Do you ever flinch as you open one of your kitchen cabinets because you expect something to come tumbling out at your face? That was me with the cabinet where we store our water bottles. Once upon a time, I had organized the cabinet using baskets. That worked well when my boys were using mostly sippy cups, but as we transitioned to water bottles that are bigger around that the sippy cups, they no longer fit in the baskets very well, and we ended up with a scary situation like this...
I knew I needed to find a better solution, and one that would maximize the available space in our cabinet. I started by removing everything from the cabinet so that I could decide what should really make its way back in, and what we should donate.
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The shelves were pretty dirty, so I quickly wiped out the dust and crumbs, and then used a
magic eraser to remove the remaining scuffs and marks.
Once I'd sorted through our water bottle collection and decided what should stay and what should go, I took inventory to see how many bottles I needed to make room for.
One of the keys to keeping any space organized is to create a system that makes it easier to put things away in the right spot than to not. For our water bottles, this meant I needed a solution where each bottle had a designated spot so that we never had to rearrange things to make them fit, and where we'd never have to worry about bottles tipping over and falling out of the cabinet.
If you saw my
Instagram Story last week, then you already know that the water bottle storage solution I came up with is to use some stacking wine racks! Since we have water bottles of different size and shapes, I picked these solid plastic
InterDesign wine holders. Most of the wood and metal options aren't solid and would allow shorter water bottles to fall through, but these solid plastic are perfect and they come in white or clear.
I adjusted the shelves in the cabinet to allow me to stack the wine racks three high on the bottom and middle shelves.
I ended up using a total of 9 of the
stacking wine racks {they're cheaper when you buy them in sets of 2 or 4, so I have one extra that I'll probably end up using in the fridge}.
I'm still using a basket on the second shelf up for some miscellaneous items that we don't use often, but didn't want to get rid of, like a few cups with lids and straws.
But all of the water bottles that we use on a regular basis, as well as a few insulated coffee cups, fit perfectly on the
stacking wine racks. I love that I can see everything when I open the cabinet door, and it's so easy to grab what I need and just as easy to put them away!
To get the rest of the cabinet organized, I'm using a
small lazy susan for all of the boys plastic cups. I found that stacking them upside down makes them more stable, so they don't tip over as I turn it around.
My boys can't get enough of these
super long bendy straws that can be twisted into spirals, or even tied in a knot. I grabbed an extra mason jar to keep the straws up right and in easy reach.
We've donated all of our other sippy cups, but I do like having a few toddler cups on hand for friends and cousins when they visit. Our favorites are the dentist-recommended, spoutless
Miracle Cups. They don't stack inside each other very well, but I had just enough room left on the shelf for four of them stacked two deep.
I always joke about how happy an organized space makes me, and that I'll open the door just to admire it. Well, I think I've officially rubbed off on my husband, because Scott can't stop opening the cabinet door and the silverware drawer {a story for another day} and smiling at the new organized situation.
I love quick and easy organizing projects! There's so much satisfaction in finding a simple solution that solves a problem and makes life a little easier! This might just be my favorite five minute organizing project of all time!
