5 Great Kitchen Gadgets to Amp Up Your Function Factor

As someone who walks into people’s homes and kitchens on a daily basis, I’ve come to know a thing or two about maximizing function. There’s a reason why I was called after all, and more often than not it’s because something about the kitchen you have now just isn’t firing on all cylinders. Luckily, there’s a lot of amazingly engineered gadgets out there, and many of these gadgets can take what was a nuisance area of your kitchen and drastically improve its functionality and accessibility. Best of all, these gadgets will definitely save you time, which is the most precious commodity of all and one that you can never get back once it’s gone.

Pullout Garbage/Recycling Bin

I realize that this isn’t groundbreaking information because many people already have them in their homes. This is for people who might be under the impression that this is something they can only have in their next kitchen. I’m here to tell you that simply untrue. These pullout garbage and recycling bins can also be retrofitted to fit your existing cabinetry.

Give careful consideration to how you’re currently storing waste and recycling now - if it’s not working well, if it doesn’t have enough capacity or if it’s in a location that’s inconvenient - take a look around your kitchen and think about what cabinet might be the most convenient place for it to be. More often than not, we can find a bin that fits in that space. It might mean reorganizing your kitchen a little and, dare I say it, purging it of unused items. But, in the end, it’ll save time while providing function and convenience.

Pullout Spice Units

These little gems make big work of small spaces. The one that I most often incorporate into kitchens is designed for a 12” wide base cabinet. I often work a 12” cabinet into either one side of the stove for ease of access, or even both sides if space allows for it. Pullout units are great for spices (obviously), and the shelves can be adjusted to fit other items like oils, vinegars, pepper mill, cooking sherries, or anything else you can imagine.

Tray Dividers

Clients think I’m a weirdo because I’m obsessed with how and where people store their trays, cookie sheets, cutting boards and platters. More often than not, the cabinet they're in is chaos incarnate, and I know that I can offer a better solution. My favourite location to store all of these long items is vertically overtop of the fridge.

In most of my designs, the cabinet over the fridge is customized to be as deep (or close to it) as the fridge so that the cabinet doesn’t become one of those unused items that only stands as an inconvenience to access. By installing vertical dividers inside that cabinet, you eliminate the need to throw on a headlamp, fetch a ladder and go on a mining expedition just to fetch a crock pot. Worry not, crock pot, we’ve got a place for you too!

Flymoon Corner Pullout

Flymoon corner pullouts are essentially the magic carpet of corner cabinets. They swoop in and swoop out effortlessly, packing a serious storage and accessibility punch. I’ve written specifically about corner cabinets in a previous post, so if this is your big issue, I recommend reading up on some of my recommended corner solutions. These pullout units are not inexpensive by any means, but if they can help your corner cabinet become a heavy lifter for your storage needs, you’ll quickly see this as a sound investment.

Appliance Lifter

...I’m looking at you KitchenAid mixer. A mixer like this is a really great tool, and if you’re a big baker then I’m sure you are staring at yours right now. Or, if you’re like me, it rarely sees the light of day because it’s such a heavy unit. An appliance lifter is a handy mechanism that you can install in a base cabinet, making your mixer seem weightless, creating a platform for it while it’s in use. Good idea, right? If this is an item you want to make heavy use of but you also don’t want to leave it out on the counter at all times, this is a must-own kitchen gadget.

Honorable Mention - Rollout Drawers

While rollout drawers are commonplace in many of the kitchens I see, I can’t emphasize enough that if you struggle with organizing your base cabinets or accessing items without an avalanche warning ahead of time, you should consider having rollout drawers made and measured to fit your cabinet.

They’re also a must-have in a pantry unit within the following parameters: If your pantry unit is less than 21” wide (whether part of new kitchen plans or an existing pantry) rollout drawers are going to be most crucial in accessing and utilizing all of the space. Without the rollout drawers, you end up with a narrow space that’s quite deep, making getting at anything at the back an all-too frustrating challenge - who has time for that?

For more great kitchen gadget ideas to increase the function of your kitchen, contact the team at Kitchen Gallery. Our interior design expert will get to work in finding gadgets that solve your functionality problems, giving you the most out of your kitchen.