What to do if the kitchen is limited square meters, but there is no special pantry in it? How to properly organize storage systems and fit all kitchen utensils? We have prepared 7 practical ideas and 25 visual examples to help you keep your small kitchen tidy.
1. Open shelves

Cookware can be stored on open shelves
Open shelves can be installed in any part of the kitchen - on a free wall, in a niche, between furniture and appliances, in corners, under the ceiling. They are also good in that they do not visually reduce the space, but give it perspective, create a feeling of lightness. These shelves are convenient for storing plates, cups, glasses, spices and your favorite cookbooks.


Open shelves are great space saving

Open shelves do not overload the space

Interesting storage of dishes on open shelves

Stylish open shelves in the interior of a small kitchen
2. Window seat

You can arrange a window seat
In a small kitchen, you need to use all the space. And not only on the walls. It is worth paying attention to the window seat. Here you can also install small shelves or use the window sill as a work surface. It is also convenient to store a mixer, coffee maker, dishes on it.

Window seat use case
3. Dishes on the wall
In the event that there are many pots and pans, and there are few storage places, the dishes can be stored directly on the walls. For these purposes, they must be in perfect condition - well washed and cleaned to look aesthetically pleasing.

You can hang pots and pans directly on the wall
In order to fix the dishes on the wall, it is enough to use roof rails and slats. Of course, if you wish, you can make a special board with hooks on which it is convenient to hang the necessary items.

Pots and pans on rails

You can make a special board with hooks
4. Roof rails
Roof rails are real helpers of modern housewives. With the help of structures in several floors, it is possible to store not only ladles, shovels and whisks. Some models can accommodate plates, cups, pot lids and cutlery.

An example of storing dishes in a small kitchen

Roof rails in the interior of the kitchen
It is convenient to store knives, scissors on magnetic models, attach recipe sheets to them. On rails with hooks, cups, pots, towels, skimmers will perfectly fit. There are samples that provide a place for storing paper towels, cling film, foil.

Magnetic rails for convenient storage of knives

Some models have storage space for paper towels
The rails, like the open shelves, are universal. They can be installed on a backsplash, free walls and fragments near cabinets. It is best if they are located as close to the working triangle as possible so that the hostess can always quickly take the right spice or dishes.


The rails can be used to store pot lids

Convenient storage pockets


Convenient roof rails in the kitchen
5. Storing vegetables
If there is no separate pantry in a small kitchen, then you need to think about the proper storage of vegetables. One of the best options - hide them in one or more drawers. The main thing is that it is located in a dry place (not near the sink) and well ventilated. It is advisable to store vegetables not in plastic bags, but in baskets that allow air to pass through. These can be braided or metal models.
In the cabinet, potatoes and other vegetables will be limited to the flow of light, which will extend their shelf life. Greens, tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini can be stored on the bottom shelf in the refrigerator or in special containers that are provided in any refrigerator.

Option for storing vegetables if the apartment does not have a pantry
6. Order in cabinets
Sometimes, with a sufficient number of lockers, there is still a shortage of storage systems. All because of the wrong organization of the space inside them. How to put everything in order?
First of all, it is necessary to pack all bulk products in glass or plastic jars, sign them for easy search for the desired cereal.
Then you need to sort out the dishes and get rid of broken and unusable plates, cups, pots.
Those items that are least often used are best placed on the highest shelves.
To make it convenient to get a jar with a certain cereal or spice, you need to arrange the vessels in this way: tall jars line up further (near the cabinet wall), medium ones are placed in front of them, and the smallest containers are located closer to the door.

Competent storage of dishes in cupboards

Correct arrangement of dishes

Storing cereals in a small kitchen

Storing pans and baking dishes

It is convenient to store cereals in plastic and glass jars
7. Under the sink
When the issue of storing dishes, vegetables and products is resolved, it remains to figure out where to hide household chemicals? Detergent, cleaning, sponges and gloves, as well as a broom with a scoop and a trash can, are best placed under the sink. Here, it is advisable to equip convenient shelves or use pull-out containers on wheels, which you can buy at a hardware store. Ordinary plastic and metal boxes are suitable for storing household items.

