Our kitchen has a lot of pleasing features, but right up near the top are the two appliance garages. One of them holds our toaster, air fryer, and seldom-used Ninja Creami. The other has been serving as a junk repository for the past three years.
Until now.
I’d originally designated “clean the appliance garage” as a chore Carla could take on to make extra money. However, Carla lacks both the time and the motivation to tackle such a task, and it continued to irritate me on a daily basis. So I tackled it.
I started by getting rid of: random boxes no longer holding their original contents, old school papers, old receipts, expired coupons, broken crayons, and an empty tape roll.
Then I relocated: an old laptop, several cords with no discernible purpose, recipes, sparkly ribbon, the handle to the ice roller I use for my feet, and a mini humidifier I no longer use.
It took an hour, maybe two.
And now look at the garage!!!
It still holds an assortment of useful things: rubber bands, permanent markers, a variety of tapes, a box cutter, notepads, tape measures, the remaining pair of scissors from what I swear was originally a three pack, coupons, a giant bottle of Purell with which my husband and I refill our smaller car bottles of Purell, spiral cat toys, our Bug Guy.
It also still retains some echoes of its previous contents, storing what I might call “valuable junk”: business cards I will possibly only review the next time I tidy this cupboard, a box FULL of pencils, a baggie full of the things that one sometimes finds and cannot identify, a timer I use maybe three times a year, and some wooden dividers that belong to our flatware drawer but have no place in the current configuration of said drawer.
The purpose of this particular appliance garage, beyond providing room and board to the aforementioned household detritus, is to serve as a home for my child’s laptop, iPad, and Switch. Aside from Very Specific Exceptions, I do not allow her to use those devices in her room, and I expect them to live in the garage when they are not expressly in use.
Right now, they sit in a little heap. This works just fine, but I kind of want them to have their own storage space. Partly because I like things to Look Organized, and partly because I have a vague unfounded worry that it isn’t good for their longevity, to sit on top of one another all the time.
If you search for “device storage,” you will find things like this. And this is FINE. But I want something that orients the devices horizontally rather than vertically. Why? Nobody knows. I just do.
Such a thing is surprisingly difficult to find. It dawned on me that I don’t need something specific for devices; we already have a way to plug each device in, and there are only three of them, so I can’t imagine the cords getting terribly tangled. I realized that what I was envisioning was really one of those filing stands that people put on their desks to sort ingoing and outgoing mail.
Less difficult to find, but surprisingly expensive.
This one is okay, but it seems overly expensive for what it is. I also sort of worry that it might tip forward with the weight of the laptop?
This one is cheap, but it’s also quite boring, and its sturdiness is questionable. I suppose a device shelf that lives inside a cupboard doesn’t have to be nice looking.
In terms of utilitarian sturdiness, this one gets high marks, but it is definitely too expensive for what it is.
I like this one, and I don’t think it would tip over at all. But it’s a little bulky for something that will live inside a cupboard.
Suffice it to say, I have not purchased any sort of device holder. YET.
Sometimes I charge Lenny’s robot ball (which is technically part of this toy) in the garage, which gives him extra justification for checking things out.
Some questions for you:
- Do you have a storage garage in your house? If so, what does it store?
- Where do you/your family members keep devices when they aren’t in use?
- How long until this tidy space devolves into squalor once more?
I’ve never had a storage garage but now that I know it is a thing, I want one. Especially if it can store cute kitties. Lenny is the key for how long the garage stays tidy. If he’s coming by to check on his ball then there will at least be a Lenny sized space that stays free of clutter.
In my new solo living life my everyday laptop lives on a coffee table in the back room, and my “media” laptop either lives attached to the TV or in the office on a docking station. Back in the full family days you could usually find a laptop or two scattered around the house.
You know, as I was looking at the kitty in the garage, I was thinking that there’s not really room for him AND a device holder. And who’s REALLY important here? I think we both know the answer.
