Bananas and tomatoes: in separate bowls on the counter.

Onions, garlic, potatoes, oranges/grapefruit: Each have their own plastic baskets in the pantry

Apples: in a drawer in the snack/b'fast fridge

Ah! I've been struggling with this lately. I think I'm getting closer.

Potatoes and onions - in a wire basket inside the pantry cab
Garlic - cork-topped jar near the stove
Fruit is either in the fridge or bowl on the counter.

I know I'll need something else for summer veg. At least I have a few months to figure it out.

Potatoes & yams in bins sitting on a pantry shelf (our pantry is cool)

Bananas hanging on a banana hook on the counter

Tomatoes sitting in a bowl on the counter

Apples, grapes, pears, kiwi, etc. in the refrigerator in a "fruit" drawer

Onions - chopped in the freeze (I admit it, I rarely use fresh onions...usually just the frozen ones.)

You must be in a different part of So. Cal. than I! ALL my produce goes in the fridge except bananas (bought green so they don't rot), and thick skinned squash like kibocha. I tried keeping clementines in a cold corner in December but they started going and got moved to the fridge.

Hmmm... I have always been told never to keep onions and potatoes in the same place, since (I think this is how it goes...) the onions give off a gas that causes the potatoes to sprout more quickly. So I have been trying to design two seperate storage palces into our kitchen reno. It certainly would be a lot easier to have one cupboard (on a cool exterior wall, hopefully) with bins for both items.

Anyone else keep these seperate?

I'm probably doing a huge no-no, but I've always kept my fruit in the refrigerator because I prefer crisp apples and cold orange slices. Onions and potatoes are together in the refrigerator as well. *gasp* The red potatoes I buy don't seem to have any adverse effect, and I go through onions real fast.

Tomatoes are the only thing I'd keep room temp at this point in the year.

Have you considered one of those cabinets with the pull out baskets? They have no cabinet doors and the baskets are nice (not cheap as they have to finish the cabinet interior). I know I've seen them in some kitchen remodels here on the finished kitchens page. I'd like one of those myself for potatoes and apples/oranges. I think one of those hanging banana things are handy too but you can get those anywhere.

No tomatoes in the refrigerator and onions and potatoes shouldn't be stored together (used to work in a fruit/veg stand as a kid).

staceyneil: I keep my potatoes and onions seperate, but I am not sure how much help I am. I keep my potatoes in the pantry closet and I have my onions in a plastic hold-all thingee hanging on a hook in my garage (right outside the kitchen door)

Probably not the solution you were asking for :)

Also, my bananas are on a hook on the counter, apples in a bowl and that's about all we have right now.

Cabinet with pull out baskets: top is for bread and bottom is for root veggies. I keep fruit in a bowl on the counter where it can be a hint to eat more fruit and less junk food :)

Blue

Some great ideas! I like the baskets in the open cabinet idea as I won't have room for a pantry (which would be the ultimate place to keep veggies.)

bluekitobsessed - Where did you find your pull out baskets?

I think in the end wherever we keep our produce is where it's most convenient. I suppose there will always be a bowl on the counter because sometimes things just have to ripen a bit. Right now all of my cooking utensils are in cannisters on the counter because I have no drawers near the stove, so I guess I was trying to completely clear everything off.

Appreciate the replies - thanks to all.

Socal (are you in southern CA? Hi from Vta County!), mine were an option offered by the cab co. I really like them a lot. Here's an overview pic, complete with fruit bowl.

I have a 8 shelf pot stand that I use for fruit. The bottom shelf is a stack of cookbooks, then a couple shelves have le crueset, and the rest have decorative bowls holding grapefruit, oranges, lemons, and limes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Enclume pot stand

staceyneil, not only do the onions speed up the spoilage of the potatoes, the moisture from the potatoes help speed up spoilage of the onions. I keep my potatoes, yams and squash in one drawer and my onions and garlic in a different one that are in a different cabinet bank.

Bananas, tomatoes and summer fruits like plums, nectarines and peaches go in a fruit bowl on the counter until they're completely ripe and then may go into the fridge or get made into a fruit salad. Riper bananas get frozen for smoothies or banana bread. Apples, grapes, citrus and kiwi stay in the fridge in the "fruit crisper" (although I'll sometimes leave one or two in the fruit bowl to remind/entice DW and DD to eat them.

Just my little rant here - Pineapples, watermelons and any other larger fruit left whole will spoil, but disappear quickly after being cut into bite sized pieces. DW and DD seem incapable of cutting them up themselves.

Before demolition, I sometimes did what lightlystarched described, using the same Enclume pot stands (I have two of them). Sadly, they will not fit in my new kitchen and I am going to have to consign them somewhere. I had forgotten how expensive they are!

I can't believe I never heard about onions and potatoes spoiling each other! But looking back, yep, it happens.

Buehl, you're so modest. :) Yes, you have a cool pantry. I feel very deprived when I see it!

I use onions fast and prefer to keep them in the fridge because they are easier to chop when cold (less eye watering).

Potatoes in a Nantucket basket on the counter, fruit in a bowl or fridge.

And I do want to upgrade this system in the remodel!

Hmm....I meant the temperature....but you're right, it is cool! :-)

Hah! I thought you were bragging! Because it IS cool!

bluekitobsessed - Yes, I'm in Socal (Riv Co - waves back..;-)) or as my friend in the bay area refers to us - LoCal. lol

I really like the look of the basket for the veggies - it's a very pleasing architectural design (form + function.)

I have always had a "fruit basket' of some incarnation - a woven basket, a wood one or a metal one. The produce that goes in it only is there maybe 3 days tops, so I don't worry about spoiling. If it starts to ripen too fast - then it goe in the fridge for a day or two, just to slow down the ripening.

chefkev - It is interesting phenomenon, isn't it? You're right, no one will eat the fruit unless it's cut into bite sized chunks.

We remodeled our kitchen office into walk-in pantry. We used the 15" base cabinets from IKEA with the pull-out facia and slide-out shelves.

In one we keep the onions, shallots and garlic on the top shelf. Oranges and grapefruits on the bottom. and squash, etc. on the middle pull-out shelf. In the other, we store the potatoes on the bottom. And miscellany above them (whatever someone decides to put in it when unpacking the groceries, including bread). We use the IKEA soft-sided baskets for separating the various fruits and vegetables. They seem to work quite well.

I have a follow-up question, can the potatoes be stored BELOW the onions? ...say in the bottom basket of the pictures posted earlier? And what is the impact on shelf-life when they are BELOW? I've been looking to put the potatoes over in the bottom of the same cabinet as the onions, and then reconfigure the other cabinet so it is not such a catch all space.

tarstl - Storing the potatoes below the onions makes it more likely each will spoil, but it really depends upon how much air flow you have down there - and also how long your onions and potatoes sit before you use them. If it's open like in bluekitobsessed's picture, there might be enough airflow that the gasses from the onions and the moisture from the potatoes will not affect each other. My potatoes and onions sometimes sit for several months so I wouldn't do it, but if you use yours up more quickly, neither are are very expensive, so why not try it out and see how they do.