Storage under the sink

Or vegetables, and the rest of the food to pack and bring back home. On average, prices for foil vary from 30 to 400 rubles. We decided to test food foil from various manufacturers and see if it makes sense to overpay.

Cooking foil in the kitchen is always useful

How to properly store food in foil

Most housewives use aluminum foil for its intended purpose: to preserve the freshness of products brought from the store after their packaging has been opened. A piece of this or that product is simply wrapped in several layers of foil and put into the refrigerator. In fact, you can wrap it in one layer, the main thing is that the joint of the sheets is airtight. Air and vapor permeability of even the thinnest foil is almost zero. A number of manufacturers say that you should not use foil for storing acidic and salty foods, since the metal can oxidize. But we did a simple experiment: we put pieces of foil from different manufacturers in ordinary table vinegar. After 3 hours, the sheets were washed and looked at. None of them showed clear signs of oxidation. Conclusion: for a short time (a couple of hours), acidic foods can be stored wrapped in foil. For longer storage, it is better to use cling film or a container with a lid.

How to bake in foil properly

Another popular use of foil is for baking. In this case, it is better to fold the foil sheet in half, so that it does not break and for better heat transfer. It is not worth tightening the edges hermetically - there is a possibility, albeit small, that the package can break with steam.

There is a lot of debate among housewives about which side - glossy or matte - to lay out products. By and large, there is no difference: the reflectivity of the glossy side is 88%, and the matte side is 80%, that is, the cooking speed will be approximately the same. We conducted an experiment: for a delicious salad, we baked two beets of the same size, wrapped in foil in different ways. An hour after staying in an oven preheated to 180 degrees, the temperature of the beets in the foil wrapped with a gloss outside was 99.6 ° C; beets wrapped in foil matte side out - 101 ° C. So if you want to cook a dish a little faster, wrap the foil with matte side out.

Beets wrapped with matte side out will cook a little faster

But in the microwave, you should not cook in foil. Aluminum does not transmit electromagnetic waves, and the potential difference between the foil and the metal parts of the stove or different pieces of foil will lead to the fact that the metal begins to spark at the contact points. If it is necessary to reheat something in the foil, then it should be unrolled before reheating.

Another use of foil is to make baking dishes out of it. For this, it is better to use thick foil or fold thin foil in several layers.

We tested food foil for ease of use (whether it is easy to unwind from a roll), strength (does not tear when wrapped), "stickiness" (whether food sticks to it when baked), fire resistance - that is, those qualities that housewives usually pay attention to and summer residents.

Test instances

For testing, we chose foil of the following brands: Paclan, Toppits, Every Day, Sayanskaya Gril, Sayanskaya Universalnaya, Food Foil, Chistyulya, and Moi Dom.

Foil prices vary from 30 to 400 rubles

The Toppits foil was packaged in a box, all others in shrink wrap. All foil, with the exception of the "Every Day" foil, has a warning about unwanted contact with acid. The thickness is indicated only for the Sayanskaya foil (20 µm and 11 µm). Of all the samples, at first acquaintance, Toppits foil with a honeycomb structure attracts attention. According to the manufacturers, this improves its use. But, as it turned out during testing, in most standard situations, embossed foil behaves in about the same way as without it.

Foil Toppits with honeycomb structure

The rest of the foil is similar to each other, and if you stack all the samples side by side, you will notice only a small difference in gloss.

The convenience of use

First of all, the foil must be strong and not tear when unwinding. After opening the package, we conducted the first test - we unwound a piece of foil and tear it off by hand. Only one foil - nameless ("Food Foil") - broke inside during unwinding. There was a desire to immediately remove it from testing, but after carefully unwinding a large piece, we managed to curb it.

"Food foil" broke when unwinding from the roll

In the future, it was with this roll that problems arose again: the edge did not want to unfold - a situation familiar to many housewives.

The edge of the foil didn't want to unfold

The most convenient to use was Sayanskaya foil for grill. We rated the usability on a 5-point scale (see the summary table at the end of the test drive). And they also made sure that it is more convenient to tear off the foil with your hand on the edge of the table, and not cut it with scissors.

