There is a nook area just off of our family room and across from our sunken bar. The prior owner “flipped” the house and had intended to install two built in cabinets in the space and a wine fridge. Since the sunken bar already has a mini fridge and I don’t think having a wine bar across from our regular bar makes sense for our intended lifestyle, I would like to turn this area into a place for storage of kids toys with the hope that if there is a designated spot for toys, that they are more likely to be put away. I realize there probably will still be some toys thrown around.

We don’t have kids yet but hope to start a family asap. Since I don’t have kids yet it is hard to invision the type of storage I need. All I know is that when I go to my friends’ houses who have kids there always seems to be toys everywhere.

The prior owner never actually installed the two cabinets but we do have them. There is 28 inches of space left. We are building a wood counter too across. What should I do with extra space? Shelves? Drawers? More cabinets? Baskets? Any ideas are welcome.

Here is a pic of the space. The cabinets are assembled but we haven’t put the hardware on yet. Ignore holes in the wall (those will be repaired soon). I also included picture of kitchen cabinets so you can get an idea of what the cabinets will look like. I included a picture of family room (the nook is just to the roght behind the leather arm chair).

Thanks!