5 ways (plus a bonus thought) to keep an organized kitchen
One of the most frequently used spaces in a home is the kitchen. Because it is used daily, it is also one of the easiest spaces to become cluttered.
Following a few simple guidelines can help you prevent clutter from building up.
1. Keep Things Where You Use Them
Whether your kitchen is enormous or has a tiny footprint, save yourself time and effort and store things close to where you use them.
Some of this is obvious, like pots and pans being kept near the stove or oven, and silverware and plates near the eating area. Mixing bowls and food prep tools are great near open stretches of countertop, and knives near the cutting boards. Cups and glasses are best near the refrigerator.
But I always like to ask clients how they use the space. Sometimes where I might prepare dishes is not where they do in practice. So, arrange your kitchen how you want it to be arranged – not how you think it should be arranged!
2. Group Like Items Together
This is a simple rule that can be applied all over your home. But in the kitchen, it can really be a daily lifesaver.
Store your wooden utensils in one ceramic container and store your metal ones in a drawer. Store your bakeware nested together in the one cupboard, all spices in the same drawer or shelf, and all canned goods together.
Generally, the place you first think they should be is a good place to store it. You may rethink that later – and you’re allowed to! – but the first place you think of is generally a good place to start.
But keep going to #3 to balance another aspect . . .
3. Store Your Most Frequently Used Items in the Most Accessible Places
I just told you to choose your storage location based on where you’d expect to find it. But a balanced approach will also consider how often you use it.
Keep things you use the most at eye level or in easy reach. Store heavy items down low and infrequently used items up above or even in a basement or storage closet.
A good example of this is a slow cooker on a shelf in the basement if you don’t use it a lot, with your stand mixer if you bake only occasionally. Formal serving ware can be kept in a display cabinet, picnic ware can be kept in the garage, and the fondue pot you use only on New Year’s Eve can be kept in a cupboard in the basement.
4. Use Drawer Dividers and Smaller Containers for Storage
Divide drawers into spaces that can usefully store and divide the contents.
For example, most people use a silverware divider to keep your spoons/forks/knives separated. The same concept can be used for canned goods using expandable bamboo drawer dividers or shallow containers. You can also repurpose items for this. An unused shallow food storage container can be filled with sandwich bags from a box too tall to slide into the drawer.
There are many shallow boxes available in various colors, types, and sizes that can be used to divide and store anything including seldom used serving utensils, hand towels, or measuring cups.
5. Declutter Once a Year
Once you have gone through the work of sorting, reducing, and storing all your kitchen items, plan to maintain that hard work for the future.
Move left to right, top to bottom around your kitchen space once a year. Take the time to rethink how you have been storing your items. Reduce unnecessary duplicates, remove items that are damaged beyond repair, and donate things no longer used.
While you’re at it, wipe down those shelves. This will give your kitchen a refresh and help you feel organized and prepared.
BONUS: Give Yourself Some Grace
Something I tell my clients all the time is that they do not live in a magazine.
If you’re reading this article, it is because you are interested in or hopeful to become an organized person with an organized kitchen. But you’re a real person. You have a life and activities that you love that do not include organizing your kitchen. You may even have people you live with that seemingly undo all the good organizing you just completed!
So, remember that you do not live in a magazine. You’re allowed to try a storage solution that ends up not working. That does not mean you can’t be organized – it just means that solution did not work for you. Give yourself some grace!
Organizing your kitchen – like so many other things – starts with the work of a major overhaul and continues with daily upkeep and annual checkups. You can do it!
When you're ready to tackle your tough organization project, I am here to help you learn how.
Let's RETHINK organization together.
For more information, visit the RETHINK website today.
Mandy Thomas is a professional organizer fulfilling her lifelong passion for creating order out of chaos. She finds joy in helping people tackle their most overwhelming spaces and collections to create the optimal living space and enjoy their homes.
RETHINK organization is on a mission to help you develop long-term patterns of organization that you can maintain and feel good about long after our work together is done.
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