15 Ways To Add Storage Without The Hassle Of Building New Cabinets

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As with any home improvement project, when it comes to adding more storage, it can feel like the only options available are to take up valuable floor space and to spend a small fortune doing it. But with just a little creative thinking, it's possible to significantly increase your storage on a surprisingly small budget. What's more, in many cases, it's possible to do it while absorbing zero extra floor space.

How, you ask? Well, that's what we're here to explore. Whether you're trying to accommodate the demand for more storage that naturally comes with a growing family, or are simply looking for novel ways to become more organized, as you'll see below, there are plenty of ways to achieve your needs without physically building more cabinets. From corner shelves and classic pegboards to nifty new uses for shower caddies, if you need more storage and need to avoid the cost and hassle of new cabinetry, then this guide is almost certainly for you.

Ideal for bathrooms, bedrooms, closets — essentially, any room with a door — over-door organizers are great for keeping smaller items both handy and super organized. They come into their own in small spaces where cabinets would soak up too much space, and have the added benefit of being significantly cheaper and easier to install. They're also great for renters who may not be allowed to install anything more permanent.

As for the best over-the-door storage solutions for your space, that depends on your style and what you need to store. This five-tier over-the-door organizer from XyVoltic is a surprisingly versatile option. Use it to keep soft toys organized in your nursery, or in the bathroom to store occasional soaps and beauty products. You could even use it in your hobby room to store craft supplies.

Handy just about anywhere you have a flat surface, shelf risers can effectively double your storage space without the need for additional, floorspace-hungry furniture. There are many helpful ways to use risers to keep your kitchen organized, too. The trick is to buy risers that are fit for the items you need to store.

These stackable kitchen storage shelves from Amazon Basics are a good option for homemakers working on a budget. They're fairly utilitarian in design, ensuring they won't "steal the show" from the rest of your kitchen. Plus, their neutral look means you're unlikely to notice them once they're loaded up with your items. Crucially, they could be used for storing an array of different items, from plates, pots, and appliances, to decorative items like plants and photographs. As for what those items might be, there's really no limit beyond the load-bearing capacity of your shelves and risers. You can use them to create elevated space on your counters for appliances, like a coffee machine or toaster. Alternatively, place them on shelves to increase the room you have to display decorative items, such as sculptures, plants, framed artwork, and photographs.

If the thought of shelf risers has got you thinking about adding more actual shelves, then floating shelves are a great way to declutter your books and other decorative collections. Precisely what you can store on them depends on their size and load-bearing capacity, but in general, they're most useful in tight and tricky spaces where extra cabinetry is neither practical nor affordable. And since they're designed to look like they're "floating," they don't risk interfering with your home's wider decor.

Having said that, it's possible to buy a wide array of floating shelf kits in an equally wide variety of styles. You can also buy kits that feature more than just shelves. These floating shelves with drawers from Dreampossible, for example, provide ample shelf space for displaying your plants and other decorative items, as well as drawers for keeping less display-worthy items organized and out of sight.

Installing a pegboard is a classic storage trick for garages and craft closets. However, there's no reason you can't use this idea elsewhere; in fact, there are lots of ways to use a pegboard to organize your home. For example, you could add one to your laundry room and use it to keep your broom, dustpan, and brush from cluttering up your floor. You could also add one to the wall in your hallway and use it to organize your kids' growing collection of coats and schoolbags.

Alternatively, why not add one to your kitchen wall? Just like in your garage, a pegboard can be used for hanging kitchen utensils and tools. You could use it to keep your trusty chef knives out of reach from your kids, to hang utensils like ladles, spoons, and spatulas, and if you have unwieldy pans that don't fit properly in your drawers, you could add a hook to hang those, too.

Stackable see-through bins are absolutely perfect in kids' bedrooms for storing toys. They're also great in the garage for storing tools, as well as in your office or hobby room for storing work and craft supplies. Because they're stackable, you can store a surprising amount while absorbing the minimum amount of floorspace. And because they're see-through, you can easily find what you're looking for without having to empty the bins' entire contents.

