7 Easy Kitchen Organization Ideas
As you set up the kitchen in your brand new home, it’s smart to incorporate some new organizational strategies to make your life better. Of course, kitchen organization has to be something that works well for your specific needs, so you shouldn't always follow the advice of experts...except us, of course! In all seriousness though, what works well for someone else may not be the right choice for you.
1. Use Drawer Organizers
There’s no shame in having a junk drawer, but you’ll be a lot happier with all of the drawers in your kitchen if you make good use of drawer organizers. Of course, you can always use a silverware tray, but there are many more options available these days. You can find ones that offer dual layers to really make use of the space, and ones that are completely adjustable so you can make sections as big or as small as you need them. Shop around to find one that’s right for you.
2. Double Your Shelf Space
Often, the shelves in the kitchen cupboards are tall so they can accommodate tall water bottles or boxes of cereal. If you have short things in that cupboard, though, you have a lot of wasted space. Use that space by adding shelf risers to give you more storage in that area. These are inexpensive at most home goods stores and you can get some that will adjust in size to fit your cupboards.
3. Use Command Hooks
If you hang things up, they’re out of the way. Command hooks stick well to almost any surface, and they’re designed to hold fairly heavy loads. For instance, you could use these hooks to hang the pans over your stove or spoons and spatulas in a spot that’s easy to reach. You can even hang some on the inside of the cupboard door to put measuring cups and spoons.
4. Put Vertical Dividers in the Cupboards
Adding vertical dividers in your cupboards works well for organizing things like baking sheets, muffin tins, and cutting boards. Usually, people stack these items, which makes it difficult to retrieve the item on the bottom. If they’re set on their sides with dividers, though, you can easily grab anything you need.
5. Organize with Containers
Your kitchen needs containers - lots of containers. You can use them to store pantry basics like cereals, flour, and pasta in a pretty and organized way. You can use small Tupperware containers in the junk drawer to keep things like paper clips or rubber bands. You can have a nice bowl for fruit, and a basket for dish towels.
If there’s anything making your kitchen cluttered, find an attractive container to put it in.
6. Put Lazy Susans in Corner Areas
Cabinets set in corner areas tend to have a lot of wasted space because it’s too hard to reach the things that are in the far back corner. If you want to make better use that area, install a lazy Susan. People also like putting these on the table to make it easier to pass the salt or on the counter to store spices. There are a lot of places where this little tool can work.
7. Get Non-Kitchen Items Out of the Kitchen
One of the hardest parts of keeping a kitchen tidy is a lot of stuff gets left here. Kids leave their toys or backpacks. Unread mail gets placed on the counter. Schoolwork and permission slips are stacked in their own pile. These things don’t need to be in the kitchen. Instead, make sure all of these items have their own place somewhere in the house - like the family command centre. The backpacks stay in the mudroom. Lunch boxes come in, get emptied, and make their way to their own corner of the kitchen. Mail gets sorted next to the mailbox. Car keys get hung up inside the door.
They say the kitchen is the heart of the home, and you’ll spend a lot of time in this room. For this reason, you'll want to get your 'heart' in tip-top shape by getting it organized and keeping it that way.
