The Up-And-Coming Cabinet Trend That Is Taking Over Kitchens

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Maintaining a well-organized kitchen can be one of the biggest challenges homeowners face daily. Cooking supplies, including pantry items, spices, utensils, tools, and appliances, tend to be housed deep inside cupboards or on counters. We all need somewhere to stylishly store our kitchen appliances! A clever new trend may be the solution. By placing a cabinet at counter level (quite literally on top of the counter), you not only get easily reachable storage, but you also have a spot to hide away items, like appliances and ingredients canisters, that you might not want visible all the time.

More and more homeowners are opting for at least one cabinet at counter level in their kitchens. There, they can stow everything from dishes to coffee mugs, or the cabinet serves as good-looking appliance storage. If you are not short on counter space, lowering the bottom of a cabinet until it hits the countertop can be a great way to increase the overall functionality of your kitchen. Worried about the cost involved with a kitchen remodel? There are many ways to take advantage of this trend, not all of which involve installing expensive custom cabinetry.

Countertop cabinets mimic the look of a hutch or free-standing pantry even when they are built into the kitchen layout. They maximize the awkward space toward the back of the counter and the vertical space below mounted cabinets. Many homeowners use enclosed cabinets on countertops for kitchen appliance storage — just add outlets at the back. These countertop cabinets or hutches are also great for creating dedicated zones — like a smoothie stand or coffee bar replete with related machinery and supplies — all in the same cabinet. A countertop cabinet would also make a perfect cocktail bar, baking station, or kitchen command center with a charging port and a memo board pinned inside the door.

If you are modifying an existing kitchen with wall-mounted cabinets, you can always swap one or two out with the popular HAVSTA, IKEA's countertop cabinet that's a dream kitchen storage solution. This will add more countertop cabinets with glass doors to your kitchen, perfect for displaying décor or your favorite dishware. Prefer something more discreet? Consider cabinets with roll-down tambour doors. Or get the look quickly with a pre-made cabinet like the IKEE Design Wooden Countertop Storage Cabinet in Vintage White for about $37. Other options have a mix of cabinets, drawers, and open shelves, like the TianQinLang Bamboo Countertop Cabinet Pantry for $75. Another great approach is to give an outdated China hutch cabinet a new life by splitting it in two: Use the top half of the hutch on your counter and use the base elsewhere in your home. If you're good in the wood shop, you could also DIY a custom countertop hutch with some lumber and pre-made cabinet doors.