23 Ways To Repurpose Thrift Store Items Into Stylish Kitchen Storage

Buying items second-hand has been a fantastic way to find high-quality items at affordable prices for decades, but it's skyrocketed in popularity over the last few years. According to data from Statista, 60% of respondents from the United States said they purchased something second-hand in the last year, up significantly from 49% in 2019. This could be due to a large number of factors — the price of household furniture going up drastically, an increased focus on sustainability, a reemergence of appreciation for vintage aesthetics — but one thing is abundantly clear: thrifting is in.

One of the challenges with shopping second-hand, however, is that it's much more difficult to find the exact item you're looking for. As a result, DIY and repurposing projects using thrifted items are incredibly popular, including those that can help you turn pieces into exactly what you need to upgrade the storage and organization in your kitchen. To help inspire you on your next thrift trip, we took a look at some of the most common items you'll find at the thrift store and compiled a few ideas on how to make them work in your space. Whether you decide to use an old bookshelf as additional room for dishes or transform a CD rack into a spot for spices, you can rest assured that you're both stretching your dollar and helping out the environment along the way.

While breadboxes used to be an absolutely essential item in the kitchen, they've been declining in popularity as preservatives and upgraded packaging have made bread more shelf stable. As a result, they're a common item to find at the thrift store. Instead of using a breadbox for its intended purpose, consider picking one up to use a chic countertop storage. These containers can provide a concealed spot to stow spices, give you space to store extra mugs, or even allow you to repurpose a breadbox for charging all your devices and tucking away annoying cords.

Next time you head out to the thrift store, take a look at the home décor section and see if you can find any baskets that will fit in your space. Baskets that were previously used to hold gifts during holidays are a fairly common find on thrift store shelves, but they can be an incredibly versatile organizational tool when styled correctly in your kitchen. Keep one on the counter to hold your fruit, use them in your pantry as a way to better sort items, or tuck them onto shelves to conceal and contain clutter.

While CDs are certainly still around today, most people have made the transition over to downloading or streaming their music rather than purchasing physical copies of albums. As a result, racks and shelving units designed specifically to hold CDs are often donated. Thankfully, however, these tall shelving units can be turned into a small space storage solution in your kitchen. Place one in your pantry or use it to fill a gap along the side of your cabinets, then fill it with small items like spices, mugs, or glassware.

If you're able to find some old wall cabinets at the thrift store, you've hit the kitchen storage jackpot. To completely transform an unused wall, consider a DIY shared by @onceuponabungalow on TikTok. In their video, they installed two thrifted cabinets over their countertop and added some custom-built floating shelves in between to create fashionable, functional, and wallet-friendly storage space. If you plan to try out this idea yourself, you can paint or stain the cabinets to match your existing cabinets or leave them as-is to create some refreshing contrast against the rest of the room.

Vases are an essential item to have on hand if you like to decorate the home with flowers, but they're also one of the easiest items to find at the thrift store. If you're looking for a quick way to spruce up your countertop storage, pick up a vase that matches the look of your kitchen and place it on your countertop or next to your stove to hold on to your cooking utensils. Storing them on the countertop will keep them accessible when you're cooking while simultaneously adding a bit of décor and interest to the space.

If you're trying to make the most of a small kitchen, it's incredibly important to take advantage of all of the space you have available. Using your walls or the backs of your cabinets to store items is a great way to help free up valuable space on your counters and shelves, and one simple item you can usually find at the thrift store can help you accomplish this task. Keep an eye out for mounted or over-the-door coat racks when you're out shopping, then use them on your wall or on the inside of cabinets.

The furniture section at the thrift store is often full of unexpected treasures, especially if you're willing to get creative with how you use them in your space. If you spot a bookshelf that will fit into your kitchen, consider repurposing it as additional storage space. These shelving units can obviously be used to hold onto cookbooks or display décor pieces, but they can also act as a spot for your dishes, as a supplement to a small pantry, or even as a base for a stylish at-home coffee bar.

Since the world has started to make the transition away from printed documents and towards digital files, it's not uncommon to stumble across items like file organizers at the thrift store. While it might not be their intended purpose, these storage containers can find plenty of other uses in the kitchen. Place them in a cabinet or drawer to better organize your reusable water bottles, mount one on the wall to create a place to store aluminum foil and parchment paper, or slide some into your cabinet to keep your plastic storage container lids in order.

Magazine holders are a great thrift store find if you need some additional storage space for reading material in your living room or bathroom, but they can also be repurposed as countertop storage in the kitchen. Because they're designed to fit large, thin magazines, they can also hold on to items like cutting boards and serving platters to keep them both out of the way and accessible. This is an especially great idea if your cabinets are small or not very deep, as these large items can take up a ton of valuable storage space.

Displaying your confections on a cake stand can do wonders for their presentation, but this line of thinking also applies to more permanent pieces in your kitchen. If you feel like your countertops are looking a bit messy or disorganized, even when everything is back in its proper place, try incorporating a thrifted cake stand to help elevate and visually group items together. This is great for your soaps and cleaning supplies by the sink, but it can also be used to make your most-used spices and oils look like a display rather than a collection of clutter.

