Why Your Medicine Cabinet Belongs In The Kitchen, Not The Bathroom

When you think "medicine cabinet," you likely think of a mirrored cabinet above the bathroom sink. But there's no rule that says you can only put medicine there, and there are good reasons to put them somewhere else. By using one of your kitchen cabinets to store medicine instead, you can keep your medicine safer long-term.

Bathrooms are often the most humid room in the house. Each shower or bath creates moisture and heat — the exact elements that can cause damage to many medications. They can lead some medicines to expire sooner or lose some of their efficacy, which means you may not be taking the exact dose you're meant to take. Bathroom medicine cabinets also tend to be short on storage space, so they're not as practical for people that have a range of medicines to store or other larger medical supplies. Plus, if you have children, the medicine cabinet can make it all too easy for them to reach for your prescriptions, a common source of accidents. A kitchen cabinet can help better prevent all of these issues.

Storing medicine in the kitchen is not as strange as some may think; on the contrary, it's slightly more common than storing medicine in the bathroom, according to one 2022 survey (via MDPI). The kitchen works well safety-wise: medicines should ideally be stored in a cool, dry place, and a kitchen cabinet can provide this as long as it's not directly above the stove or sink. And to keep your prescriptions away from children, you can choose a higher-up cabinet they can't reach.

One of the most important factors with medicine storage is that it's in a convenient location — it should be easy to grab the medicine so you can take it on time. In the kitchen, you can grab a glass of water with your medicine and make it part of your routine. If you go this route, you might also seize the opportunity to switch to a more stylish medicine cabinet alternative for bathroom storage. Not sold on the kitchen? Other places to store medicine that are still better than the bathroom include a linen closet or dresser drawer. But if you're dead-set on keeping your medicines in the bathroom, minimize your bathroom's humidity level by using a vent fan and/or opening the window after you shower. Check your medicines at least once a year, and keep them in the original packages, which are designed to protect them from the elements.