5 Simple Kitchen Organization Solutions For You
These simple kitchen organization tips will keep your kitchens the center of your homes!
They’re the one room where everyone migrates to at the most inopportune times.
The room where we have spontaneous discussions with our children; where we find out that our kids’ favorite dish from last week is suddenly gross!
Our kitchens bring us great joy when we are preparing a meal for others and great distress when the meal we’re preparing is a total flop!
Since our kitchens are the center of so much activity, it’s nice if they’re well organized so we can find the right tool in those moments of rushed dinner panic! An organized kitchen can definitely help the reluctant cook overcome their fears of tackling a recipe. In general, an organized space will provide energy and confidence that a cluttered space absolutely zaps!
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5 Simple Kitchen Organization Solutions For You!
Kitchen Organization Solutions #1 – Store Like Items Together
Efficiency should be the theme of our kitchens, don’t you think? One way we can create efficiency in our kitchens is through zones! I’m not talking about zone defense. Anyone else watching The Last Dance? Lots of basketball on my mind…Back to our kitchens!
Storing like with like, or in Zones, is one of the basic premises of organization. Applying it in our kitchens is pretty much straight forward. What common purposes do the supplies and ingredients in your kitchen serve?
Think of your cabinets, shelves and drawers as the boundaries for your zones. Think about all the things you have in your kitchen. Many organizers would say empty every cabinet out so you can see exactly what and how much you have. You can definitely do this if you have the time and energy!
You could have a Baking Zone – Flours, sugars, extracts, baking powder, baking soda, chocolate chips, sprinkles, etc. Keep these items close together and your baking times will be more enjoyable and accomplished much more efficiently!
You could have a Paper Goods Zone – Paper plates, plastic eating utensils, paper napkins and paper/plastic cups could all be stored together on a shelf.
You could have various Utensil Zones – Store utensils together by their purpose. Have a section of a drawer devoted to serving utensils, things that cut (knives, pizza cutters, vegetable peelers, etc.), eating utensils, or cooking utensils. You could also designate a place for your randomly used items to be together like egg white separators, food scales, coozies, rolling pins, and more.
Your Zones will be personalized to your own kitchen. As I’ve helped clients organize their kitchens, I’ve found that we all have very different kitchen habits!
Kitchen Organization Solution #2 – Store Items Closest To Where You Use Them
Now that your kitchen is zoned, consider where you use the items in your zones.
Think about where you stand in your kitchen while you’re baking. If you have a specific counter where you stand to mix your ingredients or where your stand mixer is housed on your counter, store your baking ingredients within reach.
Your baking pans, frying pans, saucepans, and pots should be housed close to the stove! That is, after all, where you typically use them, right? Save yourself some steps by keeping them within reach while you’re preparing meals at your home.
Store the items you use most when standing at your stove together. Oils, salt and pepper, your go-to spices, etc. – should be within reach while you’re sautéing, boiling, or frying your favorite dishes at your stove. Maybe have a little turntable holding these most used items in a cabinet right beside your stove.
Kitchen Organization Solution #3 – Keep All Unnecessary Items Off Of Your Counters
Nothing is more frustrating than trying to prepare a meal and having zero empty space on the counter to place a mixing bowl! Even our decorative items become clutter when they start overtaking our counter space! Walk around your kitchen and decide whether the things you keep on your counter all of the time are really necessary.
How often do you use the toaster or the blender? If not daily, find a place to store it until you need it. How many of the utensils in that crock by your stove do you use daily? I keep 4 spatulas in a glass jar beside my stove. The rest are in a drawer where I can get to them when I need them. Is there some other location where you can charge your phones or drop your keys when you walk in the door?
Whatever adjustments you can make to preserve your counter space, you’ll be glad you did!
Kitchen Organization Solution #4 – Keep Your Most Used Dishes Close To The Dishwasher
Dishes! Don’t we all hate doing the dishes? There have been times in my life when I dreaded cooking because I didn’t want to have to clean up my mess! In our current quarantine state, this is especially true. Thankfully, we have relegated dishwasher unloading to our kids!
