Reference photograph: a narrow pull-out unit beside the cooktop — a fitting whose width and internal heights are set at design stage so the things used most often sit within a step of the bench.

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Measure book — service 11

Kitchen storage solutions and pantries

Most kitchens in Moorabbin and the surrounding bayside suburbs are not short of cupboards. They are short of the right fitting in the right place. Storage is planned here the way everything else is: by writing down what is kept, where it is used and how far it has to travel, then matching each answer to a drawer, a pantry or a full-height run.

Book a measure and quote

See how the joinery is made to measure

Field note

Count what comes out of the old cupboards before deciding how many new ones you need.

What is stored, where it is used, how far it travels

A cupboard only works when the thing inside it is close to the bench it is used on. The measure takes the room’s dimensions; the storage conversation takes an inventory — how many pots, how tall the small appliances are, whether the bins are kerbside or council-sorted, whether dry goods live in packets or decanted jars, and which shelf has been unreachable for years.

Those answers set the cabinet widths, the drawer depths and the internal heights before a single door finish is chosen. It is also the point at which a small kitchen usually gains its space back: not by adding cupboards, but by replacing a deep, dark base cupboard with drawers that bring the back of the run out to you.

Daily

Within one step of the sink

Cutlery, plates, cooking oils, the bin and the recycling. Anything reached for several times a day belongs in the run between the sink and the cooktop, at drawer height rather than behind a door.

Deep pot drawers with internal dividers

Pull-out bin and recycling units under the sink

Weekly

Dry goods and bench appliances

Groceries, the toaster, the kettle, the coffee machine. These need a door that closes on them and a power point behind it, so the bench is clear without anything being carried far.

Pantry: single door, twin-door or walk-in where the plan allows

Appliance garage with roller or bi-fold door

Seasonal

Bulk, awkward and rarely used

Platters, the stockpot, spare appliances and the dead corner every L-shape carries. Height and depth are cheap here; access is what has to be engineered.

Full-height joinery taken to the ceiling line

Corner pull-outs, carousels or a blind-corner unit

Reference photograph: open shelving kept for the few things used every day, with the bulk of the storage carried behind closed base cabinetry below the bench.

Decide at design stage

Storage that is built, not bought

Cabinet widths and the split between drawers and doors

Pantry position, depth and the power behind its doors

Corner access, because the carcass has to suit the fitting

Bin and recycling units, which govern the sink cabinet

Full-height runs, bulkheads and the ceiling line above them

These are drawn during Kitchen Design and cut into the joinery. Changing them afterwards means new carcasses.

Can be added later

Storage that can wait

Drawer dividers, knife blocks and cutlery inserts

Pantry baskets, jars and shelf risers

Adjustable shelving heights inside an existing carcass

Door-mounted racks and under-shelf fittings

Open shelf styling above the bench

If the budget is tight, spend it on the left-hand list. The right-hand list can be filled in over the first year without touching the joinery.

Asked at the measure

Three questions that change the drawing more than any finish does.

Common storage questions

Is a walk-in pantry worth losing bench run for?

Only where the floor area exists outside the working triangle. In a compact bayside plan, a twin-door pantry with pull-out shelves usually holds more per square metre than a walk-in, because every centimetre of its depth is reachable.

Drawers or doors in the base cabinets?

Drawers for almost everything below bench height. They cost more per cabinet and return it immediately in access, particularly in a small kitchen where a deep cupboard swallows its own back third.

Can storage be improved without a full renovation?

Yes, where the carcasses are sound and square. Internal fittings, new runners and a reworked pantry can be handled as part of a kitchen makeover. Where the boxes are chipboard-swollen or out of plumb, new joinery is the more sensible spend.

Next step

Bring the inventory to the measure

Tell us what currently has nowhere to live and where you would rather it sat, and the storage plan can be drawn around it. Send the details through the quote form, or ask a question first through our contact form.

Serving Moorabbin and the surrounding bayside suburbs — Highett, Hampton East, Bentleigh, Bentleigh East, Cheltenham, Mentone and Heatherton.

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