Foil can be easily torn off the edge of the table

Strength

To test the strength, we packed the beet tuber in one layer of foil and twisted the ends tightly. Two samples - "Sayanskaya universalnaya" and "My house" - broke at the same time, I had to make a second take. Our expectations that a sample would burst from steam did not come true, all the packages remained intact.

For another strength test, we wrapped an ordinary glass with a piece of foil and cut off the edges.

You can make molds from foil

After that, a glass of water was poured into each mold. Only Toppits and Sayanskaya for grilling successfully passed this test, all the others sooner or later turned around and the water flowed out of them.

"Stickiness"

The most common use of foil is as a backing or envelope when baking meat or fish in the oven. When baked in an envelope, products are rather stewed in their own juice, therefore they almost never stick. But when using foil as a substrate, this happens quite often.

First of all, we decided to bake chicken wings on foil (see recipe). The wings are baked in two passes: first without anything, at a temperature of 180 ° C for 30 minutes, and then they are greased with sauce and sent to an oven preheated to 150 ° C for another 15 minutes. The chicken didn’t stick at all to the Sayanskaya universalnaya foil.

The chicken wings did not stick only to the Sayanskaya Universalnaya foil (left in the bottom row)

We also decided to bake salted lemon on foil - it was interesting to see how the foil would behave in an aggressive environment. There were no visible changes with the foil. The juice released from the lemons is baked. The lemon only seriously adhered to the foil of Paclan, Everyday and My Home.

The lemon did not stick at all only to the Toppits foil (second from the left in the top row)

Fire resistance

Many manufacturers claim that their foil is suitable for grilling food. We put the samples to a cruel test: we burned them with a burner for 30 seconds (about the same as throwing foil on hot coals).

Burning foil with a burner is almost the same as throwing it on hot coals

The metal was heating up, but holding on. After examining the foil, we saw that all the sheets had burned out: a transparent mesh was visible in the light. Conclusion: you should not throw vegetables wrapped in foil into the fire; it is better to cook on smoldering coals.

Instead of a resume.By the end of testing, we remembered the saying about the "British scientists": it became clear that we had proved only one thing - all tested samples behave approximately the same. The leader could not be identified. But they identified an obvious outsider: the foil "My House" did not pass the strength tests, the salted lemon completely adhered to it, and the chicken wings also adhered. But "Food foil", which broke when unwinding, passed one of the strength tests, and the wings and lemon almost did not stick to it. The Sayanskaya for grill foil turned out to be the most convenient to use, it holds its shape better than others, but, unfortunately, chicken wings stick to it. Foil Paclan distinguished itself by an unreasonably high price - in our testing it did not show results worthy of purchase.

The kitchen is a favorite pastime for any family. Here we prepare delicious homemade meals, eat, communicate, laugh, discuss. I want the kitchen to always be tidy and clean. picked up ideas for you on how to organize storage in the kitchen, photos were taken by real housewives. They share personal life hacks on how to make the most of your kitchen storage space.

Place under the sink

We usually store various items under the sink. detergents... Hang the cleaning fluids on the bracket. It is easy and simple to screw it on yourself.

Another option: on the inner doors of the cabinet under the sink, place the shelves for the detergents.

Storing cutting boards in the kitchen

Use the inner kitchen cabinet doors to attach a cutting board holder like this.

Vertical divider

With your own hands, you can saw from plywood and assemble a divider for vertical storage. You can place in them cutting boards, baking trays, trays, baking tins and other narrow items. This method will allow you to fit more items on one shelf and sort them by purpose.

A plastic bottle to help you

Biscuits, chocolate chips, yeast or other long-term storage items sold in soft packs can be stored using this device. Cut off plastic bottle neck. Pass the soft packaging into it, turn out the edges of the bag and tighten the lid. Brilliant idea!

All Tupperware in sight

In our opinion, this is very convenient! Original idea store plastic containers in the dishwasher basket. Of course, another basket can be adapted.

Plastic container lids

While plastic containers can be conveniently folded into one another as they decrease in size, their lids often create a mess on the shelves. Use the CD holder to place the covers from your plastic containers.

Storing lids from pots and pans

Here's another idea for using the inside of kitchen doors. Screw on the horizontal towel holders and insert the pot lids into them. Great!