For smaller items, these four-inch stacking tilt bins are an excellent and affordable way to declutter your home from Harbor Freight. Out of over 860 users who've bought and reviewed them, over 87% have awarded them five stars, with users finding an incredible array of uses for them. You can find plenty of larger versions, too, depending on your needs. These TidyFriend stackable plastic storage bins from the Skywin store, for example, are excellent for adding storage without the need to build or buy expensive cabinets. They would be especially handy for kids who want to be able to find their favorite toy without emptying out the entire chest!

A ladder provides a stylish, attractive, and surprisingly useful means of vertical storage. You can use a thrifted old-school ladder to hang a few towels in the bathroom. Or you could DIY your own ladder shelf bookcase — ideal for keeping a growing collection of good reads today.

Alternatively, if you're unsure of your DIY skills or your local thrift store is lacking when it comes to ladders, you could buy a purpose-built ladder shelf. These tend to be sturdier and better suited to higher-traffic parts of the house than regular ladders, since they're actually designed to be used for storage. This four-tier ladder shelf from Vasagle is a good example. Drawing on the classic ladder shape but incorporating a steel frame and flat, sturdy shelves, it provides stable storage for an array of decorative items.

Wall-mounted baskets are another way to make better use of your walls and unused vertical surfaces. It's a great alternative to new cabinets, especially in small homes lacking in extra floor space. It's surprisingly versatile, too, and since all you need to do is install some hooks or brackets on your walls, it's also very DIY-friendly.

The trick is to match the baskets to your room, your wider decor, and the purpose you want them to serve. For example, in your laundry room, you may want to mount wicker baskets that can be easily removed to carry clean laundry upstairs. In the kitchen, wall-mounted wire fruit baskets could provide a more permanent (but no less stylish) solution, and if you need something both decorative and permanent for your hallway — say, to store hats and scarves — then this three-tier rope hanging basket from HaoTuJoho blends touches of style and function that would suit a wide array of interior designs.

The space above your existing cupboards and cabinets is prime real estate for additional storage. It could be the tops of your kitchen wall cabinets, the top shelf of your living room bookcase, or even the top of your wardrobe. If you're not already utilizing that space, then you might just be surprised at how quickly doing so can help to declutter your home.

Since these areas are often hard to reach, they're great for storing lesser-used items. In the kitchen, those could be appliances that you only ever use to cook Thanksgiving dinner. In the bedroom, perhaps there's a pair of dressy shoes that you're tired of tripping over, or a seasonal shirt or blouse that's unlikely to be used for the next six months. Whatever it is, grab some matching baskets (the more decorative, the better!), and start making use of that dead space.

There are many rules that you should follow when building a new kitchen, but one of the most important is to consider whether you actually need to remodel. For example, if you're considering gutting your current space just to give yourself more storage and seating — perhaps with the inclusion of a breakfast bar or island — then is a brand-new kitchen really the most cost-effective way to do it? Instead, could you achieve what you need by simply buying yourself a rolling storage cart?

The 9-drawer mobile storage cabinet from Yukon, available at Harbor Freight, is a good example, although there are lots of similar products on the market that would just as easily do the job. Whichever you go for, you'll find these carts provide ample extra counter space when you need it. Since they're built for storage, they're also great for decluttering, providing ample space for kitchen tools, utensils, and appliances. Crucially, they can also be wheeled out of the way whenever you need extra space for guests. Some can even be bought with beautiful wooden countertops already installed, helping you to match them to your existing kitchen without the need to spring for expensive cabinetry and the cost of a contractor.

This trick can be a lifesaver in any space starved of storage. However, it's perhaps nowhere more useful than in smaller homes. By adding shelving to the otherwise unused corners of your kitchen, living room, bedroom, or bathroom, you'll find that you free up a surprising amount of space elsewhere.

In the bathroom, your new shelves could provide the space you need to keep extra towels and bathmats. In the kitchen, you could use them to store spices, sauces, oils, or even the smart speaker you use to keep your spirits high whenever it's your turn to feed the masses. You could even install some corner shelves by your front door and thus create a handy place to keep your keys. Of course, corner shelves don't need to be purely utilitarian. No house is truly a home without the plants, artwork, and photographs that adorn the walls, and corner shelves can provide a useful, cozy home for such accessories.

