A beautiful kitchen is important. But a kitchen that works beautifully can completely change the way you use your home.
When planning a kitchen remodel, storage is one of the most important things to get right—especially in a lake house, ski home, or vacation property in New Hampshire, where the kitchen often needs to accommodate family, friends, weekend guests, and everything that comes along with them.
At Sakin Home, we specialize in kitchen remodeling and renovations throughout the New Hampshire Lakes Region and White Mountains, including Meredith, Campton, Thornton, Holderness, Lincoln, North Woodstock, Waterville Valley, Waterville Estates, Newfound Lake, Squam Lake, and Lake Winnipesaukee.
One of the best parts of remodeling an existing kitchen is the opportunity to rethink the storage completely.
Instead of simply adding more cabinets, we can make the space you already have work harder.
Here are some of our favorite smart kitchen storage ideas for your next kitchen remodel.
1. Replace Standard Lower Cabinets With Deep Drawers
One of the simplest ways to make a kitchen easier to use is to replace traditional lower cabinets with large, deep drawers.
Instead of crouching down and reaching into the back of a cabinet to find a pot, pan, mixing bowl, or small appliance, a full-extension drawer brings everything out to you.
Deep kitchen drawers work especially well for:
- Pots and pans
- Mixing bowls
- Food storage containers
- Small appliances
- Serving dishes
- Baking supplies
For a vacation home that may be used by several different people, drawers also make it much easier for guests to see where everything is—and put it back.
2. Add Dedicated Storage for Pots and Lids
Pots are relatively easy to stack. The lids are usually the problem.
A custom pot-and-lid storage drawer solves both issues by creating one organized location for cookware while keeping lids upright and easy to grab.
Rather than adding organizers after the kitchen is finished, we can incorporate storage like this directly into the cabinetry during a kitchen renovation.
It’s a small detail that can make a surprisingly big difference in an everyday kitchen.
3. Create Pull-Out Storage for Baking Sheets and Trays
Cookie sheets, cutting boards, cooling racks, muffin tins, pizza pans, and serving trays are awkward to store in a standard cabinet.
A wide, low pull-out tray drawer gives these oversized kitchen items their own dedicated space.
Another option is vertical dividers inside a cabinet.
Both approaches eliminate the familiar problem of having to remove five pans just to reach the one on the bottom.
For homeowners who frequently entertain at their Lake Winnipesaukee, Squam Lake, or Newfound Lake home, easy-access storage for serving pieces and cookware can be especially valuable.
4. Build an Appliance Garage Into Your Kitchen
Coffee makers, espresso machines, toasters, blenders, and other small appliances are convenient—but they can quickly take over the countertop.
An appliance garage creates a dedicated home for the appliances you use every day while keeping the main kitchen counters visually clean.
This can be particularly useful when designing a coffee station.
Instead of carrying the coffee maker in and out of a cabinet, the appliance stays plugged in and ready to use while the surrounding cabinetry keeps the area contained.
For vacation homes, we often recommend thinking about how the kitchen will function in the morning when several guests may be making coffee, breakfast, and snacks at the same time.
Creating dedicated zones can help keep everyone from congregating in the same small area.
5. Hide Trash and Recycling in a Pull-Out Cabinet
A freestanding trash can takes up floor space and can interrupt the appearance of a newly remodeled kitchen.
A pull-out trash and recycling cabinet keeps bins completely hidden while making them easy to access.
Even better, consider locating the trash near your primary food-preparation area.
That way, scraps can go directly from the cutting board into the trash without carrying them across the kitchen.
6. Add a Pull-Out Cutting Board
A built-in pull-out cutting board can provide extra prep space without permanently sacrificing countertop or cabinet space.
When you need it, pull it out.
When you’re finished, slide it away.
Pairing a pull-out cutting board with trash or compost storage directly underneath creates an extremely efficient prep station.
This type of feature can be especially helpful in smaller kitchens where every inch of usable workspace matters.
