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Five of the Best: Storage Cabinets

One of the questions I am often asked when it comes to helping clients with their houses is where to find good looking storage. Not everything can be built in and sometimes you want a piece of furniture that looks good but is useful as well. Today I thought we would look at five of the best storage units that are around at the moment.

GREEN BRASS DISPLAY CABINET

Rose & Grey

£795

New in this season is this handsome green metal cabinet with brass handles. I love that it’s green but as it’s dark it won’t fight with existing decor – actually I think it will go with pretty much anything you already have going on the room.

It’s been styled with plates for a kitchen or dining room but would work just as well in a sitting room for books or games or even a bathroom – if you had the space – with towels. in.

 HUNGARIAN VITRINE

Design Vintage

£750

Vintage is always good as you know and this Hungarian cabinet has been restored and painted in a gorgeous shade of dark grey. In my fantasy kitchen, which is horribly impractical and entirely unfitted this would have pride of place. In the real world, put it in a dining room or at one end of a kitchen diner, or on a landing with linen in. As with all today’s pieces you can put them anywhere you have space and store whatever needs putting away.

LOOP CABINET

Coucou Manou

£1,725

I have been a fan of Coucou Manou for years and Nell’s gorgeous cabinets which come in a variety of colours and sizes. She can also tweak the sizes to come up with something bespoke if the standard sizes don’t quite work for you. In addition to this three door sideboard, there is also a tall version as well as smaller options with one or two doors – the former making a for a fancy bedside cabinet for example. She also has a stunning version in emerald green.

FABRIKOR

Ikea

£130

 

Now you know when fashion people talk about clothes and say: “It looks like nothing on the hanger but wait till you see it on.”? This is one of those pieces. This isn’t a great picture. It doesn’t look that amazing but somehow when it’s in a real room filled with real stuff it’s a really good bit of kit. Elizabeth I’m thinking of you for the back end of your sitting room when that half wall goes in. If you’re not convinced then have a look at this Pinterest link where you can see it styled into people’s homes. Better? Now it was originally in green but that seems to have gone. Now it’s in a pale blue and beige but that might change. Or, if you’re more enterprising than me, you can try spraying it the colour of your choice.

CONNIE GREEN SIDEBOARD

Swoon Editions

£749

Back to green and this really is a good-looking sideboard. Limited to only 14 pieces it’s from Swoon Editions, and you will have to wait until June before you get it. But I think it might be worth the wait. I haven’t shopped here myself but I have heard good things from people who have and from people who have visited their press shoes and copped a feel of the stuff. As it were. It’s made in India from mango wood and also comes in white.

Kate Watson-Smyth

The author Kate Watson-Smyth

I’m a journalist who writes about interiors mainly for The Financial Times but I have also written regularly for The Independent and The Daily Mail. My house has been in Living Etc, HeartHome and featured in The Wall Street Journal & Corriere della Sera. I also run an interior styling consultancy Mad About Your House. Welcome to my Mad House.

6 Comments

  1. Thanks Kate. I’ve just had my dining room redone and need a handsome cabinet for an alcove which is only 85 cm wide. At 81 cm, the Fabrikor is perfect!

  2. Hi Kate – great post – i left a similar message on insta but thought i’d try here too…I was wondering whether you have any advice on bathroom storage, in particular recessed cabinets. We are currently doing up our bathroom and my style is vintage/eclectic (with contemporary touches!). But all the recessed cabinets i’ve seen are sooooooooooooo dull, drab, ultra modern and look cheap (to me there’s not much/if any difference in a cheapie from say Bathstore to a pricey one at CP Hart). We need a recessed cabinet because of lack of space but is there a more vintage looking or just simply less harsh modern solution?? Your advice would be so welcome! Kate x

    1. I did leave you a reply – perhaps it hasn’t landed yet. I would look at reclaimed and vintage and see if you can customise. If you go back to the bathroom post you will see my bathroom with the dark grey walls and the twin basins. That unit is made from reclaimed school lab tops from Retrouvious. The builder made them into a counter with shelves underneath and we will them with baskets and storage. There are usually white boxes with pants and socks in but I removed that for the picture – a styling lie! But no-one needs to see our socks! Or you can buy an old chest of drawers and sink the basin into the top – so that you have a bit of top drawer either side and the lower drawers free for storage. Think about things that way. I agree with you about modern vanity units. Also if you have look with a hidden cistern – that creates a sort of alcove above which you can fill with shelves – or put a door on the front – then paint it the same colour as the walls and it will disappear. That works well for spare loo roll etc.

      1. Thanks Kate – really appreciate you taking the time to write back & for your advice! Fabulous xx

  3. Am totally in love with the Hungarian Vitrine. Now it has me re-imaginging my kitchen so that something like this could go at the dining end! Your posts always do this to me, in my head I rearrange my entire house!!!

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