12 Smart Ways To Create Cabinet Door Storage & Stay Organized

Keeping small living spaces tidy and organized can feel like a never-ending endeavor. But when it comes to maximizing your storage space in your tiny apartment, don't underestimate the power of a cabinet door. Cabinet doors are prime real estate for storing odds and ends in basically any room of the house. So whether you're in the kitchen, bathroom, or entryway, there are plenty of ways to make use of your cabinet doors through both DIYs and clever products, and we've listed 12 ideas below.

A number of the tips and tricks in this roundup rely on mounting something to your cabinet door in one way or another. If you own your home and want to fully commit by screwing appliances and organizers into your cabinet doors, by all means, go for it. If you do, you will want to make sure you choose screws that are short enough not to pass through the other side of the cabinet. Just measure the width of your cabinet door and keep that in mind when buying your hardware.

That said, if you want to avoid drilling altogether, the great news is that all of these ideas can be executed with renter-friendly adhesive strips. Command strips (available on Amazon for $12.55) are a highly rated, popular, and reliable choice for adhesive strips of this nature. But you can always use other brands if you have them on hand and know they will be able to bear the correct amount of weight for whatever you're mounting to your cabinet door.

Create bathroom storage by taking advantage of cabinet door space in your bathroom with this Dollar Tree DIY. Pick up some magnetic tins and a tin board, then fill the tins with all of your tiny bathroom essentials. Items you could fill the tins with include hair clips, bobby pins, small containers of floss, and cotton pads. Then, use adhesive strips to mount the board to the inside of your cabinet. For six tins, the board, and a few Command Strips, this storage DIY should cost you under $10 total.

If you've ever wondered where to store your narrow cardboard containers of aluminum foil, plastic wrap, and parchment and wax paper, look no further than the back of your sink cabinet door. Create additional kitchen cabinet space with TikTok's brilliant Dollar Tree DIY using just two items from the budget retailer: the over-the-cabinet towel bar and dish drying rack. Simply hook the top of the rack behind the towel bar and place it on your cabinet door. For $2.50 and barely any assembly, you'll have an ideal place to store all those kitchen roll essentials.

A bag dispenser for the cabinet door can go a long way in corralling what would otherwise be an unruly pile of plastic or reusable tote bags. The VARIERA plastic bag dispenser from IKEA costs just $4 and has adhesive included for easy installation. If you don't have a stash of bags that need organizing, use the VARIERA behind the door of an entryway cabinet to store accessories like hats, gloves, and even umbrellas. In a bathroom cabinet, the versatile organizer can even hold hot tools like a hair straightener or curling iron.

Storing your garbage on the cabinet door is a great solution for bathrooms and kitchens that are short on floor space. The VARIERA trash can from IKEA is only $5 and comes with screw holes for mounting it to the door, though you could use adhesive strips as an alternative. Plus, there are a ton of other clever ways you can get organized with the budget-friendly IKEA trash can. To avoid screws or adhesive mounting altogether, consider buying a bin that hooks over the top of the cabinet door like the $6 SKOLÄST, also from IKEA.

Pot lids are great to store on a cabinet door because of their slim profile, and you can find a variety of cabinet door pot lid organizers and racks both in stores or online. For example, the Hasting Home rack from Target costs $25 for one piece that holds five lids total. You can also find products that hold single lids for a more modular solution, like the pack of three for $7 from Durmmur on Amazon. Or, DIY a single pot lid holder using just two adhesive hooks placed about the distance of the diameter of the lid away from each other.

Why use just one side of your cabinet door for storage when you could use both? Look for a smart, over-the-door cabinet organizer with a basket on one side and a towel bar on the other, like the ORLESS organizer available on Amazon. A pack of two costs $25, so you can use them in different rooms. In the kitchen, store spices, cooking paper, and cutting boards in the basket, and hang a dish rag on the outside. In the bathroom, keep a hand towel in front while storing hair tools and spare toiletries in the container.

If your cutting board has a handle, this is a smart way to save space. Because cutting boards are flat, they are great to store behind the cabinet door in kitchens with shallow cabinets or ones without much room. Make it happen by using a hook with an adhesive strip that will be able to support the weight of the cutting board. And if you have several cutting boards or any that don't have a handle, you can also get an over the door holder like the Simple Houseware option, available for $17 on Amazon.

For versatile storage that will work in any room of the house, use adhesive bins that you can quickly and easily mount to the back of any cabinet door. In the kitchen, these smaller bins can be used to hold spices, oils, and vinegars. In a linen cabinet, save shelf space by using bins to store rolled up wash cloths. And in a desk or office cabinet, use a bin to organize electronics and cables. Customers love the performance of the Lae Nuvole Store caddies that come in a pack of two for $15 on Amazon.

Another creative way to use your cabinet doors is by hanging items on the interior side. All you need for this trick are small adhesive strips along with a common household item — a clothespin. Simply put the adhesive strip on the back of the clothespin and adhere it to the inside of a cabinet door. Use it to easily hang gloves or dish rags to dry out. The Command brand also sells adhesive clips if you want to skip the DIY element, but they will cost a bit more at $16 for an eight-pack on Amazon.

A towel bar can be a surprisingly versatile tool when it comes to cabinet door storage. On either the front or back of the cabinet door, it's good for more than just towels. Use it to hang cleaning products with spray nozzles, a trash bag for garbage, or even use it to hang jewelry. This over-cabinet towel bar from Dollar Tree costs only $1.25 and is adjustable, increasing its storage potential. It's also great to have on hand if you have a guest sharing your small bathroom who needs to hang a bath towel.

If you haven't found an ideal place to store your paper towels, try keeping them handy on a cabinet door. You can find both adhesive holders for $10 that mount directly onto the door and over the door options for about $12 to avoid possible damage to your cabinets, which is ideal if you're a renter. If you don't use many paper towels or already have a holder, consider using this hack to store rolls of garbage bags. On the holder, the bags are easier to dispense. You could also place two adhesive holders on one door for double the storage.

Simply add adhesive strips to the back of a file organizer and mount it on the inside a cabinet door for a DIY storage caddy. In the kitchen, this works for everything from parchment paper and plastic bags to spatulas and serving spoons. You could also use this trick in the bathroom as storage for hair tools. This is a great way to reuse a file holder you may already have on hand, but if you don't have one, the Pen+Gear option from Walmart is an ideal option that costs just $9.