The Overlooked Tool That Makes Kitchen Organization A Breeze

Home organization is one of those tasks that's never truly finished, especially when it comes to the kitchen. A decluttering journey may leave you with an abundance of open cupboard space and no good way to keep items tidy within the cavernous shelves. Or, perhaps you've had to rearrange your kitchen around a new appliance or gadget that takes up room but is too useful to do without, like an air fryer or stand mixer. In these and similar scenarios, it's always worth remembering the unsung hero of kitchen organization — Dollar Store wire racks.

The Dollar Store and its cousins — Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, and Dollar General — are noteworthy not only for selling some surprisingly fancy foods for less than $2, but also for carrying an abundance of organizational items made of coated wire. They're not the most durable, but this can actually be an advantage when using them in creative ways to improve your kitchen storage and make the whole space more functional.

Though products vary among stores, a few standard items that may be easier to find are small, flat shelves with four wire legs, wire step shelves, lightweight dish draining racks, and shower caddies that are hybrids of narrow wire shelves and a clothes hanger. The flat wire shelves make great Tupperware lid organizers when combined with plastic bins, and the dish draining racks are excellent for protecting pot lids, while the hanging storage can easily corral other kinds of cookware with just a bit of ingenuity.

When perusing the organizational offerings at your local discount store, it's important to have some idea of the problem you're trying to fix. If, for instance, you need to keep glass pan lids from clanking together and cracking, a dish drainer or something of a similar shape is your best bet. To put it to good use, simply tack it down inside your cabinet with a few industrial staples to keep it still. Meanwhile, the wide spaces between shelves on the shower caddies are perfect for organizing the corresponding pans — you can even slide two of them together to create spacious storage for a particularly large collection. Just be sure to secure them with zip ties or heavy duty tape.

If you need to store larger items like extra paper towel rolls, canisters of disinfectant wipes, or you've decided to start storing produce in your kitchen drawers, wire step shelves can be shockingly useful. The shelves themselves are fairly small, but you can increase their organizing power by gluing plastic bins to each of the steps. This creates graduated storage so nothing gets lost in the back of your cabinets and keeps similar items together when it comes to fruits and veggies.

Additionally, wire napkin holders are a rare item, but they offer a slightly more stylish way to store frequently used items on the counter. Use them to keep rolled tea towels handy, or store your kids' favorite cartoon-themed plates within easy reach.