Suzanne. SUZANNE. I have. Never. Heard of a storage garage in a kitchen before. I’ve never seen one and I’ve never heard of one referred to as such. I am just sitting here in awe at the wondrousness of life. This is a thing that exists! I kind of wish I had a storage garage. I just. Didn’t know this life was available. This is a true peek into the other side. I feel like I have been shown the keys to the organization kingdom. I don’t even know if I can answer your discussion questions because I feel absolutely astonished that such beauties are available to us in this world. A storage garage!!!
Okay. Breathe.
I keep my laptop and charger in a drawer in the kitchen that also holds my Kobos and an ancient iPad. Jake has a laptop that is on a desk in his room, and I assume Mark has the same in his apartment, but when we were in Calgary…what did they do? I think they lived on a bookshelf in their rooms back then. We have charging stations in our living room and that’s where my phone lives at night, and Jake’s as well. I believe Mark uses his as an alarm, but when he lived with us and was young, it would go in the charging station as well. Rob, weirdly, turns his phone off and leaves it in our ensuite. He likes to look at it in bed in the morning, though, so that is an explanation.
A DEVICE GARAGE. I cannot get over this.
Right?! Like, who had the magnificent idea to take up counter space with an extra cupboard and call it a GARAGE??? Same mess on the counters, but hidden behind a DOOR. Genius.
I really really wish that my husband and I could hop on the “no devices in the bedroom” bandwagon. We both use our phones as our alarms, and my husband, alas, has to be available for patient calls, so I think it is a no-go. At least for him. And I am ADDICTED, Nicole, so without him doing it, I am stuck. (I have no willpower.)
The term “device garage” (and storage garage) — both are new to me, though in my car garage there is storage of things like the lawn mower, flower pots, and other things that don’t belong in the house. I don’t have a lot of kitchen devices. The blender is in the basement, no food processor. There’s a rice cooker I never use stashed in a closet somewhere. My laptop lives on my desk where I just plug in to charge. The toaster is out all the time, and so is the electric kettle because they are used all the time. It’s never neat, because I’m not that much! But we try!
My electric kettle lives on the counter, too, because I use it daily. It sits next to my husband’s coffee maker and coffee grinder. I guess there aren’t any other appliances that I use that regularly!
No device garage – but yours looks dreamy! I have a charging station – my husband installed outlets with regular plugs and multiple USB charging slots on a section of kitchen counter. I do have a filing stand there as well, so my Kindle, tablet, and other small devices can slip in a slot out of the way. (There’s a ton of paper, a calendar, and some random coupons I probably won’t use in the slots). Other phones can be charged there as well. My kids’ phones live in their rooms, and they have chargers there. I also have a side table in the dining room where the school laptops, AAC device, and my laptop charge. (It’s called the telephone table, because we used to have the landline there – had to move it once certain children started messing with it too much.) Switches live near the TV, with some other random electronics.
My husband leaves his laptops on the bedside table, on the side table in the living room, a pile of them on my desk… He has an electronic addiction. His phone which he never answers charges with mine in the kitchen,
I am intrigued by your filing stand! Is it one of those paper tray things you see in offices? Or specifically for devices?
We have a basket on our main room bookshelf where the kids all dock their phones from 9pm-8am, and Ben has a covered box that fits his computers and devices. We both plug our phones on overnight in our bathroom. Otherwise sh*t is bananas over here.
Yes! Bananas! I am guilty of being part of the excess device use brigade and I NEED a place to stow my devices so I don’t look at them.
I have a charging station that is just one outlet in our kitchen. It’s where I charge the dog’s LED collar, my heated vest battery, my handwarmers, etc. Our laptops are charged on various desks and my cell phone is charged in our bedroom (across the room from the bed) because it’s our primary alarm clock and my husband’s is charged in our office.
In terms of the toaster, air fryer, and Ninja Creami, we only own one of those things and it lives in a cupboard above the dishwasher. The only small appliance that doesn’t live in a cupboard is my KitchenAid mixer and the only reason it doesn’t is because it doesn’t fit in our kitchen cabinets and it destroys my soul that it takes up horizontal space in our kitchen.