If you have metal surfaces in your house (or you're happy to buy magnetic strips), then you can easily use magnetic hooks to store an array of household items. In the hallway, for example, you could use them to hang coats, hats, and school bags, instead of tripping over them whenever you try to leave the house. In your cleaning cupboard, a few hooks could help to keep your broom, dustpan, and brush from clogging up the floor.

In the kitchen, you could install magnetic strips above your prep station and use them to store your pots, pans, and other utensils. You could add magnets to your kitchen cabinets and create a handy magnetic spiceboard, and if you have a collection of trusty knives, you could use a magnetic strip to create a kitchen knife rack. This is a great way to free up space in your existing storage units and therefore reduce your need to build new ones. It's also safer than keeping your knives in the drawer, where any uncovered blades can easily nip unsuspecting fingers.

One of the best ways to maximize the storage space in your bedroom is with your furniture. There are several ways to do this. One of the most obvious is to buy furniture with storage already built in, like ottomans or divan-style beds. But if you're working with traditional bedframes and you don't have the budget to upgrade them, then the most cost-effective way is with under-the-bed storage boxes.

By utilizing the space underneath your beds, you can seriously lighten the load on your bedroom dresser and bedside tables. This could be to store spare linens, out-of-season clothes, and shoes. In your kids' bedrooms, it could be to store and organize their toys. In either case, try to use boxes that come with lids. This isn't mandatory, and there are lots of excellent under-bed storage solutions that come without them. But if your items are likely to be stored under your bed for months at a time, then keeping a lid on them will prevent the inevitable build-up of dust bunnies.

This idea is superb for storing an array of different items in a variety of rooms around the house. In the office is perhaps the most obvious place to use magazine files, since they're designed for organizing files, paperwork, and, you know, magazines. You can also place a file at either end of your desk and use it as a pillar on which to mount a secondary shelf, thus increasing office storage without the need for new cabinets.

A magazine file could also help to keep your go-to recipe books organized in the corner of your kitchen. And if the thought of trying to find tools and materials in your garage fills you with dread, then you may be intrigued to know that using magazine files is one of the easiest ways to organize your DIY supplies. They're great for storing materials like wood and plastic offcuts, bits of foam, and squares of sandpaper; instead of losing these under a pile of disorganized chaos and unnecessarily buying more, simply pop them inside a magazine file. That way, you'll keep them both tidy and visible for whenever you next need them.

Installing a shower caddy is a fantastic, no-drill way to ease the burden on your bathroom storage cabinets. Some products can be installed with suction cups, while others, like this rustproof corner caddy from Seirione, are supplied with a tension pole. Either way, installation is easy, and like corner shelving and floating shelves, this idea makes the most of vertical space in your bathroom that would otherwise go to waste. 

Now, it may come as little surprise that shower caddies are useful for storage in the bathroom. But did you know that there are also a surprising number of uses for shower caddies outside of the bathroom? For example, why not add one to the inside of your kitchen cabinets to serve as a spice rack? Or how about installing one in your laundry room to keep your cleaning supplies organized? The possibilities are endless if you just think outside the box.

This idea is simply about making smarter choices with your furniture, and it's perhaps nowhere more important than in smaller spaces. In your living room, for example, an ottoman stool provides additional seating space whenever you're entertaining, plus a useful place to put your feet up after a long day at the office. Crucially, it also provides an extra well of storage to keep things like toys and blankets.

Out in the hallway, instead of forking out to build dedicated shoe-storage cabinets, why not buy a bench that doubles up as storage? Some feature classic cabinet doors or hidden storage compartments via lift-up benches, while others, like this pine wood entryway shoe rack from Amazon Basics, feature open-fronted shelving beneath the bench. In any case, they're ideal in hallways where you need a place to store shoes, coats, and bags. They're surprisingly cost-effective, especially versus building new cabinets, and they're much more versatile, offering not just storage, but also a handy spot to sit and tie your shoelaces.