Kitchen Cabinet Accessories that Make Room -- and Sense

by Gabby Hyman
Face Your Kitchen Columnist

Congratulations! You've made the important decisions on new cabinets for your kitchen remodeling project. But before you settle on your budget, consider fine-tuning your kitchen cabinet hardware to provide ultimate convenience in a traditionally cramped working space. There's a great selection of cabinet accessories across a liberal price range that can increase storage space and double up on kitchen functionality. Kitchen cabinet hardware and accessories are specifically designed as modular add-ons for lower-level cabinets, waist-high working areas, and upper cabinets where you stand the greatest chances for back or leg strain, dropped or broken dishes, and gnawing frustrations.

Cabinet Accessories Multiply Storage and Convenience

For lower-level cabinets, budget funds to install roll-out baskets that fit most every space. Baskets can be tiered or sectioned for different items, and they slide out on pre-fabricated metal tracks that hold up under heavy use. They certainly simplify changing your kitchen trash bags or recycling bins.

Pull-out utility or cutlery trays double your smaller drawer space. Easy-pull kitchen cabinet accessory trays can lift stored appliances up to working level, sliding them back out-of-sight when you're done with them. There are also inexpensive roll-out trays for your spices, sparing you a hanging spice rack that takes up wall space. Sink tip-out trays of polymer hold scrubbers, soap, sponges and more, without taking up space. You tilt them down when you need them.

Lazy susans are ideal inserts for corner cabinets, where space is a premium. Kidney or d-shaped shelves can be modified for most storage heights, rotate independently, and swing out from open cabinet doors for easy access.

A kitchen's worth of cabinet accessories including lazy susans, pull out trays, and pull-out baskets can run you less than $400. Compare prices online for ready-fit kitchen cabinet hardware. You can add a lot of convenience for a relatively small investment.

About the Author
Gabby Hyman has written for print and online media for more than 20 years. He has created online content for eToys, GoTo.com, Siebel Systems, Avaya, and Nissan UK. He has also been a web consultant to the Governor of California. As an author of fiction, journalism, and poetry, Gabby is a former English professor for the University of Illinois, University of Alaska, and Old Dominion University. He holds an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Alabama.