Sometimes its the simplest things that make a big difference to your sanity whilst living aboard.
For me, chopping boards were a contentious issue for a long time... store them at the back of the cupboard and they are a nightmare to retrieve in a moment of need, store them on the countertop and they are just plain in the way!
I like clear worktops and on a yacht, which I hope one day will be a yacht that regularly goes places, you need a secure home for everything. It took a while to think up this solution, the obvious isn't always easy to see and in this particular area we had a few other items mounted on the wall - a mug rack and a utensil rack which we just weren't sure whether we'd use or not. We delayed removing them for a while, but now I'm so glad we did.
One day in a moment of staring at the chaos it came to me:
For me, chopping boards were a contentious issue for a long time... store them at the back of the cupboard and they are a nightmare to retrieve in a moment of need, store them on the countertop and they are just plain in the way!
I like clear worktops and on a yacht, which I hope one day will be a yacht that regularly goes places, you need a secure home for everything. It took a while to think up this solution, the obvious isn't always easy to see and in this particular area we had a few other items mounted on the wall - a mug rack and a utensil rack which we just weren't sure whether we'd use or not. We delayed removing them for a while, but now I'm so glad we did.
One day in a moment of staring at the chaos it came to me:
This wall mounted solution stores all of our chopping boards and sink covers (I'll come to that in a minute) and keeps them secure. Another great solution around the sink are wire baskets around the sink, for washing up liquid, sponges and all the other bits which live around the sink. We got these baskets in IKEA. Now we have two mounted in that space next to each other. The sliding doors on the cupboard behind mean we have no opening doors to consider and that helps to maximise the use of space.
Another set of handy items you'll see in the photo above are the baskets within the sinks - on the left there's a standard washing up bowl, but in the centre and right hand sinks there are baskets. I use these to store the dishes before washing up (keeps the counter clear and easily lifted out if the sink needs using) and to drain the dishes in (again easy to lift out the whole lot if you need to get to the sink).
So, sink covers... the chopping board you can see stored in the picture above also doubles as a sink cover, see below, instantly we have double the kitchen work surface available!
One last great space saving idea which we've added to the galley is a fruit net, previously we had a fruit bowl but it just got in the way. The fruit net means the fruit is still visible (so it doesn't rot at the back of cupboard), its easily reachable, but most importantly is out of the way and hopefully they'll be no flying bananas whilst we're underway.
There's still a long way to go to find a home for everything, but we're getting there, slowly.