I vote for convenience over decor. I am doing a special deep, narrow drawer next to the prep area for my cutting boards, which currently reside vertically in a wooden dish display rack on the counter. Paper towels are used every 3 minutes, or so it seems, so they're staying on a wooden holder on the counter. Plastic bags in pantry. Dish towels on little hooks in the corner of the ''L'' near the sink.

You can cut on our island, so I am now down to one cutting board and it's stored with my cookbooks. Paper towels and plastic bags are under my sink. I'm lacking in a place for wet dishtowels! I think we'll probably put hooks up somewhere, but that's part of my remaining 15% of stuff to be done!

Cutting boards live in the tray cabinet or on the counter. Paper towels are loose on the counter over in the corner because I use them all the time and like to grab the entire roll. I use Bounty paper towels for the rare handwashed dish or glass, because re-using sponges and dishrags skeeves me out. I use a dishtowel on the counter to drip dry those things and toss it in the laundry at night.

I put my paper towels on a holder inside my decorative cup shelf thingy. Turns out everyone over about 5'3" can't see in that shelf so it's more functional than decorative AND nobody sees the paper towels. Oops. It was meant to be temporary until I put something pretty on the shelf but I like the paper towels there. I'd do it again, on purpose.

Dish towels seem to go in the nearby oven handle or the dishwasher drawer handles.

Cutting boards go upright in a drawer that holds a lot of random stuff. I haven't spent a lot of time getting my drawers in order because I haven't trained my 2 year old to stay outta my stuff. I never really thought they were hard to find a place for, though. My giant cutting board goes over the oven with cookie sheets and similar items with vertical dividers.

Old kitchen picture I happen to have available featuring place where paper towels hide (it's still unfinished but slightly less so--the dishwasher now has matching panels and handles that take towels):

I'm still moving in, but here's what I have so far:

My prep area is right in front of the fridge, so cutting boards live in the cabinet over the fridge. Dish towels are in a wide shallow drawer under the prep area, and plastic ziplocks and such live in the drawer next to it.

I use dish towels like paper towels -- and dirty ones go in a trash can (aka hamper) on the other side of the wall in the utility room next to the washing machine. Each meal gets a fresh towel, and any other time I need a clean one.

I do use paper towels occasionally for things that are particularly nasty, but I haven't found a spot for them yet in the new house. They are living on the counter for now. When I re-do the utility room they will go in there along with the microwave.

Cloth napkins are in drawers under the penisula overhang, handy for grabbing them while exiting the kitchen to the dining area or for eating at the overhang once I get a stool there.

Despite using cloth shopping bags, I always seem to end up with store bags from time to time, which are useful as mini garbage bags, etc.. Plastic bags will live in a dispenser on the wall in the utility room. In my case this will be just out of sight but very handy.

My cutting boards will go in the vertical slots used for cookie sheets and the smaller ones in the top drawer right under my island counter.

I had a special paper towel holder space made in my island directly behind my sink--this one's mine, the next one was my inspiration:

Cutting boards...In a tray divider under the prep sink

Paper towels...On the counter in an OXO holder that allows me to easily get one panel one-handed. Paper towels are used from various places in the kitchen so I wanted to be able to take them with me instead of having to run back to where they're stored each time I need one. Personal preference. My mom has one mounted under the cabinet next to the sink and you either need to take the roll out of the holder or run back to it when using it other than at the sink. This would be the same if it were mounted under counter or inside a cabinet.

If you're going to give it a permanent/fixed home, at least locate it in the middle of the Prep Zone so it's easily reached w/o having to run around an island or up/down the counter to get a paper towel.

Wet dish towels...hanging on the handle of either the freezer drawer in the refrigerator or the warming drawer. The most convenient place is the refrigerator since it's easily accessed from both the Prep Sink & Main/Cleanup Sink. I successfully banished it from the oven handles b/c the oven is front & center from the front door. We don't use the DW handle b/c when the DW is opened the towel hits the floor.

Some related threads...

Thread: Ew...wet rags on kitchen sink

Thread: Dish cloth or sponge? And where do you store it between uses?

Thread: where do you keep kitchen cloths?

Thread: Where to put the roll of paper towels? etc.

Thread: paper towel holder

Thread: OT. Kitchen-towel-hanging-on-the-oven-door-survey...

Thread: Where do you hang your cloth hand towels?

Thread: What to do with the Dish Towel?!?!

Thread: narrow open cabinet to hang damp dish towels

Thread: Where do you keep your paper towels?

Thread: Best Paper Towel Holder for kitchen?

Thread: Where to store that wet dishrag?

Thread: Those little dishtowel racks?

Thread: Towel bar on front of sink - talk me into it (or out of it)...

