5 Linen Cupboard Storage Hacks

Ah, the linen cupboard. Often out of sight and so out of mind, the linen cupboard for most of us is an inconspicuous door in a hallway that rarely gets opened… but when it does, chaos ensues! Linen cupboards, also referred to as linen closets, are where we store extra sheets, blankets, pillows and other extra bed linen, as well as bathroom towels, face washers and mats. Sometimes they even pull double duty as laundry storage as well!

As you can see, our linen closets are a vital component to ensuring we have clean, ready-to-use bed and bathroom linens on hand at all times. But, much like our pantries and wardrobes, these small spaces we so desperately need can easily become cluttered, messy and overstuffed. Having multiple sheets sets is handy, especially in large households, but storing them? Not so easy!

At Spotlight not only do we offer you a great range of quality bed linen and towels, but we know a thing or two about linen cupboard organisation as well! Let us share with you some of our best linen cupboard storage hacks for average-sized, small and even DIY linen cupboards here.

Quick Links

• What Is A Linen Cupboard?
• Should you fold or roll your towels?
• Use baskets and bins to save space
• Label your shelves to find things quickly
• Utilise the back of the linen cupboard door
• Divide and conquer with shelf dividers

What Is A Linen Cupboard?

A linen cupboard is a storage area that is usually built into your home. Linen cupboards are often located at the end of or on the side of a hallway, and are recessed storage cupboards with multiple in-built shelves. Linen cupboards will be located away from sunlight and moisture, in order to keep the linens inside protected, and usually have a door that fully closes to keep the linens out of sight. Some linen closets are empty, meaning you have to find and install the shelving yourself, but this isn't a bad thing! Creating a DIY linen cupboard gives you control over how wide your shelves are, what they're made of and if you want any extras like hanging baskets or racks inside.

Linen Cupboard Storage Ideas

With further ado, let's get into some of our favourite linen cupboard ideas. Before starting your linen closet organisation, we recommend pulling out all your linen first. Go through the lot, discard tattered or stained sheets and towels and donate good-quality linens that you don't use anymore.

Finally, vacuum and wipe down each shelf to get rid of any dust, dirt or potential towel and sheet-nibbling critters.

Here are our top 5 linen closet storage ideas!

1. Should you fold or roll your towels?

While it's tempting just to chuck your bath towels into an empty gap in your linen closet, making the effort to neaten up your towels really makes a difference. But what's the best way to store your towels - folding them, or rolling them?

• Folding your towels is useful if you don't have a lot of vertical space on the shelves of your linen cupboard. If your towels are all folded the same way, you'll have an extremely neat-looking linen cupboard, much like how a shelf of professionally folded towels at a store looks.

Folded towels look amazing, but removing them from the linen cupboard can be tricky, as they often cause the other towels around them to be pulled out of place. Towels of different sizes can also be hard to stack when folded, as you'll need to plan ahead when storing your towels so the larger ones are on the bottom.

• Rolling your towels is a lot easier than folding them, as you can just fold them in half lengthways, roll them up and you're done! Rolled towels are easy to stack and take up much less horizontal space than folded towels, plus you can pull them out of the linen cupboard without disturbing the others. Rolling towels are one of the best small linen cupboard organisation ideas, as many rolled towels can be compacted into a small space.

It can be hard to roll smaller bathroom linens like face washers, and very long towels like beach towels may actually stick out of your linen closet when rolled.

No matter if you fold or roll your towels, your linen cupboard is bound to look better once you're finished. You can also fold or roll bed linen like sheets, quilt covers and blankets, although their bulk can mean they take up quite a bit of space no matter how you store them.

2. Use baskets and bins to save space

One of the most popular linen closet storage ideas is to add in baskets, boxes and bins to store your linen with. Wicker baskets will add a rustic look to your linen cupboard, while clear plastic or wire boxes allow you to easily see what is in each container.

Make sure your baskets have handles to ensure they're easy to pull out when you need them and have smooth insides that won't catch or pull on the fibres of your towels and sheets.

If you have an extra-large space at the bottom of your linen closet, this is the ideal space for a couple of baskets to store your larger bed linens in, like rolled-up quilts or bath sheets.

Under-shelf racks are a great way to make the most of any extra space you may have in your linen closet. These racks hang from the base of a shelf and sit right underneath the shelf they hang from. They're not huge, but are a handy place to store smaller things like face washers, hand towels, pillowcases, toilet paper and extra toiletries like shampoo and soap.

3. Label your shelves to find things quickly

If you've got a mixture of bed sizes in the house, it follows that you'll have a variety of bed linen sizes in your linen closet. The problem is, a double sheet set and a queen-size sheet set can look very similar when folded up!

One of the best linen cupboard design ideas is the simple act of adding labels. Labelling your shelves can help prevent the annoyance of pulling out a sheet set, unfolding it and realising it's the wrong size for your bed. Use a label maker to print out stickers that denote sheet size, towel size and duvet/quilt cover size, then adhere them to the outer edges of your shelves where you plan to store your linens.

This makes it easy for you to choose the right sized sheets when changing your bed linens, plus it will encourage the whole family to put away their clean bedding into the right spot every time.

4. Utilise the back of the linen cupboard door

You may have an entire blank space you can utilise for storage, if your linen closet is deep enough - the back of your linen cupboard door! One of our favourite linen closet storage ideas is to use over-the-door hanging racks, which are often seen in kitchen pantries - but there's no reason you can't make use of them in your linen cupboard as well.

While the baskets of these racks won't be big enough for large linens like bedspreads or duvets, they're ideal for small but bulky items like loofas, spare shampoo and conditioner bottles, toilet paper rolls, bottles of soap, spray bottles and other handy toiletries.

If you don't want to install a full basket rack you can add a towel rack to the inside of your linen cupboard door instead - use it to hang all your smaller towels, so you can save the space on your closet shelves for bulkier linens.

5. Divide and conquer with shelf dividers

Our final tip is to make use of shelf dividers. When you've got high piles of folded sheets and towels all mushed together, it's inevitable that some will start to make their way onto the wrong pile. Shelf dividers can be used to separate your linen piles on each shelf, working like bookends to keep your linens tidy.

If adding permanent shelf dividers to your closet will shatter your linen cupboard design dreams, don't worry! Many shelf dividers actually clip onto the bottom of the shelf, meaning you don't have to use any screws, glue or nails to keep them in place. This also makes them easy to move or remove when you need to rejig your linen closer due to (another) new bed sheet or towel set purchase.

You can also use dividers made for other areas of the home in your linen closet - use file dividers from your office for sorting smaller hand towels and face washers, or solid dividers from your bookshelf to keep towel piles in place.

Organise Your Linen Closet With Linen Cupboard Storage Solutions From Spotlight

Now that you know how to organise a linen cupboard, it's time to head to Spotlight so you can bring your linen closet storage ideas to life! Shop online, safely pay and we'll deliver your order straight to your front door. Alternatively, visit your local Spotlight store and our friendly team will help you find all the bits and bobs you need for organising linen cupboards.

For more amazing home organising ideas, make sure to read our blogs on pantry organisation, wardrobe organisation and home office set-up ideas. And you can ensure you're picking the right storage supplies by reading our useful buying guides on home storage and laundry storage.