Do you enjoy cooking, or do you love to bake? Oftentimes, people will have a strong preference for one over the other, as they are very different actions. Cooking involves sautéing, braising, mashing, and frying, while also involving a savory element. Baking, on the other hand, involves mixing, whipping, sprinkling, and kneading, and usually involves the sweeter end of the taste palette. While there is some overlap in the tools used for cooking and baking, there are some pretty specific tools that baking utilizes. Here, I will focus on tools and storage solutions designed specifically to make the life of a baker more efficient and enjoyable.
Baking Tray Storage
Every baker will have a collection of cookie sheets and baking trays. Some of these are sized for small tarts, while others are sized for dozens of cookies. At Dura Supreme Cabinetry, we understand that customizing tray storage can be pretty important. That’s why we offer lots of different ways to plan and configure optimal tray storage.
The baker can choose vertical partitions to be evenly spaced, or they can configure the partitions as needed, practically anywhere it makes sense. These are often placed either next to a range or above a wall oven.
Kitchen design by Amanda Barnhart of Modern Mountain Cabinetry & Co., California. Photo by Chantel Elder with Eleakis and Elder Photography. Featuring inset Crestwood cabinets by Dura Supreme.
Kitchen design by Kitchen Design Partners, Inc. of Northbrook, Illinois. This kitchen features Dura Supreme’s Meridien door style in “White” paint with the tray storage cabinet using fixed partitions and a Tray Divider Kit.
There are also Pull-Out/Roll-Out tray storage options for ease of access.
A Base Pull-Out Tray Divider Cabinet from Dura Supreme offers practical and convenient use of space and works great for storing a larger collection of cutting boards, trays, baking sheets, pans, etc. Design by Laura Giles of Dillman & Upton of Rochester, Michigan. Photography by Martin Vecchio Photography.
A Pull-Out Tray Cabinet from Dura Supreme offers practical and convenient use of space and works great for storing pans and cookie sheets in small spaces. Design by Cassidy Jones of Slate Creek Builders of Blacksburg, Virginia.
Trays, Pans, and cutting boards can be stored in a roll-out Tray Divider Pull-Out for practical and convenient use of space in a base cabinet.
Shallow Roll-Outs above a drawer and Toe Kick Drawers provide more ingenious options for tray storage.
A Shallow Roll-Out in a deep drawer neatly stores your pans, trays, and cookie sheets in the same drawer as your mixing bowls.
Miscellaneous items can find a home in a Dura Supreme Toe Space Drawer hidden at the foot of your cabinets. This convenient solution adds additional storage to any room. It’s great for bakeware, spare oven mitts, rolling pins, cutting boards, and so much more!
Dedicated Spice Storage
Keeping spices close at hand can make the task at hand so much easier. Utilizing a slanted drawer organizer for sprinkles and spices is a great idea.
This kitchen island features Dura Supreme’s Base Swing-Up Appliance Shelf Cabinet with Drawer Spice Rack used for sprinkle storage paired with a Paper Towel Drawer. Design by Sue Moreland of LS Building Products, located in East Peoria, Illinois.
Our Cabinet Door Spice Rack is another space saving storage solution, since it doesn’t take up drawer space or take up much of the wall cabinet it is installed in.
Design by CR Cabinetry featuring Dura Supreme’s Door Spice Rack.
Base height and taller pull-out accessories are the workhorses of pantry storage, housing flour, sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, and so much more.
Design by Danielle Bohn CMKBD of Creative Kitchen Designs, Inc., Alaska. Photography by Dave M Davis Photography.
Design by Jen Holz of Dillman & Upton of Rochester, Michigan. Photography by Martin Vecchio Photography featuring Dura Supreme’s Tall Pull-Out Pantry next to a baking center cabinet with a horizontal bi-fold door.
Storing Baking Utensils & Tools
All the smaller items used in baking need a home. Dura Supreme understands this and has created numerous solutions to suit every kind of homeowner.
The metal utensil cup cabinet corrals all the spatulas, spoons, and tongs, keeping them off the countertop yet close at hand.
Dura Supreme’s Base Utensil Pull-Out keeps frequently used utensils close at hand. The shelf below provides additional storage space for pantry items, small appliances, and more.
Design by Danielle Bohn CMKBD of Creative Kitchen Designs, Inc., Alaska featuring Dura Supreme’s Base Utensil Pull-Out. Photography by Dave M Davis Photography.
