Vintage dishes are more than just dinnerware; they’re often cherished heirlooms or carefully curated collections. But storing these delicate items can be a daunting task. Let’s change that! Discover creative and efficient dish storage ideas that will transform your kitchen into a stunning display space for your beloved vintage pieces. Learn creative storage ideas to help keep your collections organized and easy to find. Even if you are not an avid collector, you will benefits from these organization and storage ideas.
I’m always asked, “Where do you store all your thrift store finds?” So, I thought I’d take you behind the scenes and show you how I keep all my vintage and thrifted tableware and dishes easily accessible and organized.
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Thrifting with the Gals
Today’s post is part of our monthly series, Thrifting with the Gals.
If you are new to our series, we are friends who share a love for vintage and thrifted decorating.
We all live in different parts of the country, but we come together once a month to share thrift store shopping ideas and tips on decorating with your treasures.
Here are the Gals:
- Ann from Dabbling and Decorating finds her treasures as she travels between Vermont and Maine. She decorates both homes with so many vintage treasures.
- Robyn from Robyn’s French Nest loves to travel and bring her vintage treasure to her lovely Florida Home.
- Lora from Lora Bloomquist Create and Ponder is thrifting and picking up amazing roadside finds to decorate her home in Minnesota.
- I am from North Carolina and love filling my farmhouse and beach cottage with thrift store finds. I focus on budget-friendly decorating and DIY projects.
- This month, our thrifting guest is Heidi at Eleanor Rose Home. She lives in Massachusetts and gets to thrift in the New England area of the East Coast.
How To Store Vintage Tableware
Another problem with collecting vintage tableware is storing your treasures when not in use. I’m not the most organized person, but I do have a method for dish storage, as well as storage for vintage table linens and silverware, that works for me. Let me take you along as I organize and store all my vintage tableware.
Store and Rotate By Season
I’ve previously shared how I organize and identify items in my seasonal bins. However, I rarely store my vintage table linens, silverware, and dishes in those types of totes. I prefer to keep them in cabinets and chests for safekeeping.
I organize by the season. Many of my pieces are appropriate for tablescapes year-round, but some lend themselves to certain times of the year. I tend to keep my year-round collections more visible, but seasonal items get pushed to the back of the cabinets.
First, have a designated area where you store each season. Because of excess storage space, I store my Christmas dishes and tableware in our loft bar cabinet. Since it’s rarely used, it’s ideal for storing them. Once Christmas decorating begins, these items are removed and brought downstairs for the holidays, freeing up the bar space for our annual Christmas party.
Everything from Christmas dishes to glassware find a home here until the next year rolls around.
Kitchen Cabinet Storage Solutions
One of the best dish storage solutions is your kitchen cabinets if you can find the space. If you are like me, you have deep lower cabinets for storing items that are seldom used. This is the perfect spot to store your vintage dishes and tableware. Even if you need the space at the front of these cabinets to store your regularly used items, the space in the back is a safe spot to keep your valuable items from being damaged. In addition, you can stack them as high as possible because you will not be pulling them out daily.
Another thing that I did was install a handy pull-out drawer to have better access to the stored dishes and glassware. You can install the drawer in minutes without any tools. However, it comes with screws if you want to attach it permanently to your cabinet bottom.
There are many options for cabinet and drawer organization, and I’ll share more at the end.
You will not remember what you have stored in the back of deep cabinets. Therefore, I suggest using a system like scan tote to quickly identify the contents. Just purchase the QR codes and download the app to your phone. As you store your items, scan the code and take photos of everything you are storing in that space. Finally, attach the QR code to the inside door. Then when you are looking for an item, open you app, scan the code, and you can easily identify everything that’s inside the cabinet.
I used a QR code for each shelf, which made the process even easier. You can see what the images look like below. Click here to order Scan Tote QR labels.
Add Protective Dividers
I also suggest adding protective dividers between your fragile dishes. You can stack your seldom-used dishes to occupy as little space as possible. However, be careful with delicate china and antique plates. I used cardboard for my most valuable pieces and paper towels for my less fragile dishes.
Silverware Storage
Vintage silverware collections will take up a lot of drawer space if not organized. When we built our kitchen island, we used an old sideboard. Therefore, the top drawers have built-in silverware dividers. The next drawer was wide open and it was a mess. I purchased 2 sets of these drawer organizers and was able to store double the amount of tableware. I now had space for all my napkin rings and overflow of silverware in one spot.
Unused Chest and Cabinet Storage
Not all storage solutions require a trip to the store. Look for unused drawer and cabinet space throughout your home. The entry table is actually an old dresser that I painted and repurposed. It has two bottom drawers dedicated to holding table linens.
If you don’t have an unused chest or dresser, consider adding one to your decor. You can usually find old dressers for cheap at thrift stores. They are easy to update and work with your decor. Space permitting, you can tuck it out of sight in a closet or pantry area.
Insider Tip
Another great tip is to fold your linens so that you can see the fabric when you open the drawer. It’s no fun to pull everything out of the drawer to find the item you are looking for at the bottom of a stack. It would help if you folded napkins smoothly to help prevent wrinkles. As seen in the above photo, slipping out the set needed is easy.
Candlestick holders take up a lot of storage space. Therefore, I stack them in our vintage metal ice chest when they are not in use. It seals easily, and they are easily accessed when needed.
Store In Plain Sight
You don’t want to hide your beautifully curated collections of tableware. My favorite way to store vintage dishes is in plain sight. Here are some ways to display your treasured tableware finds and enjoy them daily.
Cupboards and Hutch
Obviously, if you have a hutch or cupboard, they are the perfect solution for dish storage. I stack dishes and use dividers to hold them upright. Two chicken feeders perfectly display my small dessert and decorative dishes.
You can change your cabinets seasonally by pulling from your hidden storage areas. Easily rotate your dishes so that every piece has its place.
Open Shelving
Use your open shelves for decorative dishes or for easy access to your everyday plates and cups.
Wall Displays
You can create wall displays of vintage dishes, a charming dish storage solution. I recently added a hanging plate wall in my dining room, and I love it. You can quickly replace a plate by slipping the wire hanger over another one when one of the wall plates is needed elsewhere.
Dish storage doesn’t have to be in the kitchen or dining room. I use vintage plates and platters to decorate all around the farmhouse.
Over Cabinets
The laundry cabinet does double duty for storing out-of-season decor and vintage dishes. Any place that will hold and protect your dinnerware collections will be excellent for dish storage.
Another great use of space is baskets, bowls, and containers to store out-of-season tableware. The large basket and bowl above the dining room cabinet hold less fragile tableware items. The silver goblets add a reflective shine to the vintage bowl. At the same time, folded linens are tucked into the bottom of the large basket for safe keeping.
In Conclusion
I hope today’s article helps solve some of your storage dilemmas. We don’t have many kitchen cabinets, but when there’s a will, there’s a way. I love all my treasures, and although space is limited, I can quickly find the items I’m searching for. Please let me know if you have other ideas for storage, and I’ll update my post to include your ideas. Thank you for following along.
Resources
Click here for dish storage and tableware storage solutions.
More Thrifting With The Gals
For more inspiration from Thrifting with the Gals, click below to see what everyone has been up to this month.
Heidi – DIY Candy Jar / Robyn – Fall Dough Bowl Decor in 3 Easy Styles
Lora – Recent Thrifted Finds / Ann – How To Create A Stunning Fall Tablescape
