Home accents for a kitchen.

[Volatile Rainbow]

So now we're working on my kitchen, and I have limited cabinet space. Any ideas on how to display mugs or dishes without just looking like you don't have the room for them?  

[Maki Minakoaino]

if you have any extra wall space, you could put up some shelves (or even more cabinets--just go to a home improvement store, they have diy cabinets--might be more expensive, though).

Something my in-laws did with their pots and pans--put nails in the wall and hang the pots and pans up (i don't recommend it cause i think it looks tacky, but it's an idea and it does allow easy access for cooking)

I believe Wal-mart (i know, i know...so many people don't like wal-mart) has some rolling kitchen islands--some even have cabinets Look Here OR a really lovely way (if you have the space of course) is a hutch or curio cabinet (this is my personally favorite way, which i plan on doing once i have a house to display my china)

You probably don't even have to go to wal-mart if you don't want to. It was just an example wink

You could explore antique shops if there are any around you (there are tons where I live)  

[Volatile Rainbow]

I fell in love with those curio cabinets, but I definitely didn't fall in love with those prices...  

[RocknRollDragon]

You know what would look really nice? I'm not sure what they are, but you screw this metal type thing under a shelf or a cabinet and you can hang things from it. It would be a nice decorative not just sitting there look.  

[Volatile Rainbow]

RocknRollDragon

You know what would look really nice? I'm not sure what they are, but you screw this metal type thing under a shelf or a cabinet and you can hang things from it. It would be a nice decorative not just sitting there look.

You mean to like, hang coffee cups? 'Cause I already know I'm getting one of those.  

[Tes]

~
Change the cabinet doors on your upper cabinets to glass or exciting coloured plexiglass front ones (the lower ones not so much, they would bust easier and there's also the fact that lower cabinets are always a mess of pots, pans and any odd gadgits).
Alternately take an open concept approach and take off the cabinet doors and all the hardware completely and just refinish the visable surfaces.

If you want to display them just because you haven't enough space for them, consider how much you actually need and what you could get away with giving away. I only have as much as I need and it makes it easy.
~

 

[Brunette_Star]

Another thing you could look for is a "mug tree." It looks a little like a wooden Christmas tree or coat rack. It sits on your counter and usually holds about 6-8 mugs. My grandmother had one and I always thought it was cute.  

[Volatile Rainbow]

Brunette_Star

Another thing you could look for is a "mug tree." It looks a little like a wooden Christmas tree or coat rack. It sits on your counter and usually holds about 6-8 mugs. My grandmother had one and I always thought it was cute.

I have one of those, but my fiance and I drink so much coffee and we have visitors so often that we must have at least twenty mugs, which is why I want to put the hooks on the wall for the rest of the coffee mugs.  

[kamiyra]

Volatile Rainbow

I fell in love with those curio cabinets, but I definitely didn't fall in love with those prices...

I'll let you know if our mom ever gets around to getting a new one, she doesn't like the one we have... and she might be willing to give it to you cheap. wink

Have you already looked into the wire shelves for putting in your cabinets? We have a million mugs as well, and they only take up half the height of the shelf, so my mum picked up some of those, and we were able to store them in almost half the space without stacking the mugs. That also works for storing several kinds of dishes that don't stack well on top of each other and what have you.

I would say if you have storage space elsewhere (a closet, the garage, the living room), put some of the less-used items in a cabinet or somesuch there. That way they don't take up space in the kitchen cabinets, but they're still more accessible than if they were tucked away in a box somewhere. That's especially good for non-perishable food that's taking up tons of space in your cabinets - we have a storage cabinet in the garage that we have extra cleaning and cooking supplies in, as well as most of the canned goods and pasta, peanut butter and only occasionally used bits (like breadcrumbs) that would otherwise take up a full cabinet in our kitchen.

Also, if you have space above your fridge, that's a good place to store things. You can use little decorative bins and baskets, or just make a large, deep tray, or whatever else might look good. Erm... if you have one of those counters that's meant to be used as a bar type thing, we have a cheap short bookcase under there for putting cookbooks in, but I suppose you could use it for mugs or what have you as well.

I really can't think of anything better without seeing the space... I'm much better at coming up with ideas when I can see what there is to work with, since I tend to come up with fairly custom off-the-wall ideas.  

[Volatile Rainbow]

I just picked up the prettiest pitcher set at a garage sale. It's a crystal pitcher, and four matching crystal wine glasses, on a rotating wooden platform. heart Gorgeous and classy. And only...

Ready for this?

Three dollars!

I know that this doesn't have anything to do with crafting, but ohmygawsh I had to say something. Now I can pitch my crappy $.99 plastic water pitcher, and it'll make the kitchen look a helluva lot nicer.  

[switchblade12]

I got little wood hangers that you can buy and nail on the bottom of the cabinets and hang them by there handles.I painted the hangers to a cherry color to match my kitchen,but you don't have to paint them.  

[Annchen]

IKEA is good at storage for small spaces. (the picture is from their site)

My grandfather made a clever thing for keeping plastic cutting boards out of the way. It's a stand made in wood with three grooves as wide as a cutting board. It makes it possible for our cutting boards to stand out of the way without falling over.

Rails with hooks hanging on them are pretty good for things you use often. I used to have one near the stove in my last kitchen.

I *hate* the fact that our biggest frying pan always stands on the stove. My fiance don't want to put it in the cupboard where we keep all pots and pans because it'll get scratched and I don't want it standing around looking ugly. I suppose there'll be no sollution until we move somewhere with a better planned kitchen. This one is really cramped and there are lots of cupboards that are nearly impossible to use.  

[Volatile Rainbow]

Annchen

IKEA is good at storage for small spaces. (the picture is from their site)

My grandfather made a clever thing for keeping plastic cutting boards out of the way. It's a stand made in wood with three grooves as wide as a cutting board. It makes it possible for our cutting boards to stand out of the way without falling over.

Rails with hooks hanging on them are pretty good for things you use often. I used to have one near the stove in my last kitchen.

I *hate* the fact that our biggest frying pan always stands on the stove. My fiance don't want to put it in the cupboard where we keep all pots and pans because it'll get scratched and I don't want it standing around looking ugly. I suppose there'll be no sollution until we move somewhere with a better planned kitchen. This one is really cramped and there are lots of cupboards that are nearly impossible to use.

I like IKEA. But unless I wanted to hang this is my living room, I don't have room for shelving in the kitchen unless it's tiny and crammed between the lower cabinets and the upper cabinets.

I ended up buying a small wire wall "coat hanger," which I am currently painting with the help of stencils, to hang my coffee mugs. It's not up yet; but if it turns out like I'm thinking it will, it should be pretty cute and won't look like I should be hanging up my coats in the kitchen sweatdrop  

[Smillaaraq]

Maki Minakoaino

Something my in-laws did with their pots and pans--put nails in the wall and hang the pots and pans up (i don't recommend it cause i think it looks tacky, but it's an idea and it does allow easy access for cooking)

And if you want something a little fancier looking than nails, there are wall-mounted pot racks in all sorts of shapes, sizes and finishes. I've got two plain long ones that look like the Blackhurst Utility Racks at the bottom of the page -- with the sliding hooks you can really cram a lot of pots, pans, and large utensils onto the rack, which frees up a lot of desperately-needed cabinet space in my tiny 1940s kitchen.