By Mi-Ling Stone Poole –

DEAR MI-LING: I love dishes, and over the years I’ve collected numerous sets of dishes, but now I am at the point where I have run out of places to store them. All my cabinets are loaded down with dishes, and my husband is getting a little upset with all the dish clutter. Do you have any storage solution ideas?

Dish Addict

DEAR DISH ADDICT: I feel your pain. I too enjoy collecting dishes, glasses and just about anything to do with entertaining. I have butterfly dishes, dishes with tulips, black dishes, dishes with birds, holiday dishes and I could go on and on.

But here are a few ideas that have helped me, and might help with your dish storage situation.

Of course, you can always give away or donate some of your beautiful dishes to those special people in your life. If that’s not an option, set out on a hunt for storage solutions.

If you have cabinets without glass you can add a wire shelf to take advantage of the height of your cabinets. You can screw cup hangers into your lower cabinets to help with storing your mugs or tea cups. You can find a variety of plate racks and glass storage compartments to meet your needs as well.

Another idea I use a lot is to use a cake plate to stack dishes on top of, and then place tea cups around the base of the plate. I even bought some beautiful tea cup storage racks that are decorative at a tea room years ago. I was able to stack five cups and saucers on each rack. You can also stack your cups without a rack if your storage area is secure.

If possible, change out your cabinets and go for adjustable shelving, which will give you multiple options. Consider hanging some of your stemware and looking for new pieces of furniture that can be used to help you store. One example would be a sofa table with storage.

Another idea is to repurpose an unused closet and create a china closet just for your dishes. If you’re an empty-nester you might even use an entire room.

I also recently purchased an entertainment console for my living room. But since I don’t have a television in that space I used the cabinet to store some of my favorite tablecloths, napkins and a few of my serving pieces. The beautiful Schnadig cabinet has several drawers designated for CD storage; instead, I utilized that area for some of my napkin rings.

When looking for a space to store your dishes, don’t forget the walls. You can buy inexpensive shelving or plate racks and create a beautiful wall of dishes.

Whatever you decide, use your china, crystal and other serving pieces all the time. Don’t keep them just for special occasions. My theory is use them now because when we’re gone most likely all our stuff will end up in an estate sale.

How do you handle your dish clutter?