Over the past weekend, while we were shopping for some good Napa Valley wine, I asked the store owner if he had any empty wooden wine crates that I could take home. They are quite difficult to find nowadays, as most producers have lowered their cost by packaging and shipping wine in carton boxes. But, some wineries continue to use wooden crates to pack their best quality wine bottles, and if you’re lucky enough (like I was!) your liquor store would gladly get rid of them and you could get them for free or sometimes at a very low premium. On Pinterest, you can find plenty of amazing ideas on how to transform them into tables, shelves, even ottomans!
Here are the ones I got:
As their sides are straight, and they are sturdy and rigid, I find these wine crates particularly useful for storage, but because they’re on the heavy side, it’s best to use them for spaces under the counter. Also, by adding wheels, they turn out to be perfect for even lower places that are harder to get to, such as under a low shelf or low cabinet.
That’s exactly what I did for my two new wine wooden crates! I added casters to both of them and I used one to store potatoes
and the other one for onions, garlic heads and shallots.
Inside the larger crate, I added a piece of poplar wood, cut to size in order to form a divider, and separate the different potato varieties. I was about to glue it permanently on the crate, but as it was a couple of millimeters wider, it fit snugly in place. Plus, I thought that it would be convenient to move it around, depending on the quantities on either side, or even remove it one day.
Such dividers would work also well when using the crate for storing magazines or books.
Some crates have beautiful logos and designs, either embossed or engraved, like this one that pictures the French estate where this Bordeaux is bottled.
In this house, I am fortunate enough to have a large pantry in the kitchen. The crates fit just right under the lower shelf. As potatoes and onions must be stored into a darker place, this is just the right spot.
Wheels not only bring the crate at higher lever, but they also allow you to pull it out without damaging the surface underneath.
t’s so much easier and convenient to get to these vegetables, just like pulling them out of a refrigerator drawer!
On the smaller crate, drilling and adding just three out of the four screws was enough. Quite a professional job, don’t you think?
And this is what the screws look from the inside.
How do you store potatoes and onions?
