeping its inventory in sight.
The goal isn’t just to fit more food into the pantry; it’s to know what’s in there.
Sometimes More Storage Isn’t the Answer: Here’s a familiar household mystery: You’re pretty sure you should have batteries. But where? You cannot lay your hands on them, so you buy more batteries. The same thing happens with tape, scissors, light bulbs, sunscreen, cleaning supplies, reusable shopping bags, chargers, school supplies and all those other things that definitely have a home (even if nobody can say exactly where that home is).
This is where dedicated cabinetry zones can be more valuable than simply adding more cabinets. A mudroom can give backpacks, keys, sunglasses, pet supplies, and reusable bags permanent homes. Laundry or utility cabinetry can consolidate cleaning products and household supplies. A designated drawer can keep batteries, light bulbs, and small tools together instead of scattering them among the kitchen, garage, and junk drawer.
Because sometimes the problem isn’t that we don’t have enough storage; we have too many places where something might be.
There Could Be $244 in Your Junk Drawer: A Bankrate survey found that 43% of U.S. adults have at least one unused gift card, voucher, or store credit. Among people who have them, the average unused value is $244. Collectively, Bankrate estimated Americans were sitting on approximately $27 billion in unused value, and Bankrate senior analyst Ted Rossman identified one of the culprits: we put gift cards in the back of our wallets or stuff them into junk drawers and forget about them. Sound familiar? Gift cards aren’t really a cabinetry problem; they’re a designated-place problem.
That’s one reason we’re fans of the household command center. A small area of cabinetry can create intentional places for the things that otherwise float around a house: gift cards, coupons, receipts, school papers, mail that needs attention, warranties and items waiting to be returned. Not everything needs a drawer, but the things that represent actual money probably shouldn’t have to fend for themselves.
Beware the Black-Hole Cabinet: You know this cabinet. It’s two feet deep. There’s one shelf. Something you need is in the back. Getting it requires kneeling on the floor, removing a Crock-Pot, relocating a colander, and extending your arm into another dimension. Technically, it’s storage, but functionally, much of it might as well not exist.
This is why some of the most useful advances in cabinetry aren’t about adding space at all. They’re about making existing space accessible.
Full-extension drawers let you see the entire contents from above. Roll-outs bring the back of a cabinet forward. Corner systems make use of spaces that otherwise become kitchen Bermuda Triangles. Pull-down mechanisms can make upper cabinetry easier to reach. Even something as simple as replacing a traditional lower cabinet with deep drawers can completely change how easily you see, and therefore, use, what you own. Storage you can’t reasonably access isn’t particularly useful storage.
Your Appliances Count, Too: Then there are the things we bought with every intention of using. The blender. The food processor. The stand mixer. The air fryer. If using an appliance requires excavating it from underneath three other appliances, there’s a decent chance it isn’t getting used as often as you imagined when you bought it. An appliance garage can keep frequently used equipment accessible at counter height while allowing it to disappear behind a cabinet door when it’s not needed. Heavy appliance lift systems can make larger equipment easier to access. Customized cabinetry can also be designed around the appliances a household actually owns instead of forcing them into whatever cabinet happens to have room. Again, the principle is simple: The easier something is to access, the easier it is to use.
Design for How You Live, Not Just What You Own: There’s a reason the prettiest pantry on Pinterest isn’t necessarily the best pantry for your family. Good cabinetry design starts with different questions.
- What do you buy in bulk?
- Where do the kids drop their backpacks?
- What appliances do you use every day?
- Where does unopened mail accumulate?
- Where do you look for batteries?
- Do you need room for Costco-sized packages, or would shallower pantry shelves serve you better?
- Do you bake? Pack lunches? Buy lots of fresh produce? Have a dog whose leash somehow migrates through the entire house?
Those answers determine whether you need rollouts, drawers, cubbies, vertical dividers, a command center, an appliance garage, a charging drawer, a specialized pantry, or simply a better place for the scissors. Because great cabinetry isn’t about creating the maximum possible number of places to put things; it’s about creating the right places.
Make It Visible. Make It Accessible. Give It a Home.
We tend to think about organization as a quality-of-life issue. A well-organized kitchen is easier to cook in. An organized mudroom makes mornings less chaotic. An organized laundry room is simply nicer to use. All true. But there’s a financial argument for good organization, too. When we can see what we own, we’re less likely to forget about it. When we can find what we need, we’re less likely to replace it. And when the things we’ve already paid for are easy to access, we’re more likely to actually use them. So, when planning cabinetry, maybe the question isn’t simply: “Where can we put all this stuff?” A better question would be: “How can we design this space so we actually use what we already have?”
At Swartz Kitchens & Baths, that’s where thoughtful cabinetry design begins. Contact us to get started.
What You Can’t See Can Cost You (and How Organized Cabinetry Can Save You Money)
There may be money hiding in your kitchen cabinets. Unfortunately, we don’t mean the good kind.It’s the $8 bottle of salad dressing you bought because you couldn’t see the other two. The bag of produce that disappeared behind something else until it was too late. The batteries you replaced because nobody knew where the batteries lived. And somewhere, quite possibly, there’s a gift card quietly aging in a junk drawer.
Individually, none of these things will wreck the household budget. Collectively? The numbers get surprisingly big. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the average American spends $728 every year on food that ultimately goes uneaten. For a household of four, that adds up to $2,913 a year or $56 every week. That’s more than 11% of household food spending. And food is only one example of money we spend on things we don’t ultimately use.
