NMB Kitchen Planning Handbook · Guide 4 of 6
Kitchen storage ideas: designed around real life
Good kitchen storage is not about adding more cupboards. It is about the right storage in the right places.
This guide shows how we plan cupboards, drawers, appliances and everyday essentials around what you own, how you cook and how your household uses the kitchen. It ends with a storage checklist to fill in before your design visit.
By Nevin Smith, kitchen designer and director at NMB Kitchens & Bathrooms
Step 1
Start with what you need to store
One of the biggest planning mistakes happens before the cabinets are ordered: underestimating how much you need to store. It is easy to picture new worktops and colours. It is much harder to remember everything hiding in your drawers, cupboards and utility room. There is usually far more than you think, for example:
✓ Air fryers, slow cookers, blenders and food processors
✓ Coffee machines and kettles
✓ Pots, pans, baking trays and serving dishes
✓ Lunch boxes, food containers and water bottles
✓ Spices, oils, baking ingredients and bulk shopping
✓ Cleaning products, pet food, BBQ kit and seasonal appliances
Designer’s tip: work out what needs storing before thinking about clever accessories. A beautiful pantry is pointless if the appliance you use every morning still ends up on the worktop.
Step 2
Do a kitchen storage audit
Before designing your new kitchen, spend an hour going through the one you have. Open every cupboard and drawer, check the utility room, and look on top of and inside the cupboards you rarely open. Then sort what you find into four groups.
Use every day
These deserve the easiest-to-reach storage, close to where you use them.
Use once a week
Still important, but they can sit a little further away or a little higher.
Use occasionally
Good candidates for higher cupboards, deeper corners or the utility room.
Rarely used
Worth questioning before you design expensive storage around them. A new kitchen is the perfect time to clear out duplicates, expired food and unused gadgets. Declutter first, design second.
Step 3
Give everything a home
The best kitchens do not just have lots of storage. They have the right storage in the right places. Instead of asking “how many cupboards can we fit?”, we ask:
✓ Where do you make your morning coffee?
✓ Where do you unpack the shopping?
✓ Which appliances do you use every day?
✓ Do you cook from scratch, bake or batch cook?
✓ Do the children make their own breakfast or snacks?
✓ Do you buy food, drinks or pet supplies in bulk?
Your answers tell us not only how much storage you need, but where it should be.
Step 4
Store things where you use them
Think about making your morning coffee: mugs, coffee or tea, the kettle or machine, sugar, spoons, milk and the bin. If these are spread around the kitchen, you repeat unnecessary steps every morning. Keep them together and you have a simple coffee zone. The same idea works throughout the kitchen.
Cooking zone
Pans, utensils, oils and spices close to the hob.
Preparation zone
Knives, chopping boards, mixing bowls and preparation tools close to your main worktop.
Cleaning zone
The dishwasher, bin, cleaning products and everyday crockery together, so clearing away feels natural.
Coffee and breakfast zone
Mugs, kettle or coffee machine, cereals and spoons in one place, ideally away from the main cooking area.
Step 5
Everyday appliances need a plan
Kitchens now hold far more small appliances than they did twenty years ago. The question is not whether you own an air fryer or coffee machine, but where it should live. Sockets, ventilation, shelf heights, door mechanisms and the space needed to use an appliance safely should all be planned before the cabinets are ordered.
Leave out
For appliances you use every day and are happy to have on show.
Hide but keep handy
For air fryers, coffee machines, toasters and mixers you use often but do not want on the worktop all the time.
Store away
For occasional or seasonal appliances that do not need valuable everyday space.
Step 6
Clear worktops without hiding your life
A clutter-free kitchen does not mean everything is hidden. It means the things you use regularly have somewhere sensible to live.
Breakfast cupboards, appliance garages and pocket-door units keep appliances handy, and sometimes permanently plugged in, while letting them disappear when not in use. They work well for:
✓ Coffee machines, toasters and air fryers
✓ Blenders and juicers
✓ Cereals, tea and coffee
✓ Everyday mugs and glasses
Designer’s tip: do not add a breakfast cupboard just because you saw one online. They take up valuable cabinet space, so decide first what will live inside it and whether you will use it every day.
Step 7
Drawers or cupboards?
For many everyday items, deep drawers are one of the biggest improvements you can make. Instead of crouching and reaching into the back of a base cupboard, a drawer brings everything out to you. The answer is not drawers or cupboards: a well-designed kitchen uses both, each where it works best.
Drawers work best for
Pots and pans, plates and bowls, food containers, baking equipment, dry ingredients, cutlery and utensils.
Cupboards still work for
Tall appliances, large mixing bowls, occasional equipment, awkwardly shaped items and seasonal cookware.
Designer’s tip
Give your best storage to the things you use most. Do not give one of the easiest-to-reach cupboards to something you use twice a year.
Step 8
Pantry storage: bigger is not always better
A pantry can be fantastic, but size alone does not make it useful. A narrow, well-organised pantry close to where the shopping is unpacked can work better than a huge cupboard at the other end of the kitchen. The question is not “how big can it be?” but “what needs to live in it?”
✓ Tins, packets, pasta and rice
✓ Cereals, snacks and baking ingredients
✓ Bottled drinks and bulk buys
✓ Pet food
Designer’s tip: shelf depth matters. Very deep shelves make small items hard to see, so food disappears at the back. Shallower, more accessible shelves are often better. The design should follow the contents, not the other way round.
Step 9
Clever storage is not always clever
There are specialist storage products for almost every part of a kitchen: pull-out larders, corner systems, carousels, pull-down shelves and internal organisers. They can be useful, but more mechanisms do not automatically make a better kitchen. They take up space, add cost and bring more moving parts.
