Your Cereal Doesn't Belong On Top Of Your Fridge. Here's Why

There's so much to fit into our kitchens, who could blame anyone for seizing upon any open spaces they see for storage? The top of a refrigerator is popular real estate because it's a flat, otherwise empty surface typically with a good amount of space above it. But top-of-fridge storage isn't always the best idea, and it happens to be especially ill-advised when it comes to cereal.

Letting things accumulate on top of the refrigerator is one of the worst kitchen organization mistakes you can make. For starters, every time someone opens or closes the fridge, that movement can cause whatever's on top to fall, potentially hurting someone. Then, there's the fact that something like a row of cereal boxes blocks a refrigerator's ventilation, which causes it to circulate its cold air less efficiently. This can lead to perishable items sitting at a temperature that's above what is recommended and can also eventually make your refrigerator run less efficiently and need to be replaced. 

Cereal is a common top-of-fridge item because tall boxes may be too large to fit into many cabinets. But not only does storing them on the refrigerator pose the fall risk and ventilation sabotage, it also speeds up the pace at which they stale. As the refrigerator works to distribute cold air throughout its interior, that activity generates heat outside of it. If there's cereal sitting on the fridge, it gets heated. This makes it stale and soft long before its best-by date.

If you have a cat who loves to lounge on top of your refrigerator, that's a reminder of how warm is it up there. It should make you realize that food probably wouldn't last long there. When cereal is exposed to heat and temperature fluctuations in general, it takes on moisture that reduces its crispy crunch. Luckily, there are solutions.

If you're already storing cereal above your fridge and it's not in the best condition, you can revive stale cereal by putting it in the oven for a few minutes. But long-term, you should think about alternative storage. It's not that you can't use the space above your fridge at all, but storage should be fixed so things can't move and fall, and you should stick to items that are nonperishable and not sensitive to temperature. Use the above-fridge space to finally organize your pans — if there's not already, install a cabinet, shelves, or hooks for cookware. For your cereal, transfer it into these Fooyoo large food storage containers to seal off air, temperature changes, and moisture. Move these containers to the pantry, the cabinet where you moved your pans from, or a newly installed floating shelf in a dry part of the kitchen.