15 Essential Cheap Ikea Finds For An Organized Kitchen

I have long considered Ikea's restaurant to be one of my favorites, and I'm also a fan of the food market (here are some of my go-to items), but for me, 90% of the store is just a furniture-themed escape room I have to fight my way through before I can get to the good stuff. Since my tiny house is already over-crammed with furniture, I'm hardly ever in the market for larger pieces, but every so often, I will take a detour through the kitchen section. With space being just as short in the kitchen as elsewhere, I'm always on the lookout for food and cooking-related storage solutions.

Besides space, another thing I'm chronically short on is money (I spend far too much indulging my prinsesstårta habit), so I prefer that these storage solutions be cheap ones. While Ikea does carry some higher-end items, such as an $800 dishwasher (which may be manufactured by Electrolux or Whirlpool), it also has many more affordable options like a spice rack that offers tons of functionality for a cheap price. Just like that $9.99 Bevkam spice rack (consider it a bonus 16^th pick), everything on the list below comes in at under $10. Some of these items are meant for storing food, some hold utensils, and others can contain all the miscellanea that's currently cluttering up your kitchen.

The Uppdatera adjustable drawer organizer, priced at $9.99, will not only help you get your junk drawer under control, but will even give it a much more elevated appearance. (As elevated as a collection of random twist ties, bits of butcher's twine, and birthday candles can look, that is.) It measures 15 by 24 inches and is made of charcoal gray fabric, with inside dividing walls that can be cut and arranged to make different-sized storage areas.

Some of Ikea's wine racks cost upwards of $100 and hold dozens of bottles, but if you only have a few bottles at a time, such a storage unit might seem superfluous. The Variera bottle rack, on the other hand, holds five bottles and sells for $5.99. At 9 ⅝ inches long by 10 ¼ inches wide and ⅞ inch high, this bamboo rack is compact enough to fit in a drawer. (A handy attribute if you're not looking to show off your Winking Owl and Four-Buck Chuck collection.)

If your kitchen shelves are spaced far apart enough to allow for 6 to 9 inches of extra clearance, you can maximize that space by adding a clip-on basket to hold extra coffee mugs, dish towels, or random kitchen flotsam. The white Pålycke clip-on basket measures either 8 ⅝ by 10 ¼ by 7 ½, or 14 ⅛ by 10 ¼ by 5 ½ inches — the former sells for $6.99 and the latter for $8.99. There's also an $8.99 14 ⅛-by-10 ¼-by-5 ½-inch Pålycke clip-on basket in anthracite.

Another way to maximize that below-shelf space is with a Pålycke clip-on rack featuring three hanging hooks. These can hold utensils, towels, or cups, depending on how much room you have available. The rack itself is 5 inches long, and the hooks extend down 3 inches. Ikea sells this handy little product in a choice of anthracite and white, with both versions coming in at just $2.99 apiece.

If you have more than a few forks, spoons, and knives, just tossing them in a drawer can make for quite a mess. At this point, you're in need of a flatware organizer, and Ikea sells one that's super-cheap (just $1.79) and rather attractive. The Smäcker flatware tray is made from molded plastic and comes in a choice of anthracite and green instead of basic, boring beige. The measurement in inches is 10 ¼ by 12 ¼ by 1 ¾, which means it should fit in most standard kitchen drawers. It has dedicated spaces for knives, forks, and spoons, as well as a few extras for miscellaneous bits and bobs.

If you do have just a small amount of flatware or else a collection so large that it overflows a flatware tray, you might want to opt for a restaurant-style Uppdatera flatware caddy. This item is made of wire mesh and measures 4 ¾ by 4 ¾ by 9 ½ inches. It's divided into four sections, which can be used for different types of utensils or individual place settings. There's also a convenient carry hook on top for you to take the caddy from countertop to table. Available colors are sophisticated anthracite and sunny yellow, with both versions priced at $8.99.

When you're working at the sink peeling vegetables, what do you do with the mess? Not every kitchen has a garbage disposal, and even if it does, there are certain food scraps that you must avoid putting down the drain at all costs since they'll damage the mechanism. The Skoläst mini trash can either hangs from a cabinet door or stands on the countertop to hold all of the debris until you can schlep it over to the big trash can in the corner. This plastic container measures 9 inches across, 8 ⅝ high, and 6 ¼ inches deep, and holds 0.9 gallons. It comes in a pale shade of gray and sells for $5.99.

When you buy canned or bottled beverages such as sodas, seltzer or beer, some of them always seem to get lost in the back of the fridge. That won't happen with the $9.99 Klippkaktus drink holder, since it keeps the drinks lined up in three neat rows. This clear plastic container measures 11 ¾ inches long, 2 ¾ inches high, and 2 ⅜ inches wide and can be adjusted to fit different sizes. 

Don't let your knives just float around in a kitchen drawer, since that's asking for trouble. Instead of risking the chance of cutting yourself, corral those knives in an Uppdatera knife rack. This anthracite plastic tray measures 4 ½ inches wide, 18 ⅞ inches long, and 1 ¾ inches high, and holds four knives in a horizontal position. It costs just $5, so you should be able to buy enough to hold your entire knife collection without blowing the budget.

Using a lazy susan can be a genius hack for accessing hard-to-reach items in the pantry or even the fridge. The Variera lazy Susan is made of white-painted galvanized steel, has a diameter of 10 ¼ inches, and stands 1 ½ inches high. It holds up to 11 pounds of condiments, spices, or whatever else you might need to have within reach, and you can give it a whirl for just $9.99.

If you shop at Ikea, you have to bring your own bag or purchase one of the totes it sells. Many other stores, however, are still handing out plastic bags, and these do come in handy for lining small trash cans or containing messy items. If you need a place to store your bag surplus, Ikea's got you covered with the wall-mounted Variera plastic bag dispenser. It's made of white polypropylene, measures 6 ¼ inches wide by 5 ⅛ inches deep by 17 ¾ inches high, and is priced at $4.99.

Piling your plates on top of each other might scratch or damage the finish. This may not be a big deal with your everyday china, but you'll surely want a better solution for those pretty patterned pieces. Enter the Ostbit bamboo plate holder. It's 11 inches long, 5 inches wide, and 3 inches high and has slots to hold six plates, pot lids, or cutting boards. Even though it's just $5.99 apiece, it looks good enough to put on display if you want to show off any especially attractive tableware.

The problem with pot lids is that you can't store them atop their pots, at least not if you want to stack smaller pots inside bigger ones. Sure, the top pot can have a lid, but the other lids need a place to go. The $7.99 Variera pot lid organizer provides a sleek solution, consisting of an adjustable stainless steel rack with room for six lids. It measures 5 ¾ inches wide and 4 inches high and can be stretched out to 19 ⅝ inches long or compacted to just 3 ¼ inches when folded up.

Ikea sells several spice racks, including the one we mentioned in the intro, but one of our favorites is the compact-sized Hundhaj spice rack. At just 7 ¾ inches long, 2 ½ inches high, and 2 ¼ inches wide, this compressed bamboo rack can fit into the smallest corner of the pantry or countertop. The best thing about it, though, is the pretty green and gold lacquer finish.

Need an extra shelf but you don't want to bother with tools and hardware? The $4.99 Öbonäs wall shelf mounts to any smooth surface (tile, glass, metal, etc.) with suction cups. It's made of plastic and comes in your choice of gray-beige and gray-green, with both options measuring 11 inches long, 4 inches deep, and 4 ¾ inches high. These shelves can hold up to 2 pounds, so you can stick one on the side of your fridge to hold smaller condiments and seasonings, and another above the sink for sponges and soap.