Ugh. We have such a small house that this is an issue for us as well. When we bought this place, we had no place for things like this. The kitchen is far too small.

So my dad and I built a hutch for the dining room. The top has glass doors, so we display the crystal and china in that section, and the lower portion has deeper cabinets that I use to pile up all of my other things like trays, serving dishes, etc. But it is overstuffed and I have to take out like 10 things to get to the one I need. But at least we have a place for things.

The stuff that I use really infrequently and don't have room for in the hutch I keep in the basement. We built a closet over the sump pump down there because it was wasted space anyway, and put shelves in there, so I keep some stuff like that on the upper shelves. (the rest I use as a pantry)

This is one of the MAJOR things I am insisting on as we start making plans for our new house (still a LONG way off, but we are starting to talk about layout and all that). I want a large walk in pantry off the kitchen that has space devoted to storing all of these items so that they are out of the way but easily accessible. If we can make that happen, it will be a dream come true for me!!!!

I keep them in cabinets in the basement. Which is a pita because I have to go get them, wash them, use them, wash them, restack them to put them away. It's not effecient, but i'm trying to get better at just being thankful we have somewhere anyways. My entertainment dishware is an absolute mess, though, tbh. I'm pretty sure most of it is still in a laundry basket on a bookcase from the last party I trucked it to. *sigh* So, I'll be watching this thread!

Lizzy wrote:

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I super love this - but not sure how practical it is, ie. mine would not be this neat ;)

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 I think it looks fantastic but being the practical person I am, I don't know that I would opt for it because it's all open.  That means that everything in there is an open target for fur, dust, flying insects, bouncing balls, etc.  But then again I KNOW I could not keep it that neat either and I don't have anywhere I could do that, so maybe I am not the best judge.

Some people use those inexpensive bookshelves and then put doors on the front.  If you left a couple shelves open on the top for the more decorative things, you could store the rest behind the doors.  Something like this

http://ana-white.com/2010/03/plans-not-just-the-doors-how-about-the-whole-armoire-the-favorite-bookcase-with-doors.html

We do, Corey. And crystal too.

We had 8 place settings from my mom and dad (it is Lenox-I forget the name, just bone china with a platinum band), so we just registered for 4 additional plus some serving pieces.

I have wanted to sell the crystal for ages now, but Bill says no

we NEVER use it-not even for just us

we do use the china from time to time, but that is rare also.

I like to think we will use it more when we have more space to actually have people over, but the crystal??? No way-it is hand wash!!!!!

screw that.

-- Edited by Supafly on Tuesday 26th of July 2011 04:20:53 PM