Should You Store Cups Facing Up or Down? Experts Weigh In

I was raised in a cups-right-side-up household, where my dad wouldn't fill a glass with tap water without blowing into it first. "Just making sure there aren't any spiders in there," he explained. There zero cup spiders on record, likely because my family downed a gallon of milk a day and cycled through all the cups to do so, leaving no time to even collect dust, let alone creatures.

Nowadays, I store my cups upside down—except two blush vintage French coupes—mostly because that's how I'd seen it done on trendy home design shows. But is there actually a right way to store your cups? To get to the bottom (or top?) of the issue, I turned to the experts and leave it to organizing professionals to know a kitchen cabinet like the back of their hand.

The Right Way To Store Your Cups, According to Professional Organizers

If you've ever wondered whether to store your favorite water glass, diner mug, souvenir plastic cup, champagne flute, or 24-karat gold-rimmed teacup right side up or upside down, the answer is: It depends. Luckily, your best bet is easily revealed by your daily routine.

"If your main concern is keeping dust out, upside-down storage can be a great idea, as it prevents dust and debris from settling inside the cups," says Aaron Traub, owner of Professional Organizer New Orleans. Think under-shelf stemware racks for fragile wine glasses. "However, for cups you use daily, I recommend using upright storage, as it tends to be more practical. It avoids moisture buildup and makes grabbing them quick and easy." If you're tight on real estate, Traub suggests shelf risers, which take advantage of vertical space and create air circulation around damp glassware.

Over at SK Organizing, certified professional organizer Shara Kay says the best cup storage method complements your lifestyle. "We store drinking glasses in either direction, taking in some considerations such as frequency of use, shape, and delicacy of the glassware, and whether glasses are exposed to dust on open shelving or protected behind closed cabinet doors." Overall, the SK Organizing team prefers cups facing up, except for one organizer who admitted to simply being in the habit of storing them upside down. Plus, it keeps dust out of vintage barware that might only be used for special occasions.

All in, it seems like right-side-up may be the key to storing cups you use on the daily, along with any glassware with chippable rims. But if you don't want to worry about dust collecting in your holiday-themed coffee mug, flip it upside down until you need it.

As for my own cup collection, I recently rescued a spider that had fallen into my stainless steel water bottle, which I left to dry, facing up (turns out, my dad was right!). Maybe we're all a little Team Cups Up and Team Cups Down, depending on the day—and the cup.

Read the original article on SIMPLYRECIPES