Dish Storage 101: Make Your Cabinets Hold More

I had the tiniest cupboard above my dishwasher. I knew it was the best spot to hold my dishes, but gosh — how would I ever get them to fit in there? Today I’m going to share some of the best things I’ve found to store dishes, and hopefully it gives you some ideas to help your cupboards hold more!

Before we get started — decluttering your dish pile (LOOKING AT YOU MUGS) is SO important to this process. Be sure to join my totally free 5-word challenge to declutter easily at your house:

Ok, onto the dishes!

Dish Stackers

I know a lot of organizers out there will encourage you to make extra shelves at somewhere like Home depot to give you more shelf space.

First off, those can be expensive (and frankly, I’m not even sure what to buy for something like this) — but also, I need some spots in my cupboard to be tall, while some need to be thinner — and in, walks the dish stacker. I found mine at Walmart, but you can also find them here.

Now, we’re going to talk more about extra shelves in general — but what I love about this is that it’s specifically for these ROUND objects — plates (of all sizes), bowls, etc. I have this to the side of my very tiny cupboard, and then I stack cups next to it — it works really well! You can see it in this post about zoning your kitchen.

Extra Shelves

Here is the moment when some of you guys are going to say — but Hilary, I can stack my plates, and then salad plates, and then teacup plates and then bowls all on top of each other.

Yes, you 100% can.

But, it’s SO hard to get out a specific dish with that, and it’s almost going to be entirely impossible for your kids to empty the dishwasher if you have that set-up.

BTW, wishing your kids did more (boy oh boy, was that me until I implemented the things in here) — check out Family Routines.

You can find extra shelves in lots of sizes. I would encourage you to find them that are pretty sturdy. Some have a pretty small weight limit and will bend which isn’t a safe situation when we’re talking about a family’s cupboards.

I’ve tended to get my shelves at Costco, HomeGoods, Ross or Walmart — but you can also find some great ones here.

The dollar tree sells them, but they are NOT sturdy. They have worked OK in my pantry where I’m just storing a basket of snacks on top, but they can’t be used for anything moderately heavy.

Beyond the study-ness of the shelf it’s good to take some measurements:

1. What do you want to store underneath? I it’s casserole pans make sure that it can fit below the shelf
2. What is the depth of your shelves? Some shelves are really shallow, so be sure that the shelf fits the width. Remember, items can hang off the front/back of the shelf a little bit — as long as they feel secure and you can shut the door.

I LOVE to use these as a shelf, and then use a basket or bin underneath like a drawer when I use them in my pantry — but that works less good when you’re working with dishes (might be good for tupperware lids though)

Hey, if you’re loving ideas that are sort of “out of the norm” I’d recommend checking out The Organized Home. It’s created to easily help you:

• Declutter
• Understand how you want to use the area
• Create a system that allows you to use the area easily.

I love that there’s just a monthly option where you can jump in just for a month (at a great price) and then use those systems to make your house more useable!

Size Matters

One of the smarter things we did to hold more dishes was to get thinner plates.

We had a lot of random plate sets for our wedding, but we moved mid-life and got rid of all of those, and decided to buy Corelle dishes. They are SO MUCH THINNER. This honestly has a lot of benefits I hadn’t considered prior to getting them:

• They clean better in the dishwasher because there’s more room for the water to move
• Less room in the cabinets
• Easier for kids to set the table because they’re not as heavy.

I’ve built-up my set of Corelle over time by adding some pieces I found at Goodwill — but you can also find them at Walmart or at Amazon.

The other good news is how easy it is to add onto your sets. Mine don’t exactly all match, but they are all the same size — which is awesome for storage.

And no, they honestly don’t seem to be any stronger than other plates. Part of why I’ve had to buy some at Goodwill is because when my kids (or me) drop them on the tile floor, they do break. But, so do other dishes — so, it is what it is.

The Under Shelf

While we’re here talking about extra shelves, I often see people who have just a few inches of space above their items in their cabinet — which can feel hard to use.

In comes, the under shelf. And yes — you can find them at Walmart or Amazon.

Pro Tip: I REALLY like this expandable option for larger cabinets (fits the space you have).

A few things to keep in mind:

Be mindful of any weight limit. I tend to use these for smaller items (great for things like tiny bowls for dips or saucers).

These CAN be a little bit tippy (there is some space in the area it clips into your shelf).

It’s important to think about how your whole family is going to use the shelves when you create a system. That’s why I love the tested systems in here.

Lower Shelves: Pull-Out Organizer

Sometimes you only have lower shelves in order to store your dishes.

These pull-out dish organizers can be a great option. The dishes store vertically and make it much easier to pull what you need out, and put it away.

OR if you have drawers, you can always use a dish organizer if you have a deeper drawer.

With those you have to figure out if you’re willing/ok to put screws into your shelving. There are some that don’t require screws, but that makes me nervous, especially if you have kids pulling stuff out.

I LOVE storing things vertically, and it’s something I always forget about. Obviously, dishes that are so breakable need a contraption to allow you do this.

The good news is that these products aren’t that expensive and can make your kitchen SO much more useable. When we initially moved into our house we didn’t have any extra shelves and we had SO much just stacked in that cabinet.

Once we got the extra shelves, for like $20 it made a HUGE difference!

Do you have any other ideas about how you store dishes at YOUR house? Tell us in the comments. When we have something that works we gotta share it with others!