I keep mine in individual baskets on separate shelves. I also have squash and yams/sweet potatoes in baskets. The potatoes are covered with a light weight cotton towel to prevent turning green from exposure to light.

Vintage wicker baskets on floor in corner of walk-in pantry.

I have baskets that reside inside cabinets.... separate cabinets for the potatoes and onions/garlic since keeping them in the same air space speeds their decay/sprouting (can't remember the exact scientific reason!)

I am hoping to build a small root cellar in my basement this year, since I hope to have a big crop of storage vegetables from my garden. If that happens I will store most things there, just keeping out a week's worth in the pantry.

I keep mine in the walk-in pantry. I love those canister, Jeannie.

Potatoes in baskets on a lower shelf in the pantry which is dark. Garlic and onions in small wire baskets in a cabinet with oil, vinegar, etc.

I have a large wood thingie carved from one piece of wood that I keep on the counter and fill it with potatoes, unions garlic and apples. It makes a nice display especially with the apples. My kids eat so many apples that it's okay to leave them out. They get eaten before they go bad.

I only store potatoes (white & yams). They're on a shelf in my pantry in "color-coded" Rubbermaid dishpans--the same dishpans I used for doing dishes in our Temporary Kitchen! (White for white potatoes & red for yams.)

I was going to buy "pretty" baskets, but when I used the dishpans temporarily I realized that other than "looks" there was no reason not to use them permanently (also, money was tight right after the remodel...)

Pull-out bin drawer next to the fridge:

Garlic in a little bowl in a drawer where I work. Bag onions and potatoes in separate pantry cupboards in rectangular plastic buckets that fit nicely and go in the dishwasher. Small purchases of quickly used special-type veggies in a bowl on my island, like Chihuahia, for the nice display.

I have been storing my onions and potatoes together for years in the same shelf of my pantry cabinet. I can't say whether they made the potatoes spoil any quicker or not. Some seem to spoil fast, and others lasted for months. But, I also don't have potatoes around much more than 3-4 times a year, I just don't cook potatoes that often.

In the new kitchen, I was going to store them in a drawer in my buffet area.

I never stored garlic in the same place, I had it in a uncovered container in my cabinet between sink and stove.

We have ours in separate baskets in the walk-in pantry. I love those canisters, but they'd never hold anywhere near enough onions and, particularly, potatoes for us! :-)

Those canisters are beautiful. We store the onions and garlic in a wicker basket inside a cabinet, and the potatoes in a paper sack in the fridge (no aircon in SoCal, so they spoil really fast otherwise).

The canisters hold a shocking amount of potatoes and onions. And I would probably never keep as much garlic as the garlic one holds for anything length of time. They are quite large. I easily fit a five pound bag of potatoes, with room to spare, and a big bag of onions, also with room to spare. If you keep lots more than that, then no it would probably not fit, but I don't usually keep much more than that at a time, and if I do, then it would be short term in anticipation of a particular event, and I'd just keep them in the basket I was using before. I was finding that my potatoes were just not lasting as long as I liked in the basket, and the onions and potatoes seemed kind of smelly, so I got the canisters. The reviews on the Chef's Catalog site were great, and people claimed their potatoes and onions stayed fresh so much longer, so I thought I'd give it a try. Plus, they are so purty.

Thanks everyone for your replies. They are a huge help. Just signed the contract this morning and finalized the plans and now that I see so many great options for my veg., I have no worries. I love Jeannie's canisters, too so, if I don't find a good storage place after the kitchen is finished, I'll order them.

Jeannie, would you describe them as bright white or something softer/creamier?

They are creamy white, not bright white. The catalogue also has bright white, metal canisters for potatoes, onions and garlic, that look sort of like pails.

ok, I just learned something new....am I supposed to keep onions, potatoes and garlic at room temp? I have always put them in the fridge. Please educate me on this :)

lovetoshop, in the summer I often keep onions and potatoes I won't be using within a week in the fridge, otherwise they go bad. I always keep the fresh garlic in a small crock near the cutting board. Onions and potatoes in a basket on my island.

Thanks, Jeannie. Creamy white is good! --What I was hoping for.

Potatoes and onions are not supposed to be stored together. They will produce gases that cause them to spoil both. Potatoes in the fridge will become too sweet.

There was a discussion on snopes.com (the urban myth debunking website) about whether the advice to not store onions and potatoes together is an old wive's tale. They linked to a horticultural website that states: "There is absolutely no truth to the story that potatoes and onions should not be stored together because one makes the other sprout. The truth is, they have different storage temperature requirements. The optimal storage temperature for potatoes is 40 degrees, the temperature at which onions sprout."

So, according to them, potatoes should not be stored at room temperature after all. It also means I should get my extra onions out of the fridge.

Here is a link that might be useful: Scroll down to last paragraph

Here's a definitive answer about storing potatoes from the National Potato Council. No mention of the onion issue, however.

How should potatoes be stored?
They should be stored in a cool, dry environment with good ventilation. Paper bags, cardboard boxes, and pantries are good places to store them. An ideal temperature for storage would be between 45 and 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Avoid storing them in plastic bags or in refrigerators and make sure the environment is not too warm.

I guess it's a toss-up between having my potatoes go bad quickly in the summer or tasting too sweet ...

Thanks very much for the info, Guys. I'm normally very big on researching the things I'm told, but lazily on this one, and knowing it was far from definitive, some time ago I accepted a bag of my potatoes stored with onions going bad fast as a "probably true" and never looked farther. Whack-head for being a fool.

When we lived in Pennsylvania I kept my potatoes and onions wicker baskets on my counter. We have lived in Florida for 25 years and I've always done the same thing here. First, I'm an out of sight/out of mind sort of person and if I had either in a pantry, cabinet or refrigerator I would forget they were there. Second, I like the look of potatoes, onions and garlic and don't want to hide them. Sometimes I store them together, sometimes apart and it has never made any difference---whether in PA or FL---in how long they last, their flavor, or appearance. HTH.

Jeannie those canisters are gorgeous! I'm so impressed that I just ordered the set. I used to keep my onions and potatoes and garlic in our walk in pantry. But we knocked down the pantry (to make room for a soapstone wood stove) and those canisters will be their new home. I love GW! Thanks so much for sharing that photo and info.

Goodness, isn't that what refrigerators are for?

I've kept potatoes and onions in the fridge for more than 20 years (not the same ones, of course) and never had a problem.

I can imagine the one time a potato goes bad in one of those drawers, you'll want to replace the whole cabinet.

In deep south Florida, I don't keep any food out on the counter or in pantries, we'd have iguanas and crocodiles breaking in, not to mention ants, flies, beetles, possibly monkeys.

But then, I keep even opened cereal and crackers in the fridge. I've never seen an ant in there.

One of the advantages of northern climates I guess is more food storage possibilites. On the other hand, we go sailing on Christmas and Thanksgiving, and deep fry the turkey out on the dock.

we have the pull out baskets in the island. I love how handy it is since this is my prep area. I don't find an issue with the items going bad, but I also seem to go through a lot of onions, garlic and potatoes!

I store my onions and potatoes in baskets right on my counter, in the corner where they look nice but are out of the way. I use the cube baskets from IKEA in different sizes.

Here is a link that might be useful: IKEA baskets

Shipshape -- you remind me of friends in New Zealand, who put bread in tupperware so it won't rot, not so it won't dry out. "Going bad" up here in Maine means drying out and shrivelling up, or sprouting slowly. No odors to worry about. :) Although I kind of wish we had a few more monkeys.

Where can I find these garlic, onion & potato canisters?? I love the ivory!