Maximize valuable storage space and organize bathroom cabinets with smart strategies and savvy organization products.
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Bathroom Cabinet Organizers: 10 Smart Ideas for Storage
Updated on Oct. 18, 2024
Towels and toilet paper, cotton balls and cleaning products, medications and makeup. If this patchwork of items lives as a jumbled mess in your bathroom cabinets, it’s time for a good decluttering and organization reset.
First, pull out everything in your cabinets. Toss expired and unusable items. Donate unopened items you won’t use to a shelter or social services organization. The more you unload, the more space you’ll have for the essentials.
“The space you gain by letting them go may be more valuable than an unused product,” says Meck Organizing Owner Nancy Meck.
With a few key strategies and products, you can organize bathroom cabinets in no time.
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Slide On Out
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Work Around Pipes
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Maximize Vertical Space
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Configure Cabinets Smartly
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Employ Turn Tables for Easy Access
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Keep the Essentials at Eye Level
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Give Hair Tools a Special Spot
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Bring Order to Linens
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Go Modular for Small Items
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Categorize and Organize
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Slide On Out
Employ slideout storage and you’ll never lose another bottle to the depths of an under-sink cabinet again. The baskets on this two-tier organizer slide out for easy access, and the stacked design makes use of vertical space. Dividers keep items orderly and categorized.
Prioritize space in your under-sink cabinet for the things you use regularly. Avoid giving space to duplicates. “Move the backups to another space like a linen closet,” says Meck. “Be diligent in checking the backup area before you buy more.”
Work Around Pipes
Plumbing eats up valuable storage space underneath a sink. Rather than trying to awkwardly cram in bins and baskets, look for a shelving unit that’s designed to fit around pipes.
The Storage Maniac Under-Sink Two-Tier Expandable Shelf Organizer features removable panels that can be configured around pipes. The unit expands from 18 to 30 inches wide, and the anti-rust powder-coat finish is ideal for damp bathrooms.
Maximize Vertical Space
“Bathroom spaces are small so you want to utilize every square inch effectively,” says TidyNest Chief Operating Organizer Shannon Krause. In cabinets, this means going vertical and layering storage.
For a simple fix, enlist shelf risers, typically used in kitchen cabinets for dishes and cups. They’re available in lots of sizes, so think about what you need to store and how much clearance you have in a cabinet to determine which size fits best. Look for shelves with epoxy-coated steel frames, which are sturdy and easy to clean.
Configure Cabinets Smartly
To make the most of every nook and find a home for bulky bottles and tiny cotton swabs alike, deploy a storage system with customizable components.
The Like It Undersink Storage System features different-sized plastic baskets and bins with slide-out drawers that all click and stack together. Take good cabinet measurements and assess what configuration of products will work best for your cabinet and storage needs. A bathroom cart is a pretty good option, too.
Employ Turn Tables for Easy Access
Keep frequently used items at your fingertips with a lazy Susan. “Turntables are excellent solutions if you have a lot of products you access daily,” says Krause. “Select a turntable with walls so your products stay upright when being spun around.”
To maintain easy routines, Krause recommends reassessing your cabinet contents every few months. “You’d be surprised to see how many expired, empty or unwanted products and medicines you’ll come across,” she says.
Keep the Essentials at Eye Level
Use a segmented medicine cabinet organizer to round up the items you use daily and position the organizer in an easy-to-access spot. “Put your daily go-tos at a height that is easy to reach,” says Meck.
When selecting organizers for medicine cabinets, pay extra attention to the depth. Medicine cabinets are typically shallow, so the organizers you choose need to be slim enough to allow the door to shut.
Give Hair Tools a Special Spot
Instead of tossing hair dryers, flat irons and oversized brushes into the bottom of a cabinet, give these tools a home where cords are less likely to tangle. A wire hair tool rack can be hung over the back of a cabinet door or mounted on the inside wall of a cabinet to keep bulky hair tools out of the fray.
Bring Order to Linens
Use vertical shelf dividers to keep freshly washed towels folded and stacked neatly. Dividers can also be used to keep large bottles and rolls of toilet paper in order.
When selecting shelf dividers, note the thickness and depth of your shelves and select dividers that suit these specs. For an extra dose of organization, Meck recommends putting labels on the top sides of the shelves to indicate what goes where.
Go Modular for Small Items
Small bathroom and grooming items such as nail clippers, tweezers and makeup containers are easily lost in large baskets or bins. To keep these small necessities easily accessible inside a bathroom cabinet, invest in a series of modular acrylic organizers that fit and stack together.
“They are customizable so you can select the sizes that work best for your products,” says Krause. Plus, the acrylic surfaces are easy to clean with soapy water.
Categorize and Organize
Group items into categories such as first aid, over-the-counter medicines and travel-size products. Then corral them into clear storage containers that stack and nest together. Go an extra step and label the containers, too.
In a bathroom, clear organizers are also a smart choice. “This eliminates the ‘where is the (fill in the blank)’ question,” says Krause. “And it’s easier to know when you’re running low on a certain product.”