Ideas for storing bags in the kitchen

Organize your home packing room. Keep your garbage and food storage bags on the brackets under the sink, and they will always be at hand.

Storage in the kitchen: a photo will help you do it effectively

Foil, cling film and parchment paper are conveniently stored on the screwed-on shelf on the inside of your kitchen cabinet door.

Narrow kitchen cabinet for storing kitchen utensils

Do you have a narrow cabinet in your kitchen where little fits? How do you like this idea of \u200b\u200bsorting kitchen items? Store wooden, metal and silicone appliances separately. Place the food processor parts on the bottom shelf.

Diagonal storage in a drawer

There are always long objects in the kitchen that need to be folded somewhere. Use a drawer and store them diagonally, delimited by dividers.

Sorting spices

An excellent life hack on how to organize storage in the kitchen, the photo demonstrates how to use baby puree jars for storing spices. By signing the lids on top, you will always find the spice you need.

Drawer optimization

Even the narrowest drawer can be optimized by adding another small roll-out shelf on top.

Storing small things in the kitchen

We are delighted with this idea! Glue a magnet on the back of the used tea can and attach it to the refrigerator. Anything can be stored in such a mobile box.

Storage space under the kitchenette

Many housewives love kitchen corners. Provide drawers in them - this will be another place to store towels, napkins and tablecloths.

Glass jars

Storing cereals in glass jars in the kitchen is a great idea for decorating a space. And also it allows you to use bulk food products before their expiration date.

We hope the selected life hacks will be useful. If you have other ways to organize storage in the kitchen, a photo of how you did it, share with us in the comments below.

The refrigerator during the New Year holidays is usually bursting with food prepared for the holidays. Letidor will tell you what is the best way to store food so that they are fresh as long as possible.

In order to quickly put food in the refrigerator and place them compactly in it, it is advisable that you have food containers in your kitchen different sizes, parchment paper, cling film, ceramic and enamel dishes.

  • Butter, after you open the package, it is advisable to transfer it to ceramic or glass dishes, but not to plastic.
  • Smoked sausage and hard cheese best wrapped in parchment paper; it does not let in smells and grease, but at the same time breathes. If you have already cut the sausage and cheese, then you can wrap them in cling film or foil - but you should not keep them in the refrigerator for a long time.
  • Caviar better to shift from open can or plastic containers in glass - so it stays fresh longer. The same should be done with any canned food that you have already opened, but have not yet eaten to the end. But you should not transfer marinades to another container - this way they will only deteriorate faster.
  • For eggs there are special cells in the refrigerator door. If you have a heavy load of refrigerator shelves, then you can store eggs here, but it will still be more correct to keep them on the top shelf - then they will stay fresh longer.
  • Vegetables and fruits it is better to store in special containers at the bottom of the refrigerator, and it is not necessary to put them in bags. The fact is that moisture condenses in polyethylene, which makes fruits and vegetables mold faster. Better to keep them open. If you bought vegetables and fruits from the store, already packed in vacuum plastic, then their shelf life will be longer than if you put them in a regular plastic bag. But as soon as you open the package, the process of multiplication of bacteria will begin to develop rapidly and the products will begin to deteriorate.
  • Fresh greens best stored in a plastic bag, but slightly open to breathe.
  • Fresh meat and fish without a freezer, you can keep it for a very short time - no more than 1-2 days, while they can either be left in the vacuum package in which you bought them, or transferred to glass or enameled dishes.
  • Ready meals (soups, salads, main courses) can be stored in enamel dishes, in plastic or glass containers.
  • Concerning plastic containers, then, firstly, they must be designed for storing food (there is a special sign - a glass and a fork), and secondly, you must check which dishes they are suitable for (for hot and cold or only for cold ones), whether it is possible use them in the microwave (if you decide to reheat the dish without transferring it to another container). It is not recommended to store acidic foods in plastic containers, dishes prepared with the addition of lemon juice, vinegar. Another disadvantage of plastic containers is that they are poorly washed from fat, roughness quickly appears on their surface, that is, they quickly fail.
  • Glass containers preferable: they are easy to clean, you can store any food in them. But their disadvantage is fragility. In addition, you cannot immediately put the glass container that you just took out of the refrigerator into the microwave. It needs to get warm a little.
  • Vacuum containers - an excellent device that allows you to increase the shelf life of the product 3 times. Their principle of operation is as follows: air is pumped out of the container, thereby slowing down the growth of bacteria and increasing the shelf life of the product. Vacuum containers can hold ready meals, cuts, fresh meat and fish. If you want to use a vacuum container for storing a finished meal, then it is important to transfer it to a container and refrigerate it 2 hours after cooking the product.
  • Not recommended use as storage containers aluminum cookware and stainless steel dishes - metal surfaces can oxidize and poison food.
  • In foil it is undesirable to store acidic foods (for example, meat or fish cooked with tomato or lemon), and you should also not wrap hot foods in it, otherwise the aluminum from which the foil is made may react with foods and particles of the substance will enter the human body.

