Kitchen cabinet wish list: design your cabinets with fancy enhancements

By Jim Mallery
RefacingCabinet.com Columnist

Part 3 of a four-part series, Kitchen Cabinet Wish List

The first two articles in this series dealt mostly with making more efficient use of your kitchen cabinet space. This article explores the "bells and whistles" that might make your kitchen cabinets more enjoyable.

Kitchen Cabinets: 6 Enhancements You'd Love

1. Soft-closing door hinges and drawer slides. You can give your drawer or door a solid flick of the wrist to close it, and it will gently settle into a closed position--no banging, no slamming. They are now standard for some cabinet manufacturers, but if on yours, they usually don't cost much to add.
2. Vertical Slots. Include abundant vertical slots for your trays, platters, cookie sheets, oven racks, pizza pans and whatever. While they usually are not space savers, there are times that a narrow cabinet with a couple of vertical dividers will fit into a space not really wide enough for a functional drawer. And they do make retrieving those trays very convenient.
3. Spice organizer. Unless you want to keep a spice rack on the counter, you need to plan for spices in your cabinets. If you are doing a major cabinet overhaul, it would be nice to get a spice area built into your cabinets. There are various styles, so check with your manufacturer to see what is available.
4. Built-in canisters. Plan ahead for what you are going to do with your baking goods, especially flour and sugar. Maybe they go in the pantry, or maybe you want built-in, pullout canisters for them.
5. Small appliance pull-up platforms. If you have an appliance that you use often--espresso machine or mixer, for instance--and don't want to have it sitting out on your counter, consider one of the spring-loaded pull-up platforms. The platforms tuck your appliance out of sight in a lower cabinet when not in use, but let you easily lift it into place when you want to use it. The platforms eat up space, but they keep your appliance out of sight, yet very accessible. Tip: make sure you have a receptacle in the cabinet so that you can plug in your appliance.
6. Drawer dividers. Your cabinet manufacturer probably offers custom cutlery dividers for your flatware and kitchen tools. True, you can buy some plastic dividers, or even bamboo dividers, at a hardware store, but custom dividers add a touch of class to the cabinets. Look for two-level dividers, where the top half slides back to reveal a bottom divider--an efficient use of space.
7. Recycling bins. If you have room in your cabinet layout, include pullout bins for garbage and recycling, especially the latter. You may have some room under your sink for one or the other, but seldom both.

These are a few of the extras that will enhance your kitchen cabinet space. The last article, Part 4, will wrap up the kitchen cabinet wish list.

About The Author

Jim Mallery, a semi-retired journalist and onetime registered contractor, has extensive experience remodeling, repairing and rebuilding homes.