Mainly the medium size ones with sloped edges into a groove at the bottom so they nest and stack nicely, but this can also apply to other containers. Angled jars, yogurt cups, that sort of thing. Anything of comfortable carrying size with an uneven bottom or non-vertical sides, but I'll group them all under "sloped bins" for simplicity.
Stop using them for storage, particularly active storage. Seasonal is fine. If you unpack and repack something a few times a year, the storability of the bin (i.e. will it stack with other bins) matters more than the ergonomics of going through the bin itself.
The big bins get a pass because if you need that much storage, storing the bins becomes a problem regardless. If you are in charge of organizing a workshop full of giant bins of actively used parts, ignore this post entirely and go buy more stacking bins.
I've been there.
When storage trumps all other concerns, there's never enough bins.
But for something you might be poking through every day like pantry items or hobby supplies, the ergonomics of sloped bins is just awful.
What's that? You don't store things you use every day?
If that's true I'm impressed, but personally I have enough stuff in the about weekly usage range that I want easy access to without flooding my worktops. I'm still trying to get down to the point where I didn't need storage bins, but it's not quite good enough.
Nothing fits neatly in sloped bins.
There's always random junk sliding around in the bottom groove and any semblance of internal organization is immediately ruined by the extra space between vertical and the sides. Things run around the edges while you root around the center of the bin because there isn't a stable wall for them to lean against. You can't divide up the space because then you need uniquely cut dividers which will match the contour of the bin.
You'd think this could be solved with something which can fit into that space, like clothes. (Don't store your clothes stacked in sealed plastic bins, please.) But that's still not true, because either you stack which means the top layers need to be consistently progressively wider, or you cram things in vertically which means the angles are ruined after you take one thing out.
Sloped bins don't fit neatly into the world
They take up a deceptive amount of work and storage space because you interpret the size of the bin as the bottom footprint, but it takes up the space of the extra wide top.
You can't nest different sizes because of the differing side angles.
There's weird gaps when you put them side by side.
They don't stack with anything other than themselves.
You have committed to ecosystem lock-in by using a sloped bin. An ecosystem, for bins.
Why would you do that to yourself?
Replacements
Please don't take this as a message to run to the store and buy a bunch of square stacking acrylic bins. They look nice, but you're still committing to ecosystem lock in and they're ludicrously expensive for the value.
Phase things out slowly. Storage is hard and in most cases you'll need to spend more time purging out old junk than actually organizing things.
For this particular use case of medium size bins for items used at least once a week with uncertain storage requirements, I recommend cardboard shoeboxes.
They're lightweight, usually include lids, cheap, reasonably study, and come in assorted useful sizes. Most importantly, nice vertical sides.
You probably have a couple around somewhere. You don't need to be precious with them, they just work almost anywhere and are easy to move around. Perfect as psuedo-drawers for a shelf or to carry a small collection of supplies to different room.
They probably shouldn't be your permanent solution, but I've yet to be convinced any organization scheme I've worked out is worth a permanent solution.
- Rew
Nightly Notes
I'm not actually sure most people should bother taking this advice. You have more fundamental storage issues to work out before you get to the point where bin type matters.
At the same time, ergonomics matters. Having commonly used things in a bin which you can actually just use without the sides being obnoxious, matters.
Most of my opinions on storage are traceable to a deep-seated desire to have less things because more things means more problems. It's not minimalism, it's laziness.
This blog is a manifestation of the lazy urge to agonize over mundane choices. Half my problems are of my own making, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
- Rew