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Aug 11, 2023

The 3 Things Everyone Should Have Under the Kitchen Sink

By Emily Farris All products featured on Epicurious are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Welcome to

By Emily Farris

All products featured on Epicurious are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Welcome to Clean Enough, a new kind of cleaning column for busy home cooks who have better things to do than scrub and sanitize around the clock. Every other week neurodivergent writer and mom Emily Farris shares tips, tools, and products that can help you stay on top of the dirtiest spots in the kitchen while also dispelling a few cleaning myths and cutting down on clutter.

What actually belongs in the cabinet below the kitchen sink? If you would have asked me that a couple of months ago, my answer might have been, “Whatever.” Or maybe, “Anything you need to cram under there when you’re in a hurry.” Which is why I had completely missed the fact that one of the pipes under my own sink had been slowly dripping for I don’t even know how long.

By the time I discovered the problem—after removing no fewer than seven empty hand soap dispensers, five nearly full bottles of dish liquid I didn’t like, Magic Eraser stubs that weren’t worth keeping, four sink stoppers, and a flathead screwdriver I’d been trying to find for years—the left side of the cabinet base was damaged beyond repair. The particleboard was damp and swollen, yet severely sunken in, and I wondered how I’d missed the musty smell that was suddenly wafting into my kitchen. The area had clearly been wet for a while, but to my surprise, there wasn’t any scary mold (a rare benefit of living in a poorly sealed 107-year-old house, I guess).

As I waited on the repairs, I decluttered what I’d been keeping in my dank little kitchen dungeon.

I gathered all my tools and put most of them where they actually belong, tossed crusty old sponges and scrubbies I’d been saving for dirty jobs (new ones would work even better, anyway), and gave away all of the unloved solutions and soap dispensers in my Buy Nothing group. Next I consolidated the multiple bottles of cleaning vinegar I apparently kept buying because I couldn’t really see how many I had, and disposed of any products I hadn’t touched in at least five years (including the stainless steel appliance spray I no longer need thanks to my favorite microfiber cloth).

My under-the-sink stash was reduced by at least half! But when I went to put my pared-down supplies back on a new, dry base under a pipe that was no longer leaking, the whole thing still felt cramped because it had no functional storage—good for accessible plumbing, bad for an organized sink cabinet.

So I did what I always do in these situations: started shopping online for a fix. I ended up with three products that completely transformed the space under my sink, including one that should be standard under every kitchen sink.

Lower cabinets don’t get as much light as upper cabinets, and under-sink cabinets, in general, are just too dark to be very functional. You need to be able to see what’s going on so you don’t miss a leak or spill—and so you can keep an eye on how many dishwasher pods you have left. While I would love one of those integrated lights that comes on automatically when I open the door, I settled for battery-operated puck lights that only need a little tap to turn on and off. These come in a two-pack, and I put one on each side of the cabinet and it’s kind of a whole new world down there.

Even with supplemental lighting, an under-sink cabinet just isn’t a very functional space given the pipes and sink bottom looming over everything. No matter what you store under there, some sort of roll-out rack that won’t interfere with your plumbing can make it much easier to access what you need, whether it’s cleaning spray or your trash can.

The most important thing I ordered for the area under my sink was more of an afterthought. In fact, Amazon might have even suggested it to me in the “customers also bought” section. It was a silicone under-sink liner with a lip to help contain any future leaks.

Under-sink liner mats are available in common cabinet sizes and unlike hard plastic drip trays, they’re super flexible so they’re easy to get in and out around plumbing. If you have any pipes that go into the floor, you can even use scissors to cut holes then reseal the mat with waterproof tape.

When my new gear arrived, I put everything back under the sink a second time, and with an organizer to fill, I was even more selective about what got to stay. For now, the space under my sink looks great; it’s easy to see what I have and to find what I need right away. But I know myself well enough to know that at some point (probably when I’m in a hurry to wrap up a spontaneous home improvement project) I’ll likely revert to my old ways of stashing random stuff under the sink. The good news is that even if the cabinet eventually returns to its chaotic state and I manage to miss another leak, at least I won’t have to worry about the floor caving in again.