So perhaps there’s another way to think about home organization. It’s not simply about making a room look better; it’s about making it easier to use what you’ve already paid for:
$2,913 Worth of Reasons to See What’s in the Pantry: Food waste is a massive problem in the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 30–40% of the American food supply goes uneaten. Not all of that happens in our homes, of course, and no pantry design is going to eliminate food waste. But some of the reasons we throw food away are remarkably ordinary: we forget about it; we can’t see it; or we buy another one because we don’t realize we already have one.
That’s where thoughtful cabinetry can make a difference. A pantry doesn’t necessarily work better simply because it’s bigger. Deep shelves can hold an impressive amount of food right up until the second and third rows disappear behind the first. Full-extension pantry pull-outs bring the contents of the cabinet out where you can see them. Roll-out trays make the back of a deep cabinet as accessible as the front. Narrow pull-outs can keep bottles, oils, and sauces visible instead of three-deep on a shelf. Even strategically using shallower shelving can sometimes make a pantry more useful by keeping its inventory in sight.
The goal isn’t just to fit more food into the pantry; it’s to know what’s in there.
Sometimes More Storage Isn’t the Answer: Here’s a familiar household mystery: You’re pretty sure you should have batteries. But where? You cannot lay your hands on them, so you buy more batteries. The same thing happens with tape, scissors, light bulbs, sunscreen, cleaning supplies, reusable shopping bags, chargers, school supplies and all those other things that definitely have a home (even if nobody can say exactly where that home is).
This is where dedicated cabinetry zones can be more valuable than simply adding more cabinets. A mudroom can give backpacks, keys, sunglasses, pet supplies, and reusable bags permanent homes. Laundry or utility cabinetry can consolidate cleaning products and household supplies. A designated drawer can keep batteries, light bulbs, and small tools together instead of scattering them among the kitchen, garage, and junk drawer.
Because sometimes the problem isn’t that we don’t have enough storage; we have too many places where something might be.
There Could Be $244 in Your Junk Drawer: A Bankrate survey found that 43% of U.S. adults have at least one unused gift card, voucher, or store credit. Among people who have them, the average unused value is $244. Collectively, Bankrate estimated Americans were sitting on approximately $27 billion in unused value, and Bankrate senior analyst Ted Rossman identified one of the culprits: we put gift cards in the back of our wallets or stuff them into junk drawers and forget about them. Sound familiar? Gift cards aren’t really a cabinetry problem; they’re a designated-place problem.
That’s one reason we’re fans of the household command center. A small area of cabinetry can create intentional places for the things that otherwise float around a house: gift cards, coupons, receipts, school papers, mail that needs attention, warranties and items waiting to be returned. Not everything needs a drawer, but the things that represent actual money probably shouldn’t have to fend for themselves.
Beware the Black-Hole Cabinet: You know this cabinet. It’s two feet deep. There’s one shelf. Something you need is in the back. Getting it requires kneeling on the floor, removing a Crock-Pot, relocating a colander, and extending your arm into another dimension. Technically, it’s storage, but functionally, much of it might as well not exist.
This is why some of the most useful advances in cabinetry aren’t about adding space at all. They’re about making existing space accessible.
Full-extension drawers let you see the entire contents from above. Roll-outs bring the back of a cabinet forward. Corner systems make use of spaces that otherwise become kitchen Bermuda Triangles. Pull-down mechanisms can make upper cabinetry easier to reach. Even something as simple as replacing a traditional lower cabinet with deep drawers can completely change how easily you see, and therefore, use, what you own. Storage you can’t reasonably access isn’t particularly useful storage.
Your Appliances Count, Too: Then there are the things we bought with every intention of using. The blender. The food processor. The stand mixer. The air fryer. If using an appliance requires excavating it from underneath three other appliances, there’s a decent chance it isn’t getting used as often as you imagined when you bought it. An appliance garage can keep frequently used equipment accessible at counter height while allowing it to disappear behind a cabinet door when it’s not needed. Heavy appliance lift systems can make larger equipment easier to access. Customized cabinetry can also be designed around the appliances a household actually owns instead of forcing them into whatever cabinet happens to have room. Again, the principle is simple: The easier something is to access, the easier it is to use.
Design for How You Live, Not Just What You Own: There’s a reason the prettiest pantry on Pinterest isn’t necessarily the best pantry for your family. Good cabinetry design starts with different questions.
- What do you buy in bulk?
- Where do the kids drop their backpacks?
- What appliances do you use every day?
- Where does unopened mail accumulate?
- Where do you look for batteries?
- Do you need room for Costco-sized packages, or would shallower pantry shelves serve you better?
- Do you bake? Pack lunches? Buy lots of fresh produce? Have a dog whose leash somehow migrates through the entire house?
Those answers determine whether you need rollouts, drawers, cubbies, vertical dividers, a command center, an appliance garage, a charging drawer, a specialized pantry, or simply a better place for the scissors. Because great cabinetry isn’t about creating the maximum possible number of places to put things; it’s about creating the right places.
Make It Visible. Make It Accessible. Give It a Home.
We tend to think about organization as a quality-of-life issue. A well-organized kitchen is easier to cook in. An organized mudroom makes mornings less chaotic. An organized laundry room is simply nicer to use. All true. But there’s a financial argument for good organization, too. When we can see what we own, we’re less likely to forget about it. When we can find what we need, we’re less likely to replace it. And when the things we’ve already paid for are easy to access, we’re more likely to actually use them. So, when planning cabinetry, maybe the question isn’t simply: “Where can we put all this stuff?” A better question would be: “How can we design this space so we actually use what we already have?”
At Swartz Kitchens & Baths, that’s where thoughtful cabinetry design begins. Contact us to get started.