Top 5 Storage and Organization Trends to Try in 2023
If the approaching new year has you itching to reorganize your space, you’re not alone. Storage and organization trends are just as hot as ever for 2023. Give your space a fresh start with these five tips, from so-called “invisible” closets to clever hidden storage for ugly electronics.
Invisible Closets
Have you noticed that all the chicest home renovations seem to include hidden closets these days? The so-called “invisible closet” is a modern update to the European style closet, which is basically a built-in armoire packing tons of storage onto a wall instead of a walk-in closet space. The invisibility comes in when the seams of the doors and drawers are as tight as possible, and push magnets take the place of visible hardware.
Office Sugurufukuda took advantage of this technique for its 404 Apartment in Tokyo, making the space appear larger using a system of wall panels that conceal closets, cabinets, shelving, and even entire rooms. Interior designer Kate Polak created a similarly clean look for a UK apartment by spray-painting the front of lacquered birch plywood wardrobe doors and drawer fronts with a nearly seamless result.
Pleasing Pantries
It looks like we’re still on a major collective pantry organization kick, making it easier to keep track of all of our food in the process. TikTok remains a great way to somehow lose hours watching videos of pantry reorganizations and tutorials, so head to the #pantryorganization hashtag for inspiration. This is definitely one trend that’s worth following, considering that all those matching food containers will keep your stored goods fresher and more aesthetically pleasing.
Use clear containers with tight-fitting lids to store things like cereal, oats, flour, sugar, and other pantry basics. A matching set of baskets in the right size for your shelving can help corral items like bags of chips, root vegetables, and paper products. Use risers for canned goods and spices so you can see exactly what you have on hand at a glance. A label maker will also come in handy here, or you can get a little bougie with professional-looking custom sticker labels from Etsy.
Hidden Electronics
Electronic devices rarely add any aesthetic value to a space, yet we seem to need more and more of them with each passing year. It’s best not to store things like Wi-Fi routers, phone chargers, smart home hubs, and portable speakers in closed compartments to maintain airflow and signal strength, so you’ll need to come up with creative ways to hide them. If you’re up for a project, a DIY built-in media cabinet with decorative metal grille doors is one way to do that — check out a tutorial from Frugal Family Times.
Another possibility is something like this fun CovoBox available on Etsy. It’s a three-sided box that uses real reclaimed books to conceal a storage area for whatever you’d rather not display. You can even choose the color scheme of the books to match your decor.
Closed Kitchen Cabinets
Many people have spent the last decade ripping out all the upper cabinets in their kitchens and replacing them with open shelving. That can open up the space and make it feel less cluttered — but only if you’re highly disciplined at keeping the items on the shelves to a minimum. In reality, most of us can’t manage to do that, so it’s no surprise that open shelving is now on the outs.
Closed, opaque cabinetry is hip again in the kitchen, which is good news for people who never jumped on this trend to begin with. Keep your stuff corralled and out of view, or maybe limit the open shelving to just one small area of the kitchen, retaining the utility of upper cabinets elsewhere.
Vertical Home Office Storage
Remote work is here to stay, no matter what CEOs like Elon Musk might say. 25 percent of all professional jobs in North America are likely to be remote in 2023, and that means a lot more of us need comfortable places to work from home. One of the biggest downsides of remote work is the blurring of boundaries between work time and downtime, so it’s best to have a clearly defined workspace that’s not spilling out into adjacent domestic spaces.
Make it easy to stay organized, no matter how small your workspace might be, by taking advantage of the vertical wall space above your desk. If you just need to keep a handful of items handy, a mesh grid wall organizer like this one from Wayfair might do the trick. But if we’re talking about printers, paperwork, reference materials, and other bulky items, consider either closed cabinets or a track-style organizer unit to keep it all in check.
