Downsides To Consider Before Adding A Skinny Cabinet To Your Kitchen

When it comes to running a clean and clutter-free kitchen, organizational space is key. With all the pots, pans, cooking utensils, small appliances, and pantry staples that live there, it can be easy to feel overrun with "things." This is why most people try to maximize their cabinetry, from investing in shelf risers to double the space inside the cabinets to installing skinny cabinets in unused nooks. You have likely seen these narrow cabinets before — the most common version is the skinny pull-out spice drawer, which usually consists of two to three thin shelves built into a skinny drawer. However, before you begin designing a narrow cabinet for your kitchen remodel, there are a few downsides to consider before committing to the feature. 

The first is that they can be difficult to see since you have to crouch down and rummage at eye level to see what you have, making it hard to keep track of what's stored there. The second is that if you do a cabinet rather than a drawer, you can't use the entire unit. If you put something in the back of the compact space, you likely won't see it again until it's time to reorganize your kitchen. That's because what's out of sight is out of mind. Here is a closer look into the downsides of narrow cabinets.

Modern kitchens have been designed in such a way that eliminates the need for crouching. Lower cabinets have been replaced with sturdy pull-out drawers that allow you to see what's inside, and corner cabinets have been replaced with Lazy Susans with curved corner pullouts. These completely pull out the shelving from inside the unit so you can see everything that you have stored. However, when it comes to narrow cabinets with a multi-level pullout drawer, you will have to crouch down to see what you have stored in the unit. Take the skinny spice drawer, for example, which is thought to be a chic storage solution for cluttered kitchens. While convenient, realistically, you can only clearly see what's on the top shelf. If you want to see the spices underneath, you will have to bend down to see them, since they're not in direct view. 

To avoid crouching down, skip installing shelves in the pull-out drawer and instead design drawer slides, like The Brain and the Brawn did. These will allow the first level to slide back into the cabinet to reveal the drawer underneath, negating the need to hunch over. This is similar to the hidden cutlery tray drawer becoming popular in modern kitchens. It rolls back into the cabinet, revealing the second drawer underneath.

If you forgo the drawer design and instead leave it as a narrow cabinet, the downside to that is that you likely won't use the very back of the unit, wasting organization space. That's because whatever gets pushed back there will be extremely difficult to see. Not only will you have to crouch down to see it, but due to its skinny shape, not a lot of light will reach the very back, making it difficult to see what's stored there. Because of this, whatever items you stash there have a high likelihood of being forgotten about. 

A better solution would be to convert the cabinet into a single-level pullout drawer, which would allow you to see what's stored throughout the unit. However, you will have to store something that can be laid vertically since the drawer won't have much room. For instance, you can organize your cutting boards or frequently used cleaning sprays in these areas. This will help you get the most of your small cabinet space.