Sometimes the simplest solution is best, and a cabinet designed around an awkward space can outperform an expensive accessory. Before paying for clever storage, ask one question: “What problem does this solve in my kitchen?” If there is no good answer, you probably do not need it.
Want to see what works in practice? Look at the larders, drawers and corner storage we fit.
Step 10
Do not forget the things nobody photographs
Beautiful kitchen photos rarely show the everyday things every home still needs to store:
✓ Bins and recycling
✓ Vacuum cleaner, mop and bucket
✓ Ironing board and step stool
✓ Cleaning and laundry products
✓ Pet food, carrier bags and bulk kitchen rolls
If you have a utility room, some of these can live outside the kitchen. If not, plan for them in the design rather than squeezing them in after the cabinets arrive. Integrated bins keep general waste, recycling and food waste organised without taking up floor space.
Step 11
Storage should change with your family
What you need to store today may not be what your kitchen needs in five or ten years. Children grow up, cooking habits change, new appliances appear, hobbies come and go and accessibility needs can change.
Where possible, we choose storage that can adapt with you, rather than designing every centimetre around one moment in your life.
Designer’s tip: avoid making every cupboard too specialised. Adjustable shelves, flexible interiors and versatile drawers are much easier to adapt as your needs change.
Step 12 · Your checklist
The NMB kitchen storage checklist
Before your design visit, tick the things you store now and add anything specific to your household. Do not worry about where everything will go yet. The aim is to make sure nothing is forgotten.
Designer’s tip: photograph the inside of your cupboards and drawers before your design appointment. It tells us a lot about the storage you really need.
Small appliances
☐ Air fryer and slow cooker
☐ Coffee machine and toaster
☐ Blender, juicer or stand mixer
☐ Food processor
Cooking and eating
☐ Pots, pans and baking trays
☐ Chopping boards and serving dishes
☐ Glassware and food containers
☐ Spices, oils and dry goods
Household
☐ Cleaning products and recycling
☐ Vacuum cleaner
☐ Mop and bucket
☐ Ironing board
Real-life essentials
☐ Packed lunch items
☐ Pet supplies
☐ Bulk shopping and BBQ equipment
☐ Seasonal appliances
Step 13
Before you sign off your storage plan
Run through these questions before you approve the design:
✓ Does everything you use every day have an obvious home?
✓ Are the things you use most easy to reach?
✓ Are cooking essentials stored close to where they are used?
✓ Are all your everyday appliances accounted for?
✓ Is there a practical place for bins and recycling?
✓ Have you planned for bulk shopping and pet supplies?
✓ Are your worktops likely to stay reasonably clear?
✓ Is some of the storage flexible enough to adapt later?
If you are struggling to decide where something will live now, it will not get any easier once the kitchen is fitted.
NMB Kitchen Planning Handbook
Continue planning your kitchen
Six practical guides from our team to help you make informed decisions before your renovation starts.
Guide 1
Planning a new kitchen
Plan around how you live, think ahead and check the details before you order.
Guide 2
Setting a realistic kitchen budget
Where your money matters most, the hidden costs to allow for and how to save without cutting quality.
Guide 3
Kitchen layout ideas
Galley, L-shaped, U-shaped, island and peninsula kitchens, and how to choose the right one.
Guide 4 · You are here
Kitchen storage ideas
Design storage around what you own and how you use it, from drawers to pantries and bins.
Guide 5
Choosing a kitchen fitter
The questions to ask and the checks to make before you hire a kitchen company in Manchester.
Guide 6
Preparing for installation
What to do in the weeks before fitting day, so the work runs smoothly and on time.
Questions
Kitchen storage questions answered
Quick answers to the questions we are asked most about kitchen storage.
How can I get more storage in a small kitchen?
Start with an audit and clear out what you do not use. Then use deep drawers instead of base cupboards, take wall units higher, and plan storage where things are used. Clever corner units only help if they solve a real problem.
Are drawers better than cupboards?
For pots, pans, plates and everyday items, deep drawers are usually easier to use. Cupboards still work well for tall appliances, large or awkward items and things you rarely use. Most kitchens need both.
Where should I keep my small appliances?
Leave out the ones you use every day, keep the ones you use often in a breakfast cupboard or appliance garage, and store occasional ones away. Plan sockets and ventilation before ordering.
Is a walk-in pantry worth it?
Only if it is close to where you unpack the shopping and sized for what you need to store. A narrow, well-organised larder unit often works better than a large pantry in the wrong place.
Where should the bins go?
Close to the sink and main preparation area, ideally as an integrated pull-out with sections for general waste, recycling and food waste.
What customers say
Rated 4.9 on Google
A family-run team, FMB members since 2014, with more than 25 years in kitchens, bathrooms and building work.
“Nev, Chris and the team were fantastic, extremely high standard of work. They also sorted out the building control stuff as well.”
Lava Yuki
“From the design process, the build and the finished product the service was excellent.”
Michael Williams
“I chose NMB over other companies as I could see that Nev had great attention to detail and was very thorough. The whole project went really smoothly.”
Lily Wright
Free design visit
Plan your kitchen storage with us
Tell us about your kitchen and how you use it. We will arrange a free, no-obligation design visit and plan storage around your home and everyday routines.
✓ Free home visit with no obligation
✓ Bespoke kitchen and bathroom designs for your space
✓ Full project coordination from design to completion
✓ Structural alterations and building work covered
✓ A trusted local team with consistently positive feedback