Friday, February 14, 2025

No storage? No problem: here’s how to fix your lack of cupboards

There are many awesome things about living in this country. You can walk to lots of places. You can interact with all kinds of people, basically whenever you want. You can get really good, fresh food for non-Whole Foods prices. The list goes on! Storage space, unfortunately, is not Mexico’s fuerte.

At least not for the masses.

A confused woman in her appartment
The lack of integrated storage options in most Mexican homes can be enough to send you up the wall. (Pixabay/Pexels)

If you rent a typical house or apartment, you should celebrate if you’ve got closets in all the bedrooms. Though they may seem like a basic thing to have, you’d be surprised at how many homes simply do not include them. Other dwellings may have closet spaces, but no doors to cover them, which in my opinion is a grave sin. It’s nothing a college dorm-looking curtain can’t fix, I suppose. 

Mosey on over to the bathroom, and the only surface you’re liable to find is the sink itself and the top of the toilet. Do you want a place to put your make-up and towels? No.

Take a peak into the kitchen, and it might look even more bare. While some newer homes will include a “cocina integral” — basically, cabinets and counter space — most older homes will simply feature a room with a sink and a little table or counter space if you’re lucky. You’re going to have to pay handsomely if you want a pantry, and might not ever find a place with a hall closet. No wonder so many people keep their pots and pans inside of the oven.

On the one hand, the lack of storage space in Mexico forces us to think about the possessions we really, truly need. Perhaps we don’t need two sets of dishes or three jumbo packs of toilet paper. Maybe one towel per person is enough.

An apartment under renovation
A “cocina integral” might sound like a luxury to some apartment-renters in Mexico. (Rene Terp/Pexels)

On the other hand, sometimes you just don’t want your place looking junky. What to do?

How to fix your storage issues in Mexico

Have less stuff

This is obvious. But again, it’s an easy way to “solve” a lack of places to put it all. If you’re looking around and realizing that your possessions are spilling all over the place, it might be time to take a page from Marie Kondo and make sure that the things in your space are the things you actually want in your space. If they’re not, perhaps it’s time to say goodbye!

Shelves, shelves and more shelves! 

A rustic room with nice shelves
In most cases, shelves do the trick. (Karl Solano/Pexels)

I love shelves. Shelves are the best. I want to marry shelves.

In general, the idea is to use your wall space. Kitchen? Shelves for your dishes and food, and find a place to hang your pots and pans. If there are no cabinets on the bottom, tables with at least two tiers. Bathroom? Larger shelves higher up for your towels — above the toilet is a good spot — smaller ones closer to sink level for your toiletries. Just make sure they’re not in a spot where you’re liable to bump into them with your face. For wet towels in both places, command hooks look great, and nails will do in a pinch!

Baskets

What do you put on those shelves to keep them from looking junky? Baskets! Pretty, rustic woven ones can be found at the market, as can simple bookshelves that you can paint and varnish (or not). Fancier expensive ones can be found at higher-end stores.

Actual storage furniture, like in the “olden days” 

Think china cabinets. Stand-alone wardrobes. Dresser drawers. Dining room bars with drawers underneath for the drinks and glasses. How did we build homes before the invention of the spread-out ranch-style model? Think about the furniture pieces you’d find in a historical home, and find their modern versions.

Cheaper versions of storage units 

If you’re in a pinch, you can get wooden crates, the kind they sell mangos in, at the market. Mexico’s plethora of Chinese stores and even grocery stores offer plenty of plastic and metal-looking stand-alone cabinets and drawers. If you need something cheap and temporary, there are options!

What else would you all add to this, my experienced Mexico-dwellers?

Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sarahedevries.substack.com.

6 COMMENTS

  1. LOW -Under the bed – but organized – plastic containners for out of season BUT PUT LABEL
    HIGH in attractive boxes/ baskets
    Tiny shelves – tiny spaces
    Ruthless shoe & clothes purging – but don’t go by that if you havent worn in year – out. Try everything on – be honest on fit, value & attachmeny. I just had a black tie – first in ages – found lurking a gorgeous dress squished in corner. Perfect. Try & ignore fast fashion. Look for best quality you can afford and care for it. Get fast change in accessories. Use those bags that the vacuum cleaner sucks ait out and compacts. Esp good for bulky bedding. Hardest downside for me is Art & family. Maybe lend a painting to a newcomer or even gift for the joy on their face/ under bed store / just be slow with item you love. It is so hard. But buy better stuff – less of it – & treasure. Trends are stupid. Go for what speaks to you and create an authentic eclectic safe space. Just my thoughts. I’ve lived in 50 sq meters & 700. And as new widow will face it again. Carol

  2. lol this article is gold. So true every rental I have had made me crazy that lack of simple storage or cupboard doors. This year I gave in and had a local build my bed frame also being a few inches higher for Christmas decorations. It’s a simple luxury that feels so good instead of having them stored at a friend’s place.

  3. Roperos are what most folks use as closets. Our store has no need to throw away the boxes our products come in: we have a steady flow of neighbors constantly asking for them to store stuff in….

  4. We had a wooden bed made with drawers built in the bottom of the frame. We bought a cleverly-designed wooden wardrobe with a place to hang clothes, shelves, shoe storage cubby, and a large storage cabinet on top. Our kitchen is a standalone unit based on a metal frame with under counter cabinets, countertop, and sink, if you need one. Unbelievably inexpensive in Mexico City. You pick the countertops, cabinet doors, and hardware that you like. Our brooms and mops are stashed in the gap between the side of the refrigerator and the wall. Accessible but out of sight. You are spot on about the lack of closets in Mexican homes.

  5. If you live near ocean or in a very humid area, definitely no doors on closets. Mildew prone.
    I like rolling tea carts – one in bathroom (why pedestal sinks?why?) one in kitchen. Major hooks inside doors of cabinets. All-in-one pans, few small appliances.

  6. It’s all fine if you buy a casa, but what about we renters who come for 6-months: no cupboards, concrete beds & couches, curtains if we’re lucky on the closets. My husband & I bought a sturdy 5-shelf plastic commercial free-standing shelf unit to use as a food pantry. Works for me. Bought an over-John unit fir the bathroom. Built our own shelves in the laundry room. Buying your own casa, you can jack-hammer the concrete beds & couches, but renting- not likely. Your article leaves a lot of storage issues Unanswered. Thanks for trying though.

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