Cookie jars are a common item to find while you're browsing the shelves of thrift stores. Whether they're more minimalistic or a fun novelty shape, they're a great item to pick up if you're looking for more storage space in your kitchen. They're obviously a solid choice to keep baked goods fresh and available on the counter, but they can also be used as a way to store and conceal other pantry staples like flour, rice, and pasta. If you plan to use them for long-term dry goods storage, however, make sure the lid can fully seal.

Because they're such a unique shape, you might be convinced that wine racks don't have many other uses besides holding and displaying bottles on a bar cart or counter. With some outside-of-the-box thinking, however, you can easily repurpose them to perform several different organizational roles in your kitchen. Keep a wine rack in your cabinet to better organize your reusable bottles, use it to hold other large cylindrical items like rolling pins, or transform it into a clever space to store kitchen essentials for easy access.

When you're shopping at the thrift store, it's important to look past the intended use of an item and get imaginative with how it could potentially work in your space. An old TV console, for example, might have been designed to support a screen and stow away a collection of DVDs, but it can find a new home in your kitchen as a DIY island with plenty of storage. If you decide to try out this idea for yourself, however, make sure the console you pick up is a similar height to your countertop.

If you're a fan of pantry and fridge organizational videos, you're likely already familiar with the idea of incorporating a lazy susan into your kitchen storage. Luckily, these little spinning platforms are fairly common to find at the thrift store, likely for a much lower price than you would spend buying one new. Pop one in your pantry so you can easily access all of your snacks, place one in a cabinet to see all of your spices at a glance, or use one in the fridge to free up space and display your condiments.

Utility carts are an incredibly versatile piece of furniture that can provide extra storage in almost any room in the home, including the kitchen. If you're lacking pantry space or sharing with a roommate, you can use one of these carts as a convenient and stylish pantry extension. In spacious kitchens that are short on counter space, a cart can also act as a convenient space to brew coffee or make cocktails. Thanks to the wheels on the bottom, you can also easily transport your cart from room to room as needed.

Thrift stores are often a mixed bag of high-quality pieces and items that have seen better days, but picking up some vintage china is one of the easiest ways to guarantee a solid return on your investment. If you stumble across a serving dish that looks to be in good condition, consider bringing it home and using it as kitchen storage. Large bowls and platters are fantastic for displaying fruit on your counter, kitchen table, or bar, but they can also be used to stow away clutter on shelves or inside glass-front cabinets.

Wooden crates are fairly easy to find in thrift and second-hand stores, but they can be used for much more than just shipping and transportation. If you're looking for an easy DIY to help level up your kitchen, consider using them for storage. Wooden crates, especially ones that already include convenient dividers to protect bottles in transport, can be easily mounted on your kitchen wall and used as a shelf. If you just need a place to fashionably stow items, they also look great on shelves, on the counter, or inside of the pantry.

While metal tins that were previously used to hold food items, like tea, cookies, or oil, were likely designed for one-time use, they can hold up for decades. Because of this, it's not uncommon to find them hanging around on thrift store shelves. If you see a tin with an interesting shape or label, consider picking it up and using it to hold cooking utensils or dry goods in your kitchen. If you're not a fan of the color, give it a coat of paint to make it blend in with the rest of your kitchen décor.

If you're in need of some serious kitchen storage, keep an eye out for a thrifted dresser. While these furniture pieces might be intended to store clothes, you can fill the drawers with just about anything. Leave it as-is if you just want some extra drawer space, use it to hold your coffee machine to create an at-home coffee bar, or add a slab of durable material on top to create more counter space. If you have the room, you can even place it in the middle of your kitchen and add some stools to easily DIY an island.

The glassware section at the thrift store is usually filled to the brim with a myriad of miscellaneous pieces, so it's worth checking to see if you can find any high-quality glass jars. If you can pick up a couple of jars with lids that seal, you can completely transform your pantry organization. Sealed jars are incredibly helpful if you're trying to eliminate visual clutter and more easily see what ingredients you have available at a glance, but they can also help to preserve your food for longer and ensure that your pantry items don't go stale.

Tiny wall shelves are an incredibly common find at thrift stores, but they're often marketed as a place to display knick-knacks and décor pieces. With a simple change in perspective, however, you can give these shelves a much more functional twist. Mount one by your stove to act as a convenient spice rack, use one as plate storage above your counter, or turn one into a miniature home bar. If you plan to use your shelf for heavier items, however, make sure you properly mount it into a stud and test the material's durability first.

As time has passed, china cabinets have seen a decline in popularity alongside more formal dining spaces. However, if you're looking for more kitchen storage, it might be time to bring them back. In a video shared on TikTok, creator @nianicole shares her process of transforming an old china cabinet into a stylish place to store extra food. These cabinets typically have a ton of room, so they can be used to conveniently store and display everything from your pantry staples to your everyday dishes if you're short on cabinet space in the kitchen.

Chests are more commonly used in living rooms and bedrooms to provide more storage, but if you stumble upon one of these pieces at the thrift store, consider picking it up and incorporating it into your kitchen. These pieces boast a wealth of room inside when you open the lid, perfect for concealing and organizing those bulky items that don't seem to have a place in your cabinets. Use it as-is if you have some spare square footage that you can capitalize on, or transition the piece into a storage bench and incorporate it into a breakfast nook.