How to Organize Your Kitchen

If you’re like most of us, you’re spending more time than ever in your kitchen. A well-organized kitchen not only helps you be more efficient while cooking, but also saves valuable space. And when you organize your kitchen, it looks better, making it a more inviting place.  

4 Steps to Organize Your Kitchen
Declutter first

The first step is to declutter your kitchen. Throw away expired spices, put away seldom-used items and keep out only the items you use on a daily basis.

Don’t just do a minimal declutter — plan to do a deep sweep, digging out what’s hiding in kitchen cabinets and junk drawers. Have a large trash bag or box handy to collect cookware and other kitchen stuff to give away or donate.  

Give your kitchen a clean sweep

After you’re done with your decluttering, deep clean your kitchen using your favorite cleaning products and tools. If it’s been awhile since you gave your kitchen a good cleaning from top to bottom, now’s the time.

Before putting everything back, wipe shelves and vacuum drawers. Clean the tops and fronts of your appliances and cabinets. Pay special attention to the area surrounding the handles or knobs on cabinet doors. If grime is left too long, it can bond with paint or stain, making it impossible to remove the grime without removing the paint or stain. 

Organize with zones

Create zones to keep your kitchen more organized. The three major working areas in your kitchen are near the fridge, the oven and the sink. Think about where you use items and let that dictate where they should be stored.

For example, you might decide to keep daily-used utensils such as dishes, mugs, cups, silverware and serving utensils near your dishwasher. Store pots, pot holders and baking utensils near your oven. Create a pantry zone to keep dry spices and other dried goods – maybe near your refrigerator so that all of your food is in one general location.

Apply “small space” organizing solutions 

You don’t need to give away things you love just because you have a small kitchen. You just need to get creative in utilizing all of the space available, especially hanging space.

Hooks are a great organizing tool for serving utensils, mugs and more. Freestanding risers on shelves are another simple organizing solution that transforms unused space.

If you have limited countertop space for food preparation, you might consider installing a slide-out prep station. Position it so that you can easily scrape peels and scraps into the garbage.

One final note: While you may be tempted to buy organizing products to organize your kitchen, do that AFTER you declutter so you know exactly what, if anything, you need. 

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Katie Tejada is a writer, editor, and former HR professional. She enjoys writing about decorating trends and innovations for the home, but also covers developments in HR, business communication, recruiting, real estate, finance, law, and investing.

Full Disclosure: Some links in this blog post are affiliate links. If you click a link and purchase something, I will get a small percentage of the sale (at no additional cost to you). Please know that I only recommend products or services I use personally and/or believe are of value to my readers. 

Photo by Creatv Eight on Unsplash

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