This May Be The Worst Spot For Your Paper Towel Holder (Even If It Clears Up Space)

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Space on your kitchen counters is at such a premium. From storage space for tools and supplies to room for cooking and cleaning, not to mention wanting to avoid clutter and maybe even decorate a little, it's no wonder we're always on the lookout for organization hacks to create more counter space. But sometimes, a hack is just not worth the downsides, and it's important to know which solutions work and don't work for your kitchen.

Certain ideas around placing your paper towel rack are a perfect example. A paper towel roll and its holder can take up a significant amount of counter space, so you may want to think about alternative options. For some, it feels like a lightbulb moment to realize you can install the rack inside of a cabinet, but take the time to consider what this will look like day to day before you get your tools. Positioning your paper towels inside a cabinet can create new storage problems and even contribute to faster wear and tear of that cabinet.

Cabinet space is as precious as counter space, and you likely spend just as much energy organizing your kitchen cabinets as your counters to fit all your staples in an orderly fashion. Installing a paper-towel rack means sacrificing likely an entire shelf of a cabinet. Think of all the things you could store on that shelf, and where you'd put them instead. Can you afford to give up that much space?

Even if you could give up that much space in a cabinet, you've then got to think about wear and tear. Replacing kitchen cabinets is usually the start of an entire kitchen remodel, a huge and pricey undertaking you don't want to do until you're ready. But something as simple as keeping paper towels inside a cabinet door could make your cabinets look and function poorly long before that. It's easy to underestimate just how frequently you're reaching for paper towels throughout any given day. Every single time you need to grab a sheet, you're opening and closing that cabinet. That's more use than those hinges would otherwise see, and they'll suffer for it.

Plus, if you're reaching for a paper towel, chances are your hands are wet, dirty, or both, and they've got to touch the cabinet to get the towel. That means you'll have to clean that cabinet handle, too. And dripping moisture onto your wood cabinets over time leads to water stains, warping, color changes, peeling, and even cracks. Those are major consequences for what seems like a small, simple storage decision.

To keep cabinet space and avoid future cabinet headaches, consider other options. You could work to use paper towels less overall, as their costs can add up and they're not the most environmentally friendly, so this habit might be doing more harm than good. Or, you can hang a rack like this Bollove paper towel holder under your cabinet, where it's out of the way but easy to grab.