Simple Bathroom Organization: Under the Sink Cabinet
Let’s Be Honest
life gets busy…
and before you know it, an organized space becomes, well unorganized. It happens to all of us. This space started off organized after we moved in but I was using items I already owned which didn’t quite work for the space so it never felt done to me. Fast forward three years and after living with a subpar system, it started to become a bit of a mess! Yikes!
I’ve had good intentions of figuring out how to better organize the cabinet under my sink for months (maybe years?). Finally on a cold and rainy Saturday morning I decided it was time to get this project done. The best part was this refresh took less than 30 minutes. Now this is what I call a win!
I’ll share below how I organized this under the sink cabinet and the steps I follow to organize any space.
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Step 1: Research
I like to do research online to generate ideas on products suggested by companies for a particular space when I am ready to organize. The Container Store is my favorite place when I am looking for inspiration and to buy products to organize our home. Their website is user friendly and does a great job of showing images for how to use items to solve a problem. This allows me to do my research at home which also gives me time to reevaluate my space while considering different options. After exploring several good solutions, I landed on the like-it products and selected the like-it Under the Sink Starter Kit. A starter kit is an easy way to put collected items in your cart to complete a look or to use as a foundation to build on with additional products.
Step 2: Measure
Measuring your space before you make a purchase is an important step in the process. It can be pretty frustrating when you buy something, only to bring it home and find out it doesn’t quite fit. Once I decided I wanted to purchase the like-it Under the Sink Starter Kit, I measured the base pieces to make sure I had enough space in length, width and height. Under the sink storage can be tough to work with depending on how the plumbing and bottom of the sink fill up the cabinet. Thankfully, I had plenty of room to recreate the suggested image for the starter kit, which gave me confidence to head to the store!
Step 3: Shop
If I am buying items I am familiar with in terms of size and quality, I will often purchase in advance and do the store pickup option. Since I had not previously bought the like-it products and one of the items in the starter kit was showing unavailable for pickup, I opted to go in the store. This allowed me time to spend looking at the items to find an alternate option to meet my needs for the brick which was out of stock. I am so glad I did! I laid out all the bins shown in the kit and then played with different sizes for the short bin on top to find exactly what I needed.
I am really impressed with the look and feel of the like-it bricks wide bins, like-it bricks medium bins, like-it bricks narrow bins and like-it modular tall narrow drawers. The bricks came in three different color options – white, gray and translucent. I opted for the translucent so I could easily see the products I use frequently. I anticipate buying more of these bricks for other spaces as they stack and store really well! I took some pics of the different bricks with a few products inside to give you an idea of size and storage potential.
The like-it bricks medium tall bins fits perfectly on top of the like-it modular tall narrow drawers. I took a pic of this bin horizontal to show the depth of the drawer.The bin on top maximizes the use of vertical space and allows you to store items you use routinely in an easy to reach location.
The like-it bricks medium short bins was my modification to the starter kit since the suggested brick was out of stock. This smaller piece stacks well across the like-it bricks wide tall bins. There are several sizes to choose from to stack together giving multiple configurations to meet your needs.
The like-it modular tall narrow drawers has good height and depth, allowing you to store taller products or extra items. The like-it bricks narrow bins shown above fits inside and allows you to create two rows inside the drawer. This can hold quite a few bottles depending on size.
Step 4: Prep and Purge
My process for prep work when reorganizing a space is pretty simple. I take everything out, clean out the space and do inventory of the items. I love this step in the process because it is so therapeutic for me to reassess what I am currently storing, what I really need or use on a routine basis and what I want to keep. Any product or item I no longer have a purpose for is either put in the trash or donated. This time around I also scanned my beauty products on the Yuka app to help me understand more of the ingredients in products and I purged those items with poor ratings. Many of those I wasn’t using anyway and in my journey to embrace cleaner products, they no longer served a purpose in my life. I also found a few items I had forgotten about and made sure to store these in such a way to give me a visual reminder to use them!
Step 5: Test
Although I had measured the space before heading to the store, the first thing I did was place the items under the sink to replicate the image I saw online with the starter kit. I didn’t want to peel stickers and throw labels in the trash, if it didn’t work as I had planned. Everything fit well and I made an adjustment by turning the two like-it bricks wide tall bins horizontal which filled the width under the cabinet leaving no room to spare!
I preferred this look to eliminate any dead space under the cabinet and to allow the function of the bins with items I use daily to be easily within reach. I considered adding a third bin to maximize height on the right side which would help cover more of the ugly plumbing but the pipe has an extra piece sticking out about halfway which didn’t allow for this option.
Step 6: Reorganize
The like-it bricks medium tall bins holds my skincare and the like-it modular tall narrow drawers holds hair products. I am in transition with my skin care as I work to use more clean products so these trial sizes leave extra space in the bin. I did a test to ensure I will have space for full size products soon!
The like-it modular tall narrow drawers worked great for my hair products and is easy to access during my daily routine. I wasn’t sure if the like-it bricks narrow bins was needed, however the two rows does help to hold items in place and prevents products from moving around when using the drawer.
The like-it bricks medium short bins holds a few smaller items in my daily essentials and stacks well across the like-it bricks wide tall bins. The items I have stored in the two wide bins are rarely used and the short brick is easy to lift off to access these products when (or if) it is needed.
Step 7: Enjoy!
Man, did it feel good to give this space a quick refresh! This is a project that when I was done, I wondered why I hadn’t taken the time to do this before now.
This refresh took me less than 30 minutes, including prep time and organizing the new items. I caught a BOGO sale and only spent $86 for all the items in the kit. #winning
I’ve used the new system for a few days now and the set-up is working well!
Final Thoughts
Life gets busy and our once organized spaces, can quickly become a dumping ground for items we can’t easily put in a designated place. Creating systems in your home with organized spaces encourages efficient and effective routines. Efficiency in daily routines allows for more time to do the activities in life which brings you joy, without the heavy feeling of a cluttered home. Do you have an under the sink cabinet problem you need to solve? Check out the like-it Under the Sink Starter Kit and other items at the Container Store for your next project. I guarantee the 30 minutes spent to refresh this space will be time well spent!
If you still need gift ideas for the holidays, check out Gift Guide: Best Coffee Table and Lifestyle Books and Gift Guide: Wine and Entertaining Must Haves for a few fun ideas centered around my favorite topics, design and wine!
Cheers!
