9 Forgotten Kitchen Features That Were Actually Genius

For the last decade, we've been so focused on making kitchens look sleek, minimal, and open. But in the process, we also stripped away a lot of the features that actually made kitchens incredibly functional. Older kitchens were full of clever ideas that made cooking, cleaning, and storage easier. So today, we're looking at 9 forgotten kitchen features that were actually genius and why it might be time to start bringing them back. The first feature I'd like to talk about is the pantry. One of the problems with many modern kitchens is that food storage ends up completely scattered. Things get split across multiple cabinets, drawers, and cupboards. And before you know it, you're opening half the kitchen just trying to find the flour. It also makes it surprisingly hard to take inventory, which is how you end up buying pasta at the store only to discover three boxes already hiding in the back of a cabinet. Older homes solved this with something much simpler, a dedicated pantry where everything lived in one place. You can quickly see what you have, what you're running low on, and what you actually need to buy. But if you don't have space for a full pantry room, there's a really good small space alternative that is starting to come back. The Larder cabinet, sometimes called a pantry cupboard. This is basically a tall, floor-to-ceiling cabinet designed to act like a mini pantry inside the kitchen. It can be built into your cabinetry or even be a freestanding furniture piece. And the inside is usually fitted with adjustable shelves, door racks, or pull-out baskets so everything stay visible and easy to reach. What makes this so effective is that it keeps all your dry goods in one vertical zone, so everything is right there in front of you. Another kitchen feature that needs to make a comeback is replacing lower cupboards with drawer banks. If you've ever tried to get something out of a standard lower cabinet, you already know the problem. You open the door, crouch down, and then try to reach deep into the back to grab whatever is hiding behind everything else. Half the time, you can't even see what is back there. Drawer banks solve this problem completely. It's really just basic ergonomics. Drawers bring the contents to you instead of forcing you to reach into the cabinet. You can stand comfortably and look straight down into the drawer where everything is laid out in front of you. Now the reason you still see so many lower cupboards is largely cost. Drawers are much more expensive than simple cabinet boxes, which is why builders and house flippers often favor them. But if you're renovating a kitchen, upgrading base cabinets to drawers is honestly one of the best investments you can make. What is also interesting is that drawers actually use space more efficiently. In a typical cupboard, the back half often becomes dead space because it's so inconvenient to access. But with drawers, you use the full depth of the every time. That means more usable storage without making the kitchen any bigger. And this is where good planning makes a huge difference. That is why I've been using Rayon Design, a web-based CAD platform built specifically for interior designers and architects, but it's also very useful if you're planning your own home. What I like about it is that it keeps everything in one place. You can draw your kitchen layout, elevations, and cabinetry details, then move straight into mood boards, schedules, and presentations without switching between different programs. This makes it easy to work through things like drawer detail, pantry storage, or overall kitchen layout in a single file. They also have a huge library of CAD blocks, so you can quickly build out your space, and if you need something custom, you can generate it using their AI tools from an image or even a text prompt. And if you're collaborating with someone, a designer, contractor, or even just planning things with a partner, everything happens in the same file. You can make changes, leave comments, and keep the whole design process organized. Overall, it just makes the planning phase much smoother, so you can focus more on getting the design right instead of fighting the software. If you want to try it out, you can use the link in the description to explore Rayon Design for free. Drain board sinks were traditionally made from cast iron coated in porcelain, with an integrated sloped surface and grooves that guide water straight back into the basin. They're generally less popular in the US today, where standard undermount or farmhouse sinks tend to dominate. But here in Australia, many homes actually still have them. Stainless steel sinks with built-in drain boards are fairly common, and it's easy to see why they work so well. It eliminates the need for a bulky plastic dish rack sitting on your counter. It also protects your countertops from standing water, because all that moisture is contained in one easy to clean surface that is designed specifically to handle it. Modern kitchens are filled with countertop appliances, coffee machines, toasters, blenders, air fryer, and before you know it, the countertop starts to feel completely cluttered. Designers actually solved this problem decades ago with something called an appliance garage. The idea first appeared in mid-century kitchens, right when homes started filling up with countertop appliances. While all these gadgets made life easier, they also started competing for counter space. An appliance garage is essentially a small cabinet built directly onto the countertop where these appliances can live. Early versions often used timber doors, those roll-up doors that slide upward like a bread box. You could open the door, use the appliance, and then close it again when you are done. What made this design so clever is that it solves a very practical problem. We use these appliances every day, but most of them aren't exactly beautiful to look at. The appliance garage lets them stay plugged in and ready to use, but hidden neatly behind a door so the kitchen still looks clean and organized. And this is arguably even more relevant today. Modern kitchens, especially open-plan ones, are almost always on display. Your kitchen might be visible from the living room, the dining room, or even the front door, and it doesn't take many gadgets before the counters start looking messy. That is why appliance garages are making a comeback, often in the form of a coffee or tea station. The newer versions often use sleek flip-up doors, pocket doors, or bifold panels that disappear neatly out of the way when open. If you're exploring ideas for your own kitchen, one tool that can really help is Room Visualizer AI. You can upload a photo of your room and instantly see different design directions applied to it, different materials, cabinetry, and combinations, so you can experiment with ideas before committing to anything in real life. It is a great way to explore possibilities