I haaaate things that take up valuable counter real estate. Also, and I realize I am probably in the minority here, I haaaaaaaate things on my counters. My counters should be completely empty. This is impossible, of course, but I try.
The pictures are not coming through for me, but no one else is saying that, so I am assuming it is a Problem On My End—but I mention it in case anyone else is thinking of doing what I was thinking of doing, which is to not say anything because I don’t expect you to fix it, and saying something makes it seem like I expect you to fix it. I tried opening the post in two different browsers (Firefox and Chrome); Chrome shows me a little broken-image icon for each picture, Firefox shows a blank rectangle for each picture. I tried turning off ad-blocker, and all that happened is that a bunch of ads popped up.
YIKES that is so annoying. Thank you for saying something, because who KNOWS and also I am 100% still figuring things out with this new site. Would you please let me know if you continue to have an issue?
(I have ZERO idea how to fix anything, so asked the WordPress Support Assistant for help. It claims it can see the images loading just fine on its end [how does an AI “see”?] which seems to indicate it might be something to do with your device or network. The Support Assistant suggested:
– Clear the browser cache then reload the page
– Try opening the post in a private/incognito window to rule out cached broken data
– Check if the network or ISP is blocking image CDN requests — sometimes corporate or school networks do this)
(I *hate* when things want me to clear my cache, because that’s where I store a bunch of important cookies thankyouverymuch, so I do not expect you to do that and I have no idea how to do option #3.)
Thank you again for mentioning the issue. I hope it resolves. (Why can’t things just WORK.)
I want this in my kitchen (there is no space for it, but a woman can dream).
Does it have a door that goes up and down like a standard garage door? If so, I desire it even more.
I laughed out loud at the cat in the appliance garage.
We do not have a storage garage in our kitchen. We do have a bank of six deep drawers near the mudroom – when you enter the kitchen. Each kid has a drawer. As the older kids moved out, Kay and Rae inherited a drawer. We added a power strip in each drawer, beliving when we first redid the kitchen that we’d have the kids store their phones there. Bah ha ha. The kids use their phones as their alarms. Kay and Rae don’t have phones yet, so it’s not really an issue anymore. Our kids didn’t get phones till high school, but still – I wish we’d stuck to our rules and continued to insist No Phones Upstairs. Then schools gave them all computers and everyone did homework in their rooms, etc. And I think that was when our feeble efforts to keep devices our of rooms failed. When we redid our kitchen, the buffet area orignally was designed to have folding cabinet doors – so I could hide all the clutter. The doors didn’t work. They wouldn’t/couldn’t be flush when opened fully, so we removed them.
What a truly satisfying task that is. I love when it only takes a couple hours for such a great result. I saw an appliance garage many years ago when viewing a friend’s beautiful new kitchen. Alas there isn’t room in my kitchen for one so my large appliances (food processor, stand mixer & food processor) live on the bottom shelf of our pantry. Alas no room for the toaster so it’s on the counter. My husband and I both have home offices so our laptops stay there and my office charges overnight in the office. I use my Apple Watch if I need an alarm.
Storage garages – like lazy susans and kitchen sink spray hoses – delight some immature part of me endlessly. We had one in my home growing up after we got our kitchen done and I loved it. We do not have one now, which is utter bullshit. I agree with you that the holder should orient the things horizontally – it would just look neater that way.
I recently had a similar experience – a job that had taken me months to get to took an embarrassingly short time to complete – and it is funny how this is both gratifying and enraging.
I have never heard of this!!! Obviously that means I don’t have one. Older Florida houses were built without a lot of thought for storage, unfortunately.
I love a good before and after photo. I also like the description of things you got rid of.
We all have our specific locations for charging our devices. Angie keeps hers in her room, because I have apparently Given Up On Parenting. Well, she is almost 18…
I love the before and after photos, and of course, the Lenny photo! I do not have a storage garage. It looks like a wonderful thing! My husband and I have side tables by our living room chairs that have charging stations, and that’s where our devices live. But I’ll tell you that MY side table has SO much stuff on it, it drives me nuts! I need a good organizer for it. I’ve tried a few, but none have been quite right.