The Right Fit
Simple changes to maximize your kitchen organization
Beyond the Box
Your kitchen isn’t just a place to cook—it's a hub of activity that needs to be as functional as it is stylish. What if you could maximize every square inch of your kitchen? What if you could change something you don’t like about the flow? The good news is you can. It’s called upfitting. The result is a kitchen that’s more efficient and more enjoyable for cooking and entertaining.
What is an Upfit?
Kristy Ferguson, owner of Beyond the Box, says upfitting your kitchen is a little like accessorizing your car. You might want new rims or a furry steering wheel cover to jazz up your ride. In the kitchen, which equates to drawer inserts for your silverware, roll-out drawers or even a tray divider for your baking trays.
“These are the things that truly make your kitchen fully accessible,” Kristy says. “That’s what an upfit is all about.”
So instead of suffering through those extra deep cabinets or the trashcan that just doesn’t have a home, Kristy suggests taking a good look around your kitchen and asking yourself, ‘If I could change the organization of my kitchen, what would I do?’
“Most people think you have to go ahead and do a full kitchen remodel. Upfits that we do the most are when people have already replaced their countertops and they might have replaced their flooring, but they really don’t want to replace their cabinets,” Kristy says. “They also don’t love how their cabinets function.”
She says once you identify what you don’t love, “Our team can come in, measure the space and perhaps order a rollout drawer so you can actually roll it and see what is at the back of that extra deep drawer,” she says.
What are the most popular upfits? Here’s a look at Kristy’s top seven
1. Pull Out Drawers: Cut down on drawer chaos and clutter with the help of a roll out tray. Think of a rack for your pots and pans, lids or even a slide out spice rack.
2. Waste Container Pull Out: Neatly tuck away the trash with a roll out container. Kristy says that these have to be sized appropriately but most times her team can come up with a solution perfect for you.
3. Cutlery Drawer: Forget the plastic silverware organizer you bought at the dollar store. The Beyond the Box team can measure for an insert that makes the most of this space. There are even two-tiered options to maximize storage.
4. Sink Drip Tray: Say goodbye to damage from minor under sink leaks or leaky cleaning supply bottles. A silicone drip tray is the first line of defense by holding water in the tray and funneling the excess to the front of your cabinet for easy clean up.
5. Under Cabinet Lighting/Toe Kick Lighting: Enhance visibility and ambiance by adding a little light to illuminate your counter or reduce tripping hazards with toe kick lighting. By adding this type of light, it can put work areas, meal prep and cooking in the spotlight.
6. Updating Cabinet Pulls and Knobs: If your kitchen looks dated, it might be as simple as updating your cabinet’s hardware. Switch out that oil rubbed bronze to a polished silver or gold for a fresh look.
7. Soft Close Hinges: Do you love your cabinets but hate when the kids crash them shut after grabbing a snack? On most cabinets, it might be as simple as replacing the hinges with a soft close option.
How do you get started?
How do you decide what might be prime for an upfit? Kristy says the answer is easy.
“Just think about how much discomfort your kitchen is causing you,” Kristy says with a laugh. Do you hate crawling on your hands and knees just to reach the lid to your pot that fell to the back? That’s the perfect candidate for a roll out drawer. Do your spices take a tumble every time you look for the garlic powder? That might be a reason to consider a pull-out spice rack.
Once you’ve targeted areas for upfits, the next steps are easy.
“It’s really helpful for us to have a picture of the space,” Kristy says. That, along with some rough dimensions of the cabinetry you’d like to accessorize and the Beyond the Box team can do a lot of the work virtually. “We can do a lot to help the client prior to coming to their home,” Kristy says. She adds that after that initial contact, her designers follow up with an email sharing things to consider and ballpark pricing before taking the final measurements. After that, it might be as little as a few weeks before you can ease into the comfort of your newly accessorized kitchen.
While kitchen upfits are the most popular, bathrooms can also become more user-friendly with the help of an upfit or two. Bottom line, Kristy loves helping homeowners create more usable spaces in their homes.
“It’s something that we’re passionate about because we want everyone’s space to feel unique to them and be functional,” Kristy says. “We just want to help them navigate through what is the right choice for them.”
More from the Experts at Beyond the Box
About Beyond the Box
Beyond The Box Inc. has been serving Montana and Wyoming home owners and builders since 2014. Beyond The Box was voted best home remodel company in Billings in both 2021 & 2022. Whether you have a new build, remodel project or are in need of an upfit, our talented and passionate designers would love to help you achieve the home and spaces of your dreams. From closets and kitchens, to bathrooms and garages we have design and storage solutions for you!
