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Creating and maintaining an organized kitchen is a never-ending mission. With the constant influx of groceries, never-ending meal prep, and tempting new gadgets, it’s not a static space that can be organized just once. Plus, novel organization methods are always being created to make what’s new fit seamlessly.
With the persistent flow and daily use of items, it’s no wonder that more than half of homeowners believe their stress would be reduced by an organized kitchen and more than 40 percent often have trouble finding things in their kitchen, according to a survey by Eagle Woodworking.
“Homeowners are just as invested in the inside of their cabinets as the outside,” says Mare Impal, VP of sales and marketing at River Woodcraft. “They want clean, elegant organization that brings a sense of order and calm—there’s real satisfaction in knowing everything has a designated place.”
Vicki Zagrodnik, designer at Sims Exteriors & Remodeling in Stoughton, Wisconsin, agrees: “The most popular cabinet upgrades right now prioritize smart, functional storage and eliminate visual clutter.” Customers are looking for “anything that focuses less on a shiny, trendy finish, and more on efficiency,” she adds
Here are five cabinet upgrades that could make your kitchen better organized, plus four that may no longer serve a modern family’s needs.
Trending Cabinet Upgrades
“Homeowners are heavily investing in high-quality built-in cabinet storage solutions like deep drawers with custom inserts, full-height pantry cabinets, and elements such as a modern lazy Susan,” says Zagrodnik.
1. Infinity Corner Drawer
The inner corner of kitchen cabinets has always been a source of organizational frustration. While Lazy Susans helped, they haven’t been perfect. Items can topple off the rotating shelves and get stuck in the otherwise-unused corners. Zak Yannarella, a co-founder of River Woodcraft, searched for ways to solve this problem.
“As a woodworker, Zak didn’t set out to invent something revolutionary—he simply pursued a better solution,” says Impal. “At the time, nothing on the market offered both maximum usable space and a refined design.”
“The Infinity evolved over time through hands-on refinement in the shop. It was about working the design until it functioned exactly as intended. It was craftsmanship driven by necessity, not novelty,” says Impal. “The Infinity is more than just a drawer—it’s an entire corner cabinet featuring three independently revolving drawers.”
2. Built-in Custom Storage
Drawer inserts, pull-out shelves, wine racks, slim storage cabinets, appliance garages, and trash and recycling organizers can help make it easier to find items and make the most out of cabinet space. Plus, Eagle Woodcraft reports that 82 percent of homeowners believe that “custom drawer inserts would improve their kitchen and quality of life.”
For example, the Rev-A-Shelf 3-Tier Cabinet-Mount Pull-Out Rack can make it more efficient to organize and find spices and canned goods that can get buried deep inside the back of a cabinet. The unit can be retrofitted into an existing kitchen cabinet and faced with the cabinet door.
“Homeowners are heavily investing in high-quality built-in cabinet storage solutions like deep drawers with custom inserts, full-height pantry cabinets, and elements such as a modern lazy Susan,” says Zagrodnik.
3. Retractable Door Systems
Cabinet doors can consume a great deal of counter space when open, so using a different way to mount the cabinet doors is an upgrade that helps home chefs. “This includes completely custom concealed drawers or a cabinet designed as a hidden appliance garage with retractable doors, often using an in-drawer outlet for charging,” says Zagrodnik. “When done well, these bespoke elements allow the kitchen to reflect a personal, curated style while keeping everyday clutter like mail, devices, or small appliances—completely out of sight.”
“I’ve used the retractable doors system [by Hafele] for exposed coffee areas,that ” says Conrad Arseneau, kitchen designer with Kitchen Cove Design Studio. The Hafele Pocket Door System allows cabinet doors to recede into the cabinet on rails, allowing more open counter space and making it easier to keep the cabinet open for longer periods of time.
4. Drawer Charging Systems
“We would love to see more in drawer charging systems—but oftentimes the costs become the reason people shy away from it,” says Arseneau. While wiring a drawer for a charging system can be cost-prohibitive, changing out an existing drawer with a charging drawer that plugs into an existing outlet helps this cabinet upgrade fit into a realistic budget.
Rev-A-Shelf makes a standard-sized soft-close frameless charging drawer that includes two USB-A ports, a pair of slides, and mounting hardware. Made of maple, the charging drawer is available at The Home Depot and can fit into an existing space and the cabinet drawer front can be attached to it.
Dated Cabinet Upgrades
Some cabinet upgrades fade away in popularity because newer systems that are more accommodating replace them. Other cabinet upgrades become less prevalent after their novelty wears off and the realization is that they just don’t work for real life. Here are a few cabinet upgrades that might not serve you well anymore.
1. Pull-Out Corner Inserts
While novel and fascinating, pull-out corner inserts are also proving to be complicated and not ideally compatible with busy families. They were developed as the next step on the evolution of the corner cabinet, but there’s still some vacant space inside the cabinet and some of the designs appear to be anxiously similar to diving boards and climbing temptations for curious toddlers.
“Pull-out corner inserts and other multi-step mechanisms have served a purpose historically, but we’re seeing a move away from those designs. Homeowners want fewer steps and more direct access,” says Impal.
2. Pegboard System
Simple in its design and easy to customize, a pegboard system for organizing pots and dishes has been an inexpensive way to keep items in place when opening and closing kitchen drawers. It can be great if you can make the pegs fit your collection of cookware, and if you don’t have a desire to change out what you use. But the pegboard has limitations.
“The peg system in drawers is not a great way to maximize space,” says Arseneau. “I will opt to do nonskid pads for a cleaner look.” Nonskid pads can be placed on the bottom of drawers and will as effectively keep cookware in place as pegs, but with the added flexibility of being able to adjust where you place your items. It also takes way less time to set up a nonskid pad than a pegboard.
3. Open Shelving
Fitting for anyone who lives alone or inside an Instagram post, open shelving in a kitchen can be tough to keep tidy and limits the volume that can be stored. While cabinets can provide more storage space, making sure to extend those cabinets to the ceiling can offer even more options for storing rarely-used items and remove the need to clean above those upper cabinets, a chore that can be very annoying.
“A single, dedicated wall of highly organized, full-height pantry storage is much more functional and can easily replace the storage of several upper cabinets, creating more open, airy space elsewhere in the kitchen,” says Zagrodnik. “I would expect the use of vertical storage to be far more popular, especially the use of full-height, custom-built pantry cabinets. Too often, homeowners opt for traditional rows of upper cabinets, or worse, open shelving, which requires constant dusting and leads to clutter.”
4. Bold Colors
Richly saturated colored cabinets are definitely on-trend right now in kitchen designs, especially on social media. A dynamic look, strong colors offer an opportunity to personalize a kitchen and create a desired vibe for a home chef. However, bold colors can be tough to incorporate into an overall home aesthetic, if you aren’t ready to go all-in on a striking look.
“I would like to see the trend of bold, jewel-toned or intensely colored cabinets disappear,” says Zagrodnik. “They may look chic and dramatic on Pinterest or in a new build, but they can limit the way you decorate the rest of your kitchen and often look dated in 5 to 7 years.”
“For experimental features like cabinetry, I always advise choosing a timeless, flexible palette. If you want a bold color, use it in elements that can be easily changed, such as barstools, window treatments, or even a small, painted cabinet upper.”