Thread: cloth for washing dishes

Thread: Where and how do you hang your cloth dishtowels?

Love the papertowel cubby!

That's great, Firsthouse--even better than the inspiration picture.

My cutting boards are stored vertically along with my baking trays and serving trays in a cabinet.

My papertowels are on a verital papertowel holder near the sink. It is the best papertowel holder I have ever had--it's from Costco. My dh's New Year's resolution this year was to use a roll a day! Of course he was kidding, this goes along with the "curse more this year, drink more, eat more, etc."

Dish rag & towels are on a little tiny towel bar mounted to the backside of the cabinet under my sink. ( I just started using microfiber dishrags--wow--they dry so fast! It's a miracle)

Buehl would you mind telling me which OXO paper towel holder you have that works one handed? I went to the website and saw a couple. Is it one of these? Does it really work?

http://www.oxo.com/OA_HTML/xxoxo_ibeCCtpOXOPrdDtl.jsp?section=10463&item=48748&minisite=10024&respid=53057

http://www.oxo.com/OA_HTML/xxoxo_ibeCCtpOXOPrdDtl.jsp?section=10463&item=87659&minisite=10024&respid=53057

Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: OXO paper towel holder

My cuting board are with my cooking sheets in small bottom cupboard to the left of my sink. My paper roll is hidden under the sink. My dish towel are hung in a pull-out thingy away from the eyes. I am in a declutter stage of life so very little will be displayed on my counters. Coffee maker and fruit bol and my knives bloc. That's it. Oh maybe fresh cut flowers (this is a must)

Paper towels: hangs from underneath one of my upper cabs, right in my prep area. It's a slip-on, so I don't have to mess with screwing and unscrewing a finial.

Wet dish towels: almost never use them, although my DH likes to use one for his hands. Have a clip on towel ring on one of the doors of my central island.

Cutting boards: Stored vertically in a base cab right where I do my prep.

For wet rags/dishclothes I bought a suction cup wire holder than I attached to the front of the sink. That keeps them out of sight and drying. Cloth towels I hang on the range handle. I haven't decided yet what to do about paper towels. They use to hang underneath the cabinet but now there are lights so.... I have a 9" base cabinet that is divided in the middle. On one side I put cutting boards and on the other I put baking sheets/trays.

firsthouse, love that cubby for paper towels! Hmm, I must work that into our small round island plan.

tamdave123, I have the first one... It works great for the most part. The only time it doesn't work perfectly is when the roll is just about out, not just low, but down to the last 3 or 4 sheets. The rest of the time it works great! We usually use the "select-a-size" paper towels, the ones w/the small sheets, to cut down on waste. Occasionally, I'll make a mistake & buy the full-size sheet ones. Both kinds work in the holder.

It's on the counter on the right in this picture...

BTW...I bought it at Bed, Bath, & Beyond. You can use their 20% off or $5 off coupons. If you don't have a coupon, sign up at their website and you should start receiving them. Despite the expiration date on BB&B coupons, they never really expire. I save them up and hardly ever buy anything for full price there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Simply Tear Paper Tower Holder from Oxo

Wet dish towels: I installed 2 towel rods on the back of the pantry door, the width of the door -- pantry is just behind the fridge wall so it's just a few steps away. That wouldn't work for all the people with those lovely glass doors, but it works for me! All wet towels and cloths hang there till dry, then go into a small hamper till they get taken to the laundry room (bedroom wing). I love it!

Paper Towels: On a standing holder, in the corner appliance garage except while I'm actively cooking.

Cutting boards: Vertically under the sink.

Thank you so much for the info buehl. It's great to get advice here on products that actually work! I am going to pick that paper towel holder up. Beautiful kitchen btw. Tammy

Thank you all for your great ideas and Beuel for guiding us to all the previous posts on this subject.

Firsthouse_mp; I hope you will see this post and reply. I have only seen the built in paper towel holder in kitchen design books.... until yours on this forum (thanks to some others that told me about yours and linked it). I met with my cabinet maker today and he's never done one, so not sure what dimensions it should be. He was wanting to make it 10" tall, which I thought was too tall. Could you please let me know what your dimensions are AND what you will do for the hardware to hold the towel dowel? Thanks so much!

We are in a rental house now during new home construction. In our last house (tragically short on storage space) flat cutting boards were stored in a contraption my handy-dandy dad made. Basically two brackets shaped like "[" and "]" spaced as far apart as my widest cutting board. The tops were mounted under my cabinets, and the bottom pieces supported the cutting boards that fit between them and the cabinet bottoms.

Bags went into an IKEA bag holder that was mounted (not permanently) inside the cabinet under the sink.

I don't use dish towels, but dobies and scrubbies went into a sink-mounted suction basket. The dish brush went into the dishwasher.

