Here are 5 essential features that maximize the storage potential of your kitchen cabinets.

Drawers offer perfect ergonomic storage: Drawers come out to meet you—no squatting or bending down to see what you’ve got. Just pull the drawer out and look down. As we age, our backs become more sensitive to lifting, so drawers are wonderful for folks who have trouble lifting or reaching.Drawers offer flexible storage: Drawers can hold almost anything in your kitchen and can be configured in a cabinet in a number of ways: three or four drawers stacked in a base cabinet, or a single drawer sitting atop doors that open to reveal shelves. A cabinet with a three-drawer stack is especially effective, with a smaller top drawer and two larger lower drawers. Top drawers are usually for utensils, silverware, and smaller items. The larger drawers, however, can be used for a multitude of kitchen items; pots and pans, lids, dishes (can use a peg system), plastic ware, baking/ cookie sheets, small appliances, or food.Drawers offer easy storage: One versus two motions in a kitchen can do wonders to speed up your cooking routine. Operating a drawer requires one easy pull, versus a door/roll-out arrangement that takes two motions (open doors, then extract the roll-out shelf). This easy operation is why so many people fall in love with drawers.Drawers have clean lines: No matter what kind of kitchen you are planning—traditional, farmhouse, rustic, transitional, or contemporary—drawers create clean horizontal lines that are very attractive in any kitchen style. Several three-drawer base cabinets in a kitchen layout just makes sense.

All too many consumers scrimp by choosing simple door cabinets rather than drawer cabinets. Although they are more expensive, stacked drawer cabinets add enormously to the storage efficiency of a kitchen. Most experts suggest that a kitchen should include at least one stacked drawer cabinet for every double-door cabinet. No way! Get that trash behind a door; nobody wants to see (or smell) that trash can. One of the best kitchen storage solutions is to include a pull-out trash unit inside the cabinetry, where it won’t be seen. Ideally, you should include at least two-bin trash unit—one for regular trash and one (or more) for recycling. Most double units take up a mere 18 inches of space and are available with a soft-close mechanism for simple operation. Many of them are short enough to fit into a base cabinet with a top drawer. These vertical dividers are often placed in the upper portion of tall cabinetry, such as an oven cabinet, pantry, or deep refrigerator upper. They can also be used in narrow base cabinets from 9 to 12 inches wide, where a drawer stack is not practical. A great solution is a 12-inch-wide pullout cabinet fitted adjacent to your cooking surface. If you have many spices, you can even opt for two cabinets—one on each side for a more symmetrical look. Spice pullout cabinets with tiered shelves are the very best, allowing you to store the jars so you can view everything you have.

Lazy Susan cabinet: Dedicated lazy Susan cabinets are corner units that angle 90 degrees on both sides, most typically found in 36-inch wide sizes. Both base cabinet and upper wall cabinet versions are available. Normally, they have two independent carousels, sometimes with a center supporting pole around which the carousels pivot (those without poles are somewhat better). Each carousel spins 360 degrees and can hold a surprisingly large number of kitchen items. These are considerably more efficient for storage than most blind corner cabinets. Blind corner cabinet: These project out from one wall with a filler on the adjacent wall, and come in many different configurations. They are sometimes used because a lazy Susan won’t work with the cabinet layout, or when the blind-corner look is preferred. Blind corner cabinets work best for storage if fitted with pull-out shelves. Corner drawers: These are drawers with “L” shaped fronts that fit into corner cabinets, mounted on rollers that allow you to extract the drawer out into the room. Some companies, such as Blum and Hafele, make units that fully utilize the triangular back corner of the space. When extended fully, they can be up to 30 inches in depth. Corner drawers are your more expensive option, but they most definitely create a WOW factor.

Don’t leave these options up to your contractor or cabinet supplier to select. Be proactive, do your research, and make sure your money is well spent. There are hundreds of cabinet storage options available to you—provided you are well-informed enough to know the possibilities.