Shallow roll-outs above drawer boxes are the perfect height to keep cookie cutters, frosting pipers, and ramekins from getting lost in the black hole of a deep drawer.
Keep all of your baking supplies in one spot by using a deep drawer for mixing bowls with a small roll-out tray for your cookie cutters and miscellaneous baking tools.
Also, remember we offer four heights of roll-outs: Flat, 2” H, 4” H, and 8” H- all shown below. Conscientious planning can effectively utilize a cabinet’s footprint, as seen below, by organizing items such as flour sifters, silicone muffin cups, and a handheld mixer.
Dura Supreme’s Roll-Out Shelves are available in four depths; flat (shown with the mixer), shallow (shown top of the base cabinet), standard (shown as the middle shelf in the base cabinets), and deep (shown at the bottom) to fit your particular application.
Adjustable or fixed partitions can also be added to any drawer box or roll-out to organize further mixing bowls, muffin pans, and baking pantry items.
I would be remiss if I did not call out the creative ways you can use our stainless steel drawer organizers for spices, mixing bowls, rolling pins, and spatulas- configurable in so many ways!
Dura Supreme Cabinetry offers a collection of customizable storage solutions for stainless steel drawers and roll-outs.
Use coordinating gray metal accessories and dividers with our stainless steel drawers and roll-out shelves to customize a sleek and sophisticated drawer to meet your exact needs. The options are endless!
A Deep Drawer Organizer for Stainless Steel Drawers from Dura Supreme can be used to organize baking supplies, flour bins, mixing bowls, pots, pans, canisters, pantry items, and more!
Where to Place Baking Appliances
Below we see a warming drawer behind a Dura Supreme drawer front, ready to keep pies, tarts, and bread warm. This is often at the bottom of the wall oven tall cabinet, but can be customized to be anywhere in the stack that is desired.
Kitchen design by Kitchen Design Partners, Inc. of Northbrook, Illinois.
Of course, there is the ever-popular swing-up mixer stand. Designed to save the baker’s back from having to pull out the mixer from a lower cabinet for use. A unique feature of Dura Supreme’s swing-up mixer cabinet is that it standardly includes a roll-out tray at the bottom, a convenient place to store rolling pins, flour, sugar, and cookie cutters.
Kitchen design by Modern Mountain Cabinetry & Co., California. Photo by Eleakis and Elder Photography. Featuring Dura Supreme Cabinetry.
Design by Danielle Bohn CMKBD of Creative Kitchen Designs, Inc., Alaska featuring Dura Supreme’s Base Utensil Pull-Out. Photography by Dave M Davis Photography.
Hidden Baking Center Cabinets
A major trend over the past few years has been the creation of functional “centers” within the kitchen space. This can be in the form of a beverage center, a breakfast center, or a baking center. Dura Supreme’s Baking Larders can be configured with and without pocket doors, utilizing apothecary cubbies, flat roll-outs, and showing contrasting interiors if desired.
Dura Supreme’s Baking Center Larder Cabinets offer thoughtfully planned shelves and cubbies provide dedicated space for an assortment of baking gadgets, pantry goods, and measuring cups, keeping them easy to find and at your fingertips.
Design by Advance Design Studio, Ltd of Gilberts, Illinois featuring a Dura Supreme Baking Center Larder.
Another great plan designed to house baking appliances incorporates a wall cabinet brought to the countertop. Below are a couple of examples of this- using a horizontal bifold door, and another using a lift door. The bifold and lift doors are great in this instance because they avoid countertop space when operating. Dura Supreme also offers the option to omit the bottom of the cabinet, allowing the countertop to serve as the bottom surface.
Design by Emergent Construction Group of Carmel, Indiana featuring Dura Supreme’s Carson door style in “White” paint. Photo by The Home Aesthetic .
Design by Jen Holz of Dillman & Upton of Rochester, Michigan. Photography by Martin Vecchio Photography featuring Dura Supreme’s Tall Pull-Out Pantry next to a baking center cabinet with a horizontal bi-fold door.
One of he best parts of a Baking Center is that when not in use, you can close it up and the kitchen is neat and clean.
I hope this sparked some inspiration when designing spaces for a baker. Creative AND efficient storage of trays, spices, tools, utensils, and appliances can make baking so much more enjoyable. With Dura Supreme Cabinetry’s vast offerings and ability to customize, your dream baker’s kitchen can easily become a reality!
Stop by your local Dura Supreme Showroom to learn more!
