This Glass-Stacking Tip Creates Extra Room In Kitchen Cabinets

Glasses are an essential item in any kitchen but as time goes on, many of us find ourselves with an excessive amount of them cluttering our shelves. Wine glasses with large bowls are a particularly common offender, taking up a lot of room in the cabinet, as are different types of cocktail glasses and even water cups, depending on their shape. However, if you feel like doing some organizing, there is a simple trick you can take advantage of to free up space and keep your glassware looking tidy.

If you store every second glass upside down, you can increase the overall capacity of your cabinet space by about 30%. All you need to do is alternate the glasses to face either up or down when stacking or lining them side-by-side in neat rows. This works really well with stemmed glassware and tapered glasses that have a wider rim than base — or vice versa. Most glasses should be safe to keep this way, depending on how sturdy they are, but there are some things to keep in mind.

One thing to note is that this hack isn't very helpful for cylindrical glasses, so it might not even be worth testing out on sets that are fairly uniform in shape. This is not only to save you time — there's actually some downsides to storing glasses upside down, too. Glasses that have delicate rims, like Champagne flutes, can chip if stored upside down. Fractures can also occur if the weight is incorrectly bearing down on a fragile glass for an extended period of time.

Another thing to consider is whether or not you want the rim of your glasses touching the bottom of your shelf. Make sure that the surface is completely clean and disinfected, and that there isn't any risk of sealants or harsh chemicals transferring onto the glass. Similarly, make sure that the glasses themselves are clean and properly dried before flipping them, as any lingering moisture can become blocked inside, leading to musty smells or even mold. Here's the best way to clean wine glasses, if you really want to be careful. 

That being said, glasses that are kept upside down are sealed from any external elements getting in, like dust or pests, and it's a perfectly safe method for most mugs and everyday glasses. Ultimately, there are ups and downs (pun intended) to the alternate flip method, but if one of the perks is saving space, it's definitely worth a shot.