Kitchen Storage: Where’s Your Best “Cool, Dry Place”?

Elizabeth Passarella
Elizabeth Passarella
Elizabeth Passarella is the author of the essay collection Good Apple and a contributing editor at Southern Living. A former editor at Real Simple and Vogue, she has spent more than 20 years writing about food, travel, home design, and parenting in outlets including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Parents, Martha Stewart Weddings, Coastal Living, Airbnb, and The Kitchn. Elizabeth grew up in Memphis, Tennessee and now lives with her husband and three children in New York City.
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updated May 3, 2019
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(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

We’re in a bit of a quandary right now. We’ve got several things (wine and olive oil come to mind first) that need to be stored in a “cool, dry place.” How many times do you hear that phrase? But until we get our spiral wine cellar, we’re at a loss. There just aren’t that many dark, dry, chilly places in a NYC kitchen…

Emma’s asked what you store on top of your refrigerator, and we’ve kept all kinds of things there: serving trays, most recently. But we’ve found the top of our fridge to actually be quite a warm spot. Warm air rises, and we think the cooling system of the fridge expels excess heat on top. (A very scientific assessment, we believe.)

There are cabinets in our kitchen, sure, but the most spacious are side by side with the oven, so they’re not cool at all. And to be honest, a small kitchen heats up pretty quickly and regularly- no cabinets seem entirely safe.

We don’t have a lot of wine, but we’ve stored some in our closet. As for the olive oil, it sits in a shady spot on the counter, which we know isn’t ideal, but we’re not sure of a better place.

So, apartment dwellers, any offbeat genius ideas? We know you don’t all have basements.

And is it even that important? What really needs a special storage area?

Related: Good Question: How To Store Vegetables Outside?

(Image: Flickr member Jordon, licensed under Creative Commons)