“Research shows that many homeowners don’t like clutter in the bathroom and seek storage at their fingertips,” says Steve Bissell, president of Robern, a Kohler company and leader in bath storage solutions.

For an innovative storage option, Robern has designed a new mirrored cabinet for people who want storage along with the aesthetics of a seamless mirror.

The Uplift cabinet isn’t like the standard medicine cabinet over the vanity that opens out and may block your access to the sink. The seamless mirror lifts upward, with a position-hold feature allowing it to stay partly open while you access everything inside. It is deep enough to safely contain medicine bottles, toiletries and a small radio and has an optional mount for an LCD TV. Interior lights and outlets for up to six electronic devices make the Uplift cabinet perfect for bathroom storage so you can have all those items you need at your fingertips. And, they aren’t cluttering the countertop anymore.

If you need additional storage space in the bathroom, try rolling shelves or pull-out baskets that can hide in the cabinets under the sink. You can include one basket for each family member and, since they pull out, you don’t have to crawl on the floor to reach a bottle way in the back of a cabinet.

If you don’t have cabinets under your sink, there are many options for creative storage including bins and baskets to hold items like extra toilet paper, perfumes and colognes or hair-styling accessories. Depending on how tight space is, you can put a cabinet above the toilet, or find a stand-up container to fit between the toilet and the vanity. Another option is to find containers that work well on top of the vanity, allowing you to keep items within close reach.

In the shower, don’t trip on loose bottles of shampoo, conditioner and soap. Find an organizer that fits over the shower head or attaches to the shower wall with suction cups so you can get those items off the sides of the bath or the floor. If you have more than one person using the shower, consider getting each family member a separate organizer.

To keep your outlets uncluttered, make your nightlight part of the vanity mirror. The Uplift cabinet has an interior light to illuminate items stored inside and an optional nightlight along the handle that allows you to see well enough to move about the bathroom safely.

“Sometimes the most inspired ideas are the simplest,” Bissell says.

•Pick your appliances first — everything gets built around them.

• Pick your countertop before you select your cabinets. The cabinet company won’t know what height to build the lower cabinets without knowing the thickness of the countertop — they’re all different.

• Pick your backsplash before you hire the electrician. The placement of the electrical boxes will depend on the thickness of the counter’s backsplash. Will it be tile or a solid material? What thickness will the material be and will it be affixed directly to the wall or will mortar be placed between the wall and the splash? There is nothing worse than paying the electrician extra to go back and add spacers to the electric boxes because they aren’t flush with the finished surface — fire hazard!

• With certain sink/disposal combinations you may have to adjust the height of your existing drain outlet. Kohler currently offers a stainless kitchen sink 28 centimetres (11 inches) deep and ISE has a gigantic new one HP disposer. Together they fit a bit lower into the under-cabinet area than other models.

• Selecting appliances in advance will also be important to the plumber and the electrician. The plumber may need to run an icemaker line if the refrigerator has one and the electrician will have to know what size circuits will have to be run for the range, oven, exhaust fan and other appliances.

• Some sales people will offer you the least efficient alternative just to keep the price in your budget. For example: It is less expensive to use doors rather than drawers when designing a set of kitchen cabinets. However, for many users drawers provide far more efficient storage space. Also, the rails that drawers glide on vary greatly in cost and strength. There are some drawer glides that bend when the drawer is full. Better types can hold an adult doing push-ups.

There is so much to consider before packing up the dishes and ordering take-out for three months, hang in there – we’ll continue to provide tips and ideas here at remodel.net.