Yamazaki’s latest addition to its kitchen archive promises to double your storage. As someone who lives in New York City, I was immediately intrigued.
Being an avid heel collector, I’m already well acquainted with the brand’s viral shoe rack (I’m somehow squeezing 24 pairs), and I'm still grateful for the extra inches its sleek dish rack has bought me on my barely-there kitchen counter. Naturally, I inquired further.
The new Countertop Drawer is ideal small kitchen storage. It's designed to house your most-used appliances – think microwaves, toasters, espresso machines, tea kettles – up top, with two clever, two-way drawers underneath for utensils, dish towels, mugs, measuring cups, and whatever else you keep in heavy rotation.
Measuring roughly 25 inches long and 32 inches wide, this countertop kitchen storage unit earns back every inch it occupies – and then some. Available in black and white, it’s still new to the market – though early reviews indicate a perfect 5 stars.
Also double-sided are the vanishing pull-out shelves, which extend nearly 10 inches, creating additional countertop surface space when you need it – a neat perch for your coffee mug mid-brew, or for plates and bowls awaiting their turn in the microwave above. This was, indeed, designed by a company headquartered in Japan.
The new, wider iteration above builds on this earlier single-shelf storage design, offering the same expandable drawer and pull-out shelf functionality in a more compact 15-by-18-inch footprint. Small but mighty, and currently holding a 4.9-star rating.
While this storage system is intended for a small kitchen, I could easily see it moonlighting in an office as well, supporting a printer on top, cords and writing utensils tucked below. The world, frankly, is your oyster.
Could this be Yamazaki’s next Rolling Storage Cart-level viral hit? I wouldn’t be surprised.
How I'd Style It
With its clean lines and unfussy black-or-white palette, the styling potential of this Yamazaki Countertop Organizer is vast. Given its space-saving dimensions, here’s how I’d engineer the chicest little kitchen corner imaginable.
Everyone knows that a Fellow kettle doubles as decor. This is not something to banish to an appliance garage. Style it up top, then tuck mugs, tea bags, and stirrers neatly below for a cozy tea station.
It’s 2026. If you haven’t consolidated your air fryer and toaster oven into one sleek, do-it-all appliance, what exactly are you waiting for? Our Place’s ingeniously streamlined version slides onto both the new and the older, slightly smaller Yamazaki units like it was designed with them in mind.
Those 14-by-14-inch drawers are surprisingly generous, boasting space for a sizeable group of your favorite coffee and tea cups. Just mind the clearance: at 3.54 inches high, you’ll want something low-profile, like this sweet scalloped saucer set from Target.
It feels almost criminal to tuck dish towels this pretty into a drawer, but even Texas-toile Katie Kime linens need a proper home eventually. The only real dilemma: do we assign this particular brand of Lone Star whimsy to the right drawer, or the left?
Those oversized serving utensils you pull out twice a year but can never quite house properly? Slide them into one of the drawers. There’s ample room for everyday flatware, too, plus a few stray knives that never seem to fit anywhere else.
Safety first. When you’re sliding out whatever you’ve just air-fried above, a proper mitt is essential. This barely-there beige-on-cream gingham style just so happens to coordinate perfectly.
As a renter navigating the daily puzzle that is a studio-sized New York City kitchen, I’m constantly hunting for no-reno upgrades that make small kitchens feel bigger. With its clever two-way access and extendable surfaces, this might be the most genuinely useful organizer I’ve seen in a while.
I’m already plotting one atop my beloved IKEA kitchen cart – another small-space godsend.
