Clear Up Counter Space With A Dollar Tree DIY That Organizes Your Utensils

Certain kitchen spaces – kitchenettes and galley kitchens – tend to be long on cute and short on counter space. Anything you can do to free up some of that said space makes working on your counters more free-flowing. Still, short of adding some type of kitchen island to the space, this problem can be challenging for many home dwellers to solve. Although building more counter space is ideal, it may not be necessary if you reframe how you think about the issue. Certain items, like measuring cups and spoons or cutting boards, don't need to take up horizontal space. Instead, they can be stored vertically if you hang a few Tool Bench mini self-adhesive hooks nearby.

The pack of hooks from Dollar Tree comes in a set of 12, with each one being about an inch long. They're big enough to hold many of the smaller kitchen items you use on the regular, like those measuring cups, but small enough to be less unsightly than other hanging implements might be. Because they have adhesive on the back, they're usually earmarked for walls or the inside of cupboards. However, with a few dabs of glue from the hot glue gun and the help of a pack of Crafter's Square button magnets, also from Dollar Tree, they can be modified for use on the refrigerator, if push comes to shove.

The idea behind this Dollar Tree storage hack isn't just to clear off counter space. The hooks should be placed in areas where they can be the most useful. Think of the kitchen triangle. This classic kitchen layout includes the three main points in the kitchen: the sink, the stove, and the fridge. Ideally, in this set-up, these three items are positioned as closely together as possible to make cooking and food prep easier. Think of how handy it would be to have some of the Dollar Tree hooks near the main items in the kitchen triangle. For example, hang some just inside the upper cabinets by the stove, or even on the stove's backsplash. Those hooks become a home for some of your larger specialty kitchen utensils.

Or if you're proud of the collection of spices you keep in the cupboard, be sure to get good use out of them by hanging some measuring spoons in that cupboard. Those can go on the inside of the door, or if there is enough space and you can reach, they can be hung on the inside wall near the spices, too. Finally, if you do actually have a rolling kitchen island and want to save the drawers and shelves for other items, stick a few of the hooks on the outside edge of the island on the end. Those can hold items like poultry scissors or meat tenderizer mallets. Those hooks are close enough to reach, but won't grab onto your cooking apron the way they might if you pasted them on the front of the piece instead. Why not add this useful idea to all those other hacks that secretly add more storage to your kitchen?