The Best Butter Dishes and Food Containers to Organize Your Fridge

The Queen of Fridgescaping, Lynzi Judish, has displayed this particular non-Sonic ceramic hedgehog in several of her themed fridges, including her designs inspired by The Hobbit and the Starz historical drama, Outlander. It’s ideal for her maximalist, royalty-in-the-woods themed fridgescapes, but just look at it: With a cute little mushroom as a handle, this butter dish would be charming on its own, too. Maybe you never knew you wanted to store your butter inside a winsome little hedgehog, but just imagine telling guests who want butter: “It’s in the mushroom-topped hedgehog!” 

If a cutesy cottagecore butter dish isn’t exactly your vibe, perhaps a French Art Deco look will be more your thing. This chic dish features a graphic black, white, and gold color palette that would complement a variety of kitchen colorways. I’m imagining a Great Gatsby-inspired fridge stocked with several bottles of Champagne and this stylish butter vessel.

I find Weck jars inexplicably sexy; their strong lines and wide mouths make them both pleasing to look at and functional. But I don’t always love fussing with their little metal tabs or rubber gaskets, so I’m a big fan of these acacia wood lids. They’re easy to open and have the added benefit of bringing in a hint of the natural world to keep your fridge from feeling overly sterile. These are great for storing pickled goodies as well as salad dressings, sauces, and soups.

Fresh berries have a painterly quality that fridgescapers love to display, and this colander-box looks like the fruit crates you see at the farmers market. Made of glazed porcelain, they also have the durability to withstand daily use and refrigeration. Plus, the air circulation around the berries will help them avoid mold and last longer. They come in three colors, including white, a pale blue, and this mint shade.

There are dozens of egg holders on the market, and some are much more aesthetic than this one, but they’re typically flat and don’t have lids, which invites disaster. And there is nothing sadder than a squashed egg that never had a chance to become huevos rancheros. This model holds 14 eggs at a time, which is ample for my family of four, but if you’re a more voracious egg consumer, get two and stack them on top of each other, taking advantage of your fridge’s vertical space.

These ceramic vessels from Caraway are a level up from your standard clear reusable containers for leftovers. They’re microwave safe and the subdued hues are beautiful to behold.  They’re also still practical. Transparent lids allow you to keep an eye on what’s inside — avoiding those unfortunate moments when you realize, too late, that your leftover mapo tofu has succumbed to nature’s cruelties.

Baskets and compartments are an organizer’s best friend — and they’re essential for keeping a tidy fridge. These white, powder-coated steel baskets from Ikea are ideal for tucking in produce drawers to keep your okra from rolling into your eggplant and causing a total scene.

These bright yellow powder-coated iron baskets bring a little countertop charm to the inside of the fridge. I like them for storing apples and citrus and other things that tend to roll around, willy -nilly, whenever I open the produce drawer.

Big, clunky wine bottles can take up a lot of real estate inside the fridge, but storing them horizontally is a practical way to make use of your space and provide easy access to your pét nats and lambruscos. Like the egg holders I love, these are stackable, so go ahead and buy a few more bottles.

These spring-loaded drink can holders make my fridge feel like a well-stocked hotel mini fridge, adding a touch of luxury. Other versions of this kind of drink holder are often quite large, but you can buy this version one row at a time to suit your personal canned beverage needs.

For the most part, milk comes in cardboard or plastic cartons these days, which is a shame because we can pretty much all agree that the glass milk jars of yesteryear are way more charming. Channel that bygone splendor with these quart-sized glass bottles and let yourself imagine they were delivered by a dapper milkman.

If you’re dealing with bigger volumes of liquid, this 60-ounce handled jar is the way to go. Bonus: Its vintage-style ribbed glass will fit right in with the Great Gatsby-themed fridge you designed around your Art Deco butter dish.

Fridgescaping relies on maintaining a meticulously clean fridge at all times, but cleaning fridges — removing and scrubbing shelves and drawers — is laborious. These non-adhesive shelf liners, which come in patterns such as lemon or yellow flowers, make things easier and more beautiful. Just wipe them down with a damp cloth and pop them back in place to keep your fridge looking fresh as a daisy.