25 Kitchen Hacks From the Dollar Store

When you don't have a Kitchen Cousin or Property Brother on speed dial, updating your kitchen can feel daunting. Take a deep breath — the dollar store can come through for you with practical, inexpensive kitchen updates that also add beauty, organization and occasionally a touch of whimsy.

Keep kitchen sponges and soaps tidy and neat-looking with this cake stand soap dish. Grab a dollar store plate, dollar store candlestick and glue them together for a unique soap stand. It's a stylish was to organize items and still have them readily available beside the sink.

There are so many ways to repurpose a dollar store frame. For this hack, remove the glass, paint the frame and place it around your light switch. This is a great way to customize your kitchen if you are renting and can't make major changes. Just use adhesive strips that are meant to be temporary to secure the frame to the wall.

If you’re trying to move away from single-use kitchen items, consider making some DIY snack wraps. You may need to stop by a craft store for the pinking shears and beeswax pellets, but the dollar store is where it's at for some fun cotton fabric (look for it in the craft aisle!) and parchment paper. First, trim your fabric to the desired size, then lay an old towel over the ironing board. Place the fabric square on the towel, then sprinkle it with beeswax pellets. Next, place a large piece of parchment paper on top of the fabric square and pellets. Carefully use a hot, dry iron to melt the pellets into the fabric evenly. When dry, fold to your liking around snacks and sandwiches and tie off with washi tape or cotton twine. HINT: You’ll need to retreat with wax every 15 or so uses.

A dollar store towel rack, some S hooks from the hardware store, and upcycled cans provides an inexpensive way to store smaller kitchen utensils within easy reach.

Is your collection of takeout menus out of control? Keep them in one place by placing them in a plastic folder and adhering the folder to the inside of your kitchen cabinet. Let's be real, sometimes we just don't want to cook!

Unleah your inner artist and update basic white mugs from the dollar store with large, colorful flowers to bring summer to your morning coffee routine.

Dollar store collanders and jute cord are the foundation for DIY hanging pots you can hang in your kitchen's sunny spots. A variety of seasonings like organo, parsley and cilantro grow great in hanging planters — which means you can have fresh herbs as you cook.

Every square inch of counter space matters in smaller kitchens. Mount your paper towels to the side of the island (where most of the food prep happens anyway!) and use hooks to store things like potholders, oversized cooking utensils or measuring cups.

Skip the expensive tile cleaners. Instead, make your backsplash gleam with a tube of dollar store toothpaste. Apply a small amount to a damp rag, spread the paste onto the tile and wipe clean.

To keep lunches cool, wet a sponge, then freeze it. Place the frozen sponge inside a snack bag wrapped in colorful duct tape. The tape helps decorate and insulate the baggy. As the sponge melts, all the moisture stays inside the bag. This method allows you to customize the size of the ice pack, and the inexpense of this DIY means its not the end of the world if the ice pack gets lost.

With so many types of cleaning supplies, your under-sink cabinet can fill up fast. To keep things more organized, make use of every inch of space by hanging household cleaners from a tension rod, saving space on the shelves for other everyday items.

Spray paint made for plastic can give dollar store bins a more expensive metal look. Once the bins are dry, add labels for a perfectly organized pantry.

If you want to grow your own kitchen herbs but don't want hanging planters, mason jars are an inexpensive and stylish solution for an indoor herb garden. All you need is mason jars, a bit of gravel, gardening soil and seeds.

A dollar store shoe caddy on the inside of the pantry door is a great option for maximizing pantry space, and it's a fun way to leave easy-to-find self-serve snacks within reach of children.

This is another great way to customize your kitchen if you are renting your home. Think about adding some visual texture to a door with dollar store washi tape. When you're ready for something new, just peel it away and start over.

This is the least expensive storage solution ever! Attach clothespins to the inside of a cabinet with super glue gel. The clothespins are the perfect place to store dish gloves, a fly swat, or other items you may not use that often.

If your fridge is out of space for children's artwork, important reminders, photos and other mementos, consider displaying them on the wall using clipboards so it's easy to swap your displays.

Hosting a dinner party? Give your napkin rings dual purpose as place holders. Pick up luggage tags from the dollar store; then slide a piece of card stock cut to size inside after scribing each guest’s name.

Does everybody have plastic grocery bags and other foldable resuable grocery totes stored in weird places in the kitchen or is it just me? Clean all that up by grabbing an embroidery hoop from the dollar store use load a pillowcase into it to create a cute DIY container to store grocery bags.

Use clothespins and scrap wood to create a spot near your back door to hang up hats, keys or other small items you may need on your way out.

Add some extra style to a party or dessert bar with a DIY cake stand. Grab a dollar store plate, a dollar store candlestick and tube of super glue, and you're ready to serve some cake.

For this hack, you'll need a tension rod (make sure you measure the width of your space first!), a couple of baskets, some glass jars and spray bottles. Use the tension rod to store baskets with dish towels and dish cloths off the floor of the cabinet, and then display your soaps, scrubbers and cleaners in glass jars.

This is technically a dollar store hack for somebody else's kitchen, but it also doubles as a great last-minute gift idea. Grab a mug, mini whisk and spatula from the dollar store, and then create the mug cake mix with ingredients you probably already have on hand.

All it takes to transform plain dollar-store candles into excellent additions to centerpieces for your table or island is some metallic leaf paint and some creativity. Try polka dots, chevron stripes, swirls or your own custom design.