Paper towels mounted undercab to the left of the sink for my "prep" and "clean" zones. I found one that coordinated, wasn't hideous, and actually "held" on to the towels, even when I tried to rip them off one-handed. Of course it was a small fortune too. :)

Paper towels are on a freestanding "SimpleHuman" brand vertical holder. I like it because it's portable and can be moved around, and it has a heavy base.

I use a lot of linen tea towels while I'm cooking. One is always looped around an apron string (ala Julia Child), others are on a towel bar located behind the doors of the under sink cabinet. All go into the laundry bin at the end of each meal (I go through 8-10 per day).

The cutting board lives on the counter top. I use a Boos Block end-grain
maple board that measures 18" x 24" x 2-1/2". It's really too big and heavy to haul out and put away between every use. Besides, it's so handy having it out and ready whenever I need it.

stayn busy:
The dimensions of my papertowel cubby are 9" tall, 15" wide, 10" deep. The reason it is a bit tall is that the towel pole comes up and back about 2" to take it out.

There are a number of ways to deal with how the bar is held in there. The easiest that the cabinetmakers came up with is to use the "cup" holders that some curtain rods are hanging with. One side has a place for the rod to sit in, the other has a more open "cup". Rotate the cup so that the bar won't pull out when you pull on the roll. You need to push the bar up and back into the cubby to take out the bar--thus the deep 10".

Another way to mount the roll is to use a spring loaded roll bar like the kind for a toilet paper roll. Just stick a spring inside two hollow poles.

We also saw a few different paper towel holders at BB&B that could be mounted inside the cubby sideways. The easiest again being the ones that are on the wall and spring loaded. Make the cubby an inch or two wider to allow for the "arms" to release the holder.

Good Luck!

Paper towels - on a dispenser in the pantry cupboard. I use shop towels more than paper ones.

Wet dish towels - draped on the faucet or the oven handle.

Cutting boards - between the bread machine and the wall where they are easy to grab.

We haven't used paper towels for almost 3 years (!) and believe it or not it works great. You do need a large quantity of towels and rags, which we have in abundance. We keep dirty/wet ones on a stairwell to the basement, where I can just scoop them up on the way down to the laundry.

Cutting board: I have one of these for the biggest cutting board; the rest go in a vertical cabinet with dividers:

Chicagoans - Where did you find the cutting board holder?

Another sample of the papertowel niche near a trash pull-out....
{{gwi:1723333}}From Misc photos

Paper Towels: On a vertical stand next to my sink. I like having them handy. It is an inexpensive one from Target. In the past, I had them hanging under the upper cabinets. After we remodeled, I needed a new solution. I didn't think the countertop one would be stable, but it is and I really like it. I enjoying being able to grab the whole roll and take it to another room if I need to.

Wet dish towels: I have a Rev-a-shelf hanging rod thing on the inside of one of my cabinet doors under the sink. I only use it occasionally though. Usually I have a dishtowel folded in half laying/hanging right on the counter where I stand at the sink. I use it for drying my hands, fruit, dishes, etc. throughout the day. It dries quickly. I have a dish drainer on one side of my double sink, so anything I hand wash usually just dries in there. If I've entertained and have extra hand washing with more dishes on a towel on the counter, then those go on the racks under the sink until they dry. Sometimes if I have one that is really wet and yucky, I just throw it on the tile floor in my laundry room (closet). It is the only tile I have in the whole house (I like to take advantage of it.) :)

Cutting boards: In a vertically divided cabinet in one of my lowers.

Plastic bags: I donate them to a food bank, so I throw them in the trunk of my car until I see my friend who takes them for me. :)

In our new remodel we kept the same location for the cutting boards, but changed it significantly. We converted a standard narrow base cabinet with some vertical dividers for the cutting boards to a pullout drawer - reusing the door front. We got the idea from a posting on GW. Here are two views:

chicagoans: where did you get that cutting board? I want exactly the same thing, but haven't been able to find it.

gwentm and hgluckman: our cabinet maker installed the cutting board holder; I'm not sure where he got it but you can find the one below in different sizes from Rev-A-Shelf.com

I wish mine held more than 1 board, but it's too shallow.

{{gwi:1694399}}

I really want to know about the cutting board itself. Where did you find that?

Sorry hgluckman - I misunderstood. The board came with the holder.

There are some similar ones in various sizes on Amazon

Firsthouse, thanks for posting your paper towel niche dimensions. Are you happy with it? I really think I will love it since my sink is on a peninsula. Thanks again!

hgluckman, I love your pullout vertical drawer.... my cabinet maker is gonna be so glad when I finalize my cabinets so I'll quit making changes. What an efficient storage of cutting boards, etc..