Super-sized medicine cabinets store it all

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Traditional medicine cabinets are almost always too small. Cram in your painkillers, Band-Aids and bath oil, hold your breath and slam the door. The next time you open it, of course, it all comes tumbling out.
Not so the storage spaces of the future. The New York Times says people are sprucing up their bathrooms with giant-sized cabinets spacious enough to hold a year's supply of body creams. They're adding secret compartments, lights and electrical outlets. Some medicine cabinets are floor-to-ceiling with locks to deter nosy guests with prying eyes.
And in families with shared space, couples want separate compartments to mark off territorial clutter, all the more reason to up the footage.
People need more space because they have more products, designers told the Times. In 2002, American consumers spent $85 billion on drug and beauty products, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, up 60 percent since 1990.