Looking for kitchen organization ideas? You’re in the right place!
Let’s be honest, you likely spend a good deal of your time in the kitchen. Between cooking, putting away groceries, the never ending dishes that need to be washed, and the constant snacks for tiny humans, I feel like I live in my kitchen some days. There’s a reason they call it the heart of the home. With as much time spent in the kitchen and the amount of things it’s meant to contain, it’s no wonder that it can so easily become cluttered and disorganized. For me, the kitchen is the hardest space of the home to keep organized. But tackling it all at once can be daunting and time consuming. So I’ve narrowed down ten steps that can help get things back on track and make your kitchen feel more organized.
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Kitchen Organizing Ideas
1. Uniformity with Spices
Creating uniformity within your space can not only aid in organization, but it’s just downright pretty. While I love a good Pinterest worthy space, I tend to lean more towards function over aesthetics. But in this case, you can really have both. Decanting your spices into uniform containers and adding an appealing label is a quick and easy way to transform your spice cabinet. I recommend this jar set, paired with these labels. The thing that I love about these jars in particular, is that because of their shape, they can easily be stored in a cabinet or a drawer. I prefer larger labels myself, which is why I use these labels instead of the ones that come with the bottles. It’s really a personal preference though.
2. Taming the Kitchen Utensils
Is it just me or is it maybe a little nuts how many kitchen utensils we accumulate (and use)? Keeping silverware and other utensils organized was a pain point of mine for many years. I’d always just used the cheap plastic caddy’s that came with the silverware set, and tossed everything else in the other half of the drawer. But then I’d be struggling to find the serving spoon I was looking for and grow frustrated, burning the house down in a mad rage…just making sure you’re paying attention here.
I’ve now grown to love expandable drawer units, especially those made from bamboo. They are so versatile and come in so many different shapes and sizes. When I’m in a funk and decide to completely rearrange things I can adjust these and use them in a completely different space. My go to for my basic silverware is this bamboo expandable drawer organizer by Pipishell. My youngest still prefers smaller forks and spoons, so this gives me plenty of space to store all of the various sizes of silverware, as well as some other basics.
For my larger utensils, I use these bamboo adjustable drawer dividers. I have wider kitchen drawers, so I’m able to get a few of these in the same drawer as the unit above. I love that they can be used vertically or horizontally (depending on your drawer size). They are super easy to adjust and stay in place perfectly. I’d recommend starting with the drawer unit above, and then seeing how much space you have to add these.
3. Knives Off the Counter
I have a slight pet peeve about having things on the counter. Don’t get me wrong, there are always things on the counters (thanks kids). But I prefer to keep things stored off the counter to try and control the clutter. I used to keep my knives in a butcher block on top of the counter, but recently transititioned to the Joseph Joseph Drawer Knive Block. At less than $10, it’s a cheap and easy way to clear some counter space.
4. Canned Goods Controlled
I like to keep a fairly well stocked pantry. That means I usually have a variety of canned goods in multiple quantities. I’d originally created a tiered system for my canned food, stacking two to three with the one in the back raised, but I had so many that it ended up taking up a tremendous amount of space. So I recently transitioned to this Chrome Stackable Can Organizers.
All I can say is I wish I’d made the change long ago. I gained so much space back and love the look of them. I didn’t stack mine, so I can’t speak to the stackability, but these things are heavy duty. I purposely spent a little extra on these after reading reviews and comparing others, simply because of the quality. They work great even for the larger cans. It’s so easy to keep track of where everything is now, and how much I have on hand.
5. Storage Containers and their Counterparts
Lets be honest, can you honestly say that you are satisfied with the state of your storage containers? They are the bane of my existence. A necessary evil. But I have found a few ways to keep them somewhat tidy (er). My first recommendation would be to take stock of what you have. When I recently tackled mine, I threw out everything and bough a whole new set. I was kind of pissed that I hadn’t done it before, I spent less than $8 (cuz I’m fancy like that).
Then, I splurged on the extras to keep it organized. I know you can buy the containers that come in their own lazy susan type of storage tower, but it’s not practical for our space. Since the lids seem to be the main clutter culprit, I use this lid storage organizer from YouCopia. They have smaller and larger options as well, depending on your quantity and sizes. I’ve found the medium has been perfect for my needs.
6. Pantry Clearing
I’ve gone back and forth over the years when it comes to using food storage containers in the pantry. I feel like I’ve finally found what works for me and my family. Like everything else, the systems we put in place change over time. For me, putting foods like cereal and snacks into storage containers doesn’t work. My family will not eat it if they don’t see the pretty flashy picture on the box. Don’t ask me why, I don’t get it. But the cereal will sit on that shelf and rot before they’ll acknowledge its existence. Whereas if it’s in its original box, it’s gone in a week.
So for me, I only use food storage containers for staples and baking items like flour, sugar, nuts, chocolate chips, rice, pasta, etc. That’s what works for me. I love using clear containers for these items because it’s not only aesthetically pleasing, but it helps me keep track of what I have on hand and when it needs to be replenished. There are many different types of food storage containers, but I’ve found that this set by Rubbermaid provides the best value at good quality. If you’re willing to spend a bit more, then the OXO Good Grips set is exceptional. While they’re a bit out of my price range, but I’ve scored a few pieces second hand and absolutely love them.
7. Bags and Bags and more Bags
Do you have a bag filled with other bags? How about all of the baby bags that they’ve managed to produce that seem to occupy every available space? If manage to accumulate plastic bags (I’m not even sure why we keep them any more), then consider using this wall mounted bag holder. I have ours mounted inside of our pantry, and it holds so many plastic bags that when it gets full I just recycle the others. I’ve been trying to use less plastic, but with grocery delivery there doesn’t seem to be another option, so here we are.
8. Brooms, Mops, and all the things
Next to our mounted bag holder, I have this genius wall mounted organizer. I love it SO much. I have our broom, swiffer, shark steamer mop, and duster all on this thing. It’s stable and steardy and keeps things in place. Since we installed this bad boy I haven’t once had to go searching for the broom. It’s always in its place.
9. Adding additional Space
While there are some things you can move around and store in different spaces, there are certain items that you feel the need to keep together. For example, my dishes. I have all of my plates and bowls in one cabinet. It wouldn’t make sense for us to store them seperately. But, even though our cabinets are good sized, we are all vertically challenged, which make the first two shelves the prime real estate.
So to add more usable space, I use these under the cabinet storage baskets. The uses for these things are endless and they are so handy. I have one hanging where we keep our dishes, and use it for our smaller plates. I have another hanging underneath the shelf we keep our pots and pans, using it for the lids. I have another I use with our tupperware, to hold the aluminum foil and zip lock bags. Then another for reusable water bottles. A friend of mine uses one in her cabinet next to her cleaning supplies to hold her cleaning gloves and cleaning rags. There really are so many uses for these things, helping add usable space where there was none.
10. Under the Sink
The space under the kitchen sink can get chaotic quickly. Using a drawer unit similar to this one can help keep things organized and more accessible. I use the top portion of mine for cleaning supplies, and the bottom portion for cleaning rags. Depending on the shape of your space and layout of your pipes, you may be able to fit two of these in there for even more storage.
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