7. Turn a Tall Cabinet Into a Cleaning & Utility Station
Brooms, mops, vacuums, cleaning sprays, paper products, and household supplies need somewhere to go.
Instead of scattering them between a coat closet, basement, mudroom, and kitchen sink cabinet, consider creating a dedicated floor-to-ceiling utility cabinet.
A tall cabinet can be customized with:
- Shelving for cleaning supplies
- Broom and mop holders
- Cordless vacuum storage
- Charging outlets
- Paper towel storage
- Hooks
- Small bins and baskets
This can be particularly useful in a vacation home or rental property, where keeping household supplies organized makes turnovers and cleaning easier.
8. Use Cabinet Doors for Extra Storage
The inside of a cabinet or pantry door is valuable real estate that is often completely overlooked.
Shallow racks can hold smaller items without taking up much interior cabinet space.
Depending on the location, door-mounted storage can be used for spices, wraps and foils, cleaning products, pantry items, small household supplies, or frequently used accessories.
When you’re planning custom cabinetry, seemingly insignificant spaces can add up to a substantial amount of additional storage.
9. Take Cabinetry All the Way to the Ceiling
If you’re investing in a kitchen remodel, consider using the full height of the room.
Floor-to-ceiling and counter-to-ceiling cabinetry provides additional storage while also creating a more finished, built-in appearance.
Upper cabinets can hold items you don’t need every day, such as:
- Holiday serving pieces
- Large platters
- Specialty cookware
- Extra glassware
- Seasonal kitchen items
This is especially useful in second homes, where owners often need to store items for both summer lake season and winter ski season.
10. Design Storage Around How You Actually Use the Kitchen
This may be the most important storage idea of all.
Don’t design your new kitchen around what traditionally goes into a particular cabinet.
Design it around how you live.
If you make coffee every morning, create a coffee station.
If you bake frequently, put baking sheets, mixing bowls, ingredients, and your mixer near one another.
If your lake house regularly has ten people staying for the weekend, create storage that can handle large quantities of dishes, glasses, snacks, and cookware.
If you entertain outdoors, consider where grilling tools, outdoor dishes, coolers, and serving trays will live.
A successful kitchen remodel isn’t simply about fitting as many cabinets as possible into the room.
It’s about putting the right storage in the right place.
Smart Storage Is Especially Important in a Vacation-Home Kitchen
Vacation-home kitchens have some unique demands.
A kitchen that comfortably serves two or four people during the week might suddenly need to accommodate eight, ten, or twelve people on a holiday weekend.
Lake homes also tend to become gathering places. People come in from the boat. Kids are looking for snacks. Guests are making drinks. Someone is cooking dinner while someone else is unloading groceries.
And in the White Mountains, ski weekends bring their own collection of gear, food, guests, and activity.
That’s why we look beyond cabinet style and countertop color when planning a kitchen renovation.
How will people actually move through this kitchen?
Where will groceries go when you walk in?
Where will guests find glasses?
Where will you store oversized cookware?
Can someone make coffee without standing in the primary cooking zone?
Where will trash and recycling go?
Where will you put the things that currently clutter the countertops?
Answering those questions before construction begins can result in a kitchen that feels dramatically larger and easier to use—even when the actual square footage hasn’t changed.
Planning a Kitchen Remodel in the New Hampshire Lakes Region or White Mountains?
If you’re considering a kitchen remodel for your primary residence, lake house, ski home, or vacation property, thoughtful storage should be part of the plan from the beginning.
At Sakin Home, we provide kitchen remodeling and renovation services in Meredith, Waterville Estates, Campton, North Woodstock, Lincoln, Waterville Valley, Thornton, Holderness, Newfound Lake, Squam Lake, Lake Winnipesaukee, and surrounding New Hampshire communities.
Whether you’re renovating an outdated lake-house kitchen, improving a mountain vacation home, or completely redesigning your kitchen, we can help you create a space that’s attractive, functional, organized, and designed around the way you actually use your home.
Thinking about remodeling your kitchen? Contact Sakin Home to talk about your project and explore smart storage solutions for your New Hampshire home.