The Stylish IKEA Solution For Storing & Displaying Coffee Mugs To Save Cabinet Space

Having a smaller kitchen can mean that you're sometimes lacking on storage — specifically cabinet space. Once you've figured out how to best store your food and other essentials, items like coffee mugs and teacups become of a bit of a pain to find a suitable home for. Especially since these cups are often bulky with handles that make it difficult to maximize space. You might decide to stack and store them on your countertop for lack of a better spot, which can make your entire kitchen feel cluttered. However, there is a stylish and affordable IKEA hack that can solve this problem, especially if you have a collection of special mugs that you'd quite like to display but in an intentional way — the key to this storage hack is the IKEA KNAGGLIG pine crate. 

The KNAGGLIG crate from IKEA is versatile with two size options, each of which are less than $20. It can be used to store lots of different things in various rooms in the house. To easily store and display your coffee mugs, pop the crate on its side on your countertop, preferably near your tea kettle or coffee maker, with the opening at the front. You can even use it as part of a creative home coffee bar idea.

This IKEA solution really couldn't be simpler. All it requires is the crate displayed on its side and that's it! You now have two surface areas to store and display your mugs, inside the crate as well as on top of it — this staggered height variation makes your mugs feel and look more organized. Use one crate, or arrange several to hold more mugs. In addition to mugs, you can place a sugar container, tea bags, and other related items on the crate to create your mini drink station. 

Of course, there are lots of ways you can customize the KNAGGLIG crate to suit your style. It comes as untreated wood, so you can stain or paint it to create more of a durable finish and to customize the look. It's also a good idea to seal your crate, to make it more water resistant against any potential spillage, even if you don't want to stain or paint it.

If you don't have any countertop space but love the rustic look of a crate, you can still use one (or two) to display your coffee mugs. All you have to do is screw the crate on to the wall facing outwards, and you have created an open mug shelf. Another addition you could introduce to your IKEA crate, either when it's displayed on your kitchen countertop or hanging on the wall, is to attach screw hooks on to the side of it. This will allow you to store even more mugs by hanging them by their handles.