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oldbat2be

Please show me your coffee/tea cup storage

oldbat2be
9 years ago

I picked up this cute little set of Villeroy & Boch small coffee cups at a rummage sale for $5 recently (score!) and need to figure out how to store them (other than out on the countertop).

In my old kitchen, I had a pull out rack which mounted to the underside of a lower shelf. This might be fine but I have no idea where I bought it and am wondering if there are better ideas.

I will store them in this cabinet, which needs to be organized and which is primarily used to keep a few vases handy, for 'to go' smoothie cups and overflow plate storage. Anything in here can probably go else where. One last note that I have about 17" to work with, inner depth wise.

It's at the end of a run (near the coffee prep area). I can easily reach items on the left side, but the right side is a stretch. Any ideas, suggestions and/or photos of what you have in place would be appreciated.

Comments (10)

  • amck2
    9 years ago

    oldbat2be, you scored an incredible deal on those VB mugs! And it looks like you got some matching plates, too.

    I chose that pattern for our lake house for its look as well as the feel and durability. Getting an 8 pc. place setting was an investment and I collected them a couple pieces over time.

    Newell Turner, the current editor of House Beautiful, has this set in his weekend home. I spied them displayed on open shelves when he did a series of articles on the building of his cottage, Twilight Farm, a few years ago.

    Eleven of those mugs for $5! Unbelievable find! Enjoy!!

  • lascatx
    9 years ago

    I love the finish and feel of V&B. I would have snapped them up too. Enjoy them!

    I have my coffee cups in open shelves above our espresso maker ad the espresso cups on the top of the machine. I remembered seeing upside down cups or mugs in restaurants and between that and having the espresso cups out to be warmed when the machine is on, I just decided to go for a casual diner/breakfast bar approach in my breakfast room. Works for us.

  • annkh_nd
    9 years ago

    I keep glasses and coffee mugs in an upper cabinet next to the sink. I had the cabinet maker put extra shelves there, so I could add shelf space and not have to stack anything.

    Are your shelves adjustable? An extra shelf in the middle (like your wire rack one in the back, but full depth) would work.

    They are lovely mugs!

  • plllog
    9 years ago

    Mine wouldn't work for you. I have a whole wall of 6" deep cabinets for stemware, glasses and mugs. :)

    I found a newer version of the old sliding teacup holder. (I had the original kind in my toy cabinet for hanging dollclothes!)

    http://www.organizeit.com/mounted-sliding-cup-storage-rack.asp

  • oldbat2be
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    amck - I smilled all day yesterday after I saw your post, thanks!! For some reason, I never thought of looking up these cups but now I see that I can easily supplement the one missing cup and have a full set of 12 cups and saucers. I like them because of the fun shape and cheerful pattern - love hearing you have been collecting these and watching them in the press!!

    lascatx - Thanks, what you say, makes sense, but I have only a KA coffee maker and little nespresso, so no where to store cups.

    annkh - yes, shelves are definitely adjustable. However, being deep, I think I need a pull out solution too.

    Thanks Pillog! That's what I'm thinking about - but maybe more slender handles or maybe more James Bonds'y (you never know). Must say that what I had before, worked very well. I have to ask now - pictures PLEASE - toy cabinet and hanging doll clothes?!! I still keep the 4 story stacking doll house (with wooden furniture and roof) which I had as a kid in the attic and am still very interested

  • plllog
    9 years ago

    I'm sorry, I don't have pictures. The freestanding cabinet started with diapers when we were small, and when I was about four my father painted it pink for me to put my abundance of dolly clothes in (my big baby doll wore my old baby clothes). It had a marble patterned laminate top with a corrugated aluminum edge that overhung the sides of the cabinet by about five inches all around. It wasn't a changing station. Just a cupboard, probably two feet, square with one shelf in it. My father either made it or repurposed it, and the top was half a table top or something that he cut in half. The other half became a table in my brother's room.

    My father screwed the cup holder pull out, to the underside of the top for hanging Tammy clothes. She was the Ideal company's college girl doll before Barbie the fashion model hit it big. It was great in theory, but the little plastic hangers were too lightweight, and they'd fall off when it was pulled out.

    It was very much like this one that's currently on eBay, but I remember the hooks being rounder. I don't know how James Bond it is, but it's retro and looks clean. :)

    When I was a preteen and got a desk, the cabinet got painted blue (traditional parents?) and was the base for my brother's photo enlarger in his bathroom which he turned into a darkroom. (Between the smell of teenage boy and photo chemicals, no one else ever went in there!) I think it spent some time in between under my father's bandsaw. His drill press is on the wood shell of an old Muntz TV. :) My brother still has both the cabinet and the table, but I think the cupholder/wardrobe rack is long gone.

  • laughablemoments
    9 years ago

    My mugs are in an upper cabinet, although if we were staying here, I'd have loved to put up shaker pegs to hang them under the upper.

    A dear friend has a beautiful wooden box tray next to her coffee maker with her mugs in it, as well as a ceramic vessel with spoons for stirring. Lovely. : )

  • cookncarpenter
    9 years ago

    Cuphooks can help almost double your storage....

  • AnnaA
    9 years ago

    ob2b, what a coincidence. I'm visiting a friend in Marietta, GA and today we went rummaging at a local Goodwill-like store... Renew? Restore??... a 2nd hand-Goodwill-like store - in Marietta - sponsored by local churches, I think. They had an entire table filled with that pattern, place setting for... maybe 8 - dinner plate, salad plate, coffee cups, etc. Every accessory under the sun from vegetable serving bowls, rectangular casserole, teapot... more I can't remember. All for $200. I was shocked. I was thinking of buying it just to see if it might make a gift for someone some day as I surely do not need more dishes. I'm trying to remember the name in case someone wants to call them, buy it, and have it shipped. I'll get the name from my friend in case anyone is interested.

  • michellemarie
    9 years ago

    I wish I had designed my hutch with shelves instead of the cabinets with doors, but it still looks pretty.