You spend a lot of time in your kitchen. And, with cabinets, pantries, and drawers that work to keep your stuff hidden and out of sight, you need to have things organized so that you can easily find them when needed. Think about it – when you have your family’s dinner in the oven and it is starting to burn, you need to get it out as soon as possible. Running to the other side of the kitchen to try to find potholders seems a bit ridiculous, doesn’t it?

An organized kitchen allows you to move through freely and easily, accessing everything you need without wasted time, space, or energy.

If you are ready to get your kitchen orderly, check out these tips.

Pantry Organization

It seems like a waste of time – and space – to store things you are not going to use. Take some time to empty out your pantry. Then, diligently go through items, one by one, to determine whether or not you will use it, or should you discard it. This is a great time to check “use by” dates, too.

The items you want to get rid of, put aside and donate them to a local food bank or soup kitchen. Everything else you want to keep, organize it by like items. For instance, put all the soups together, the beans together, the dinner sides together, the veggies together, the cereals together, etc.

By the time you are done, you should be able to open your pantry and know exactly where to go for what you need. No digging or shuffling should be required.

Refrigerator Organization

Refrigerators get used so much, but they so often get overlooked. It is easy to leave old takeout containers and leftover food in the refrigerator because it constantly gets pushed further and further back. Before you know it, you wonder why you cannot fit your new groceries in your refrigerator because you have so many old, unnecessary items in it.

Pick a day once a week to clean out your refrigerator. Perhaps the day before (or day of) your trash pickup would be your best bet. Pull out all takeout and leftover containers and discard the old ones. Check dates of perishable items, such as milk, yogurt, cheese, etc. Discard any that are overdue.

Wipe up any messes with a soft wet rag and soap.

Drawer Organization

Drawers are one of the very first things to seem to get out of hand in a kitchen. Thankfully, they don’t have to be. With a little organization, it is much easier to find things – and make sure it finds its way back to the drawer.

Buy yourself some drawer dividers. Instead of finding all of your silverware, mixing spoons, and the like thrown about, the dividers will work to keep everything a bit more organized. In addition, consider keeping like-items together. Here is what we mean: baking supplies and utensils should be kept together, while knives and sharp utensils should also be housed together. Everyday silverware should be kept in a drawer all its own and be separated using an organizer.

Organizing your cabinets

When it comes to organizing your cabinets, you will want to sort everything by the ease of use. In other words, the things that you use every single day should be put at a lower level. The dishes you tend to use only a couple times each year can go up on the higher, unreachable shelves. This keeps you from having to pull out a stool each time you make dinner.

Your cabinets should be grouped with similar objects. For example, all of your plates should be in one set of cabinets. Starting with your everyday plates on the bottom shelf. And, all of your glasses, mugs, and cups should have their own cabinet. Again, placing the ones you use most frequently on the bottom shelf.

Lower cabinets are often good for housing things such as the colander, mixing bowls, pots, pans, casserole dishes, etc. If you keep your pots and pans in a cabinet, be sure to make them easily accessible. Avoid having to dig for these items, especially if you frequently cook. Keep your lids together, your pots together, your pans together, and so forth.

Bonus organization tips and hacks

A few kitchen hacks can have you more organized than you have ever been. Remember, the idea is to keep your flow while cooking in the kitchen. This means everything needs to have a place – and it needs to remain there unless in use.

• Use a Lazy Susan. This turning platform allows you to stack up things, such as spices, and not have to worry about emptying the cabinet to find them. Instead, spin your Lazy Susan and easily see what is at every turn.
• Hanging things can make them easy to find – and keep them very, very accessible. Consider hanging mugs, pots and pans, or even utensils.
• Make sure of wicker baskets around your kitchen. They can organize things, such as papers or kitchen towels, and keep the area around them looking great.
• Make use of storage bins for other areas of the house – in the kitchen. For example, use an over-the-door shoe rack or a shower caddy in your pantry to hold extra items.
• Use hooks around your kitchen to hang items, such as pots and pans, utensils and such. Command hooks work wonderfully without damaging your cabinetry.
• Label everything. If you remove spices or baking items, such as flour or sugar from their initial packaging be sure to label everything. Not only does this mean it will end up in the space, but it also means that it will be easier to find.

Final thoughts 

Cooking wonderful meals in your kitchen and spending time with loved ones can be so much more enjoyable if your kitchen is clean and organized. You don’t have to spend a lot of time keeping it this way either. A few minutes every day or so can leave you with a beautifully organized space that you will be proud to call your kitchen.