Each product has its own place

  • The shelf adjacent to the freezer is the best place for storing dairy and fermented milk products, cheese. The temperature here is from 0 ° to + 4 °.
  • On medium shelves, where the temperature is approximately + 3 ° - + 6 °, it is good to keep sausages, sausages, butter, ready meals.
  • In the "zero" zone, where the temperature is maintained between 0 ° - + 2 ° degrees, (usually located above the containers for vegetables), you can store fresh meat and fish (be sure to isolate them from other products).
  • In the compartment farthest from the freezer, fruits, vegetables, berries, mushrooms will remain fresh for a long time.
  • The temperature in the refrigerator door is unstable, given that we often open the refrigerator. It is best to put open juices, soda water, sauces here.
  • Try to prevent food from touching the back wall when the refrigerator is full, otherwise they may freeze.

For which products a refrigerator is not needed:

  • It is better not to keep tropical fruits (bananas, pineapples, mango, kiwi) in the refrigerator - they can lose their taste from low temperatures.
  • Do not put chocolate in the refrigerator unless you want it to become whitish.
  • For storage vegetable oil no refrigerator required.
  • It makes no sense to keep potatoes, onions, garlic, eggplants, uncut pumpkin in the refrigerator.
  • Canned food, if closed, will only waste space in the refrigerator - they may well lie at room temperature.

How to store food: in foil, paper, vacuum containers, cling film or in packing bags? Let's try to figure out how it is right and how not very much.

Plastic bags

Ideal for storing vegetables, herbs, but it is not recommended to keep smoked meats, cheese, butter and other fatty foods in them. They will quickly suffocate - they will be covered with a characteristic sticky coating.


Foil

Foil keeps food fresh longer than a plastic bag. It prevents odors from leaking out, does not absorb grease and does not allow moisture to pass through. It is ideal for storing ready meals and fatty foods - sausages, butter, boiled pork, bacon. By the way, they should be eaten as little as possible. It is recommended to store food in foil at room temperature, not hot, for example, sandwiches. If the dish is fresh from the fire, do not rush to wrap it in foil, let it cool.


Parchment paper

It does not allow moisture to pass through and therefore is excellent for storing cheeses, sausages, butter, smoked meats. But it is better to use it at home, and not for hiking and picnics. On the way, the paper can get wet and stain what will be nearby.


Cling film

Ideal for closing a cut of a product. For example, boiled pork, cheese, pumpkin. True, there is an opinion that the film gives off harmful substances... If you are inclined to believe this, then the top layer of the product in contact with the film is best cut off and thrown away. You can also cover dishes with ready-made food with foil.


Vacuum containers

Their peculiarity is that air is pumped out of them. At the same time, the shelf life of the product increases due to the slowed growth of microorganisms inside. The containers are great for storing ready-made meals, cutting vegetables, fruits, fresh meat and fish. Smells are completely blocked.

Mushroom and meat products it is best to keep in containers not too long. No more than 7 days. But hard cheese - as much as 45 days! Fresh vegetables, fruits, herbs, bread - 7 - 9 days. Seafood - 5 days. Ready meals - up to 12 days.

Provided, of course, that the container is of good quality and you use it correctly. Products should be stored so that they do not absorb foreign odors and do not deteriorate. If the food smells unpleasant or has become sticky, you should not eat it.


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