and see how different choices might actually look in your own home. And if you're curious to try it, you can try it for $1 and experiment with a few ideas. Over the past decade, open shelving has become incredibly popular in kitchens. Developers often like it because it's cheaper to build than full cabinetry, and designers sometimes like the look because it makes the kitchen feel lighter and more open. Without upper cabinets, the walls feel less heavy, and architectural elements have more space to breathe. And to be fair, that look can work well in the right context. If a home has a large walk-in pantry, a hidden scullery, or tall pantry cabinets handling most of the storage, then open shelving can make sense. It can also work if you cook very little and have a small collection of ceramics or dinnerware that you actually want to display. But for the average household, this is where reality kicks in. When the entire kitchen wall is open shelving, it quickly becomes a dust and grease magnet. And it also doesn't take long before things start looking messy. That is why I think upper cabinets deserve a comeback. Close cabinets do something incredibly valuable. They hide the everyday clutter. I actually like it when it's used together with open shelving. A shelf for frequently used dishes or decorative pieces, ideally positioned away from the cooktop, where grease and splatter are less of an issue. Another really good middle ground is glass front cabinets. They still let you display nice ceramics or glassware, but because the contents are enclosed, they stay much cleaner than open shelves. You get the visual lightness and display aspect without having to dust and restyle everything every few days. So for most kitchens, a combination of closed cabinetry, a small amount of open shelving or glass front cabinets is usually the most practical balance. Older kitchens often included small spice cupboards or built-in racks near the stove, keeping seasonings close at hand while cooking. Today, that idea has evolved into something even more efficient, the pull-out spice cabinet. These are slim vertical drawers built directly into the base cabinetry, usually positioned right next to the cooktop so everything is within arm's reach while you're cooking. What makes this design especially clever is that it uses space that would normally go to waste. Kitchens often have small filler gaps in the cabinet layout, sometimes only 6 inches wide, and instead of covering them with a blank panel, designers turn them into functional storage. And because the entire rack pulls out, you can see every spice at once instead of digging through a crowded cabinet. This idea isn't limited to spices either. The same style of narrow pull-out cabinet can also hold things like olive oil, vinegar, soy sauce, or other cooking condiments. It is a great example of how small design details can turn an awkward gap in the kitchen into one of the most useful storage spots in the entire room. For the past couple of decades, open-plan kitchens have completely dominated homes, and to be fair, that layout can work really well. It makes homes feel brighter and more spacious, and is great for entertaining or keeping an eye on kids while cooking. But it also creates some very obvious problems. Kitchens are noisy and gets messy. No matter how organized you are, there will be moments where the kitchen is a mess. And when it is completely open to the living room, you're staring at that mess all day. That is why more people are opting for the broken-plan kitchen or even the return of the closed kitchen. Instead of one giant open space, the kitchen has some degree of separation. Maybe a partial wall, pocket doors, glass partitions, or simply a room with a doorway rather than no walls at all. From a design standpoint, this actually gives homeowners much more freedom. When the kitchen is visually tied to the entire living space, every design decision has to coordinate with everything else. But when the kitchen has its own boundaries, you can take bigger design risk, without it dictating the style of your entire living room. It also adds a bit of practical separation, visually, acoustically, and sometimes even physically. So the idea isn't necessarily to abandon open-plan living completely. It's about creating just enough separation so the kitchen can function as its own space again. Some of the nicest everyday moments in a home happen in the kitchen. Morning coffee, quick breakfast, or chatting while someone cooks. That is exactly why breakfast or dining nooks are starting to make a quiet comeback. These cozy little dining corners are built directly into the kitchen, sometimes tucked into a bay window, sometimes fitted neatly into a corner with a small table and built-in bench seating. Many older homes have them because they solve several problems at once. First, they save a surprising amount of space. Built-in bench takes up far less room than pulling chairs in and out around a table, which makes it perfect for smaller kitchens and as a secondary casual eating space. Many of these benches also include storage underneath the seats, which is always useful in a kitchen. But the real reason these spaces work so well was how they encourage people to gather. A nook creates a much more relaxed place to sit together. You're facing each other, sitting closer, and the space naturally encourages conversation. That is exactly why they're becoming popular again. They create a natural place for those everyday moments. Morning coffee, chat with friends, work from home, or helping kids with homework. The last feature worth bringing back is stained wood cabinetry. For a long time, kitchens were dominated by painted cabinets, especially the all-white kitchens that became incredibly popular. Then came the wave of flip house kitchens where everything felt clean, but also slightly cold. Before those trends took over, it was much more common to see kitchens built with natural stained wood cabinetry. Materials like walnut, white oak, or quarter-sown oak showcase the grain of the wood instead of covering it up with paint. What makes this great is that wood instantly adds warmth, texture, and depth to the space. It makes the kitchen feel less like a row of flat cabinets and more like it's filled with real furniture. There's also a practical benefit. Stained wood tends to hide everyday wear far better than painted cabinets. That means the kitchen ages more gracefully over time instead of looking worn the moment life actually happens in it. And that is why we're starting to see a shift back towards these materials again. They bring warmth and character back into the kitchen and make the space feel a little less like a showroom and a lot more like a home. If you enjoyed this video, check out this video on 7 beautiful kitchen trends I'm excited about, and this video on forgotten home features that were actually genius. Otherwise, thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next one.