Why not make the dreaded dishes task easier? Keep the things that end up in your dishwasher the most – plates, cups, bowls, silverware – as close to the dishwasher, or sink, as possible.
Can you see my laziness coming out in these suggestions? I want to do as little work as possible, especially if it’s attached to the word CLEANING!
Kitchen Organization Solution #5 – Purge Unused Kitchen Utensils and Small Appliances
Raise your hand if you’ve purchased some kitchen gadget that promised to make your life easier, except in reality it didn’t fulfill its promise? I had a tiny food processor once that I used a hand full of times and then just quit using. It took longer to get it out and set up than it did for me to get a knife and cut whatever vegetable I needed.
I feel about this same way about my Instant Pot! I basically use it to cook chicken in a pinch and boil eggs! I look at recipes designed for the Instant Pot and often think I could do it all in one pot on the stove just as easily. And let’s not forget that the Instant Pot isn’t all that instant! Yes it’s quick, but it still takes time to let the pressure build. I do love my crockpot, though!
Now that you know my feelings on the Instant Pot, think about the kitchen utensils and small appliances you have hiding in your cabinets that you never use! Coffee Grinder? Waffle maker? George Foreman Grill? Kitchenaid Mixer attachments? Various sized and shaped baking pans? Excessive wooden spoons? You know what’s lurking in your cabinets and drawers, or maybe you don’t!
Purge those bad boys! Create space where those bulky items were collecting dust!
Your time spent in your kitchen should bring you joy! Cooking, entertaining, and preparing meals for those we love is so good for our souls. Create a kitchen environment that brings out the happy and not the sad!
What are your favorite kitchen organization tips?
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Beth Shields
May 11, 2020 at 6:53 PMGreat article and very motivating. Like the suggestion to keep things closest that you use the most. I have a very small pantry and that seems to be such a challenge. That will be my next opportunity. Thanks!
Tricia Snow
May 11, 2020 at 7:15 PMI wish I could get things off of my counter. I just have no other place to put our supplements. And it looks terrible!
Danielle Ardizzone
May 11, 2020 at 8:14 PMI have trouble getting rid of things I don’t use; I’m always afraid I’ll need them two days after I throw them out.
Charlene
May 14, 2020 at 1:57 AMOh my gosh, me too!!
Jen Wade
May 14, 2020 at 2:20 AMIf you’re on the fence, put them in a box or bin – out of your kitchen for 6 months and see if you need them again.
Holly
May 11, 2020 at 9:12 PMGreat tips and advice! I love an organized kitchen it make cooking and baking so much easier and fun!
Jen Wade
May 14, 2020 at 2:20 AMIt does, doesn’t it?
Debbie
May 12, 2020 at 12:56 AMAgree with all of these tips! Love that lazy susan, with sides, so nothing flies off!
Jen Wade
May 14, 2020 at 2:21 AMThe sides are so good for things that don’t stay upright very well when they’re spun around!
Kim
May 12, 2020 at 1:23 AMAh, the heart of the home. I agree, when it’s clutter free it brings a certain peace and makes cooking more enjoyable.
Jen Wade
May 14, 2020 at 2:22 AMYes! Cooking is so much more fun when there’s not a mess to start with!
Lisa Maslyk
May 12, 2020 at 1:30 AMGreat advice! I need to organize my whole house!
Kirsten
May 12, 2020 at 1:55 AMI love things to be organized. These are great tips
Lee Anne
May 12, 2020 at 11:42 AMThe kitchen is my favorite room in the house. I need to do a little purging 🙂
Sara - Seek Discover Learn
May 12, 2020 at 12:37 PMA few weeks ago I went through my kitchen and purged and organized it. I finally made the decision to get rid of some things that I haven’t used in years. It’s so nice having a little extra space in the kitchen now. I wish I could have my counters completely cleared off, and while I made some progress, I’m still not there yet.
Jen Wade
May 12, 2020 at 1:41 PMGood for you! We’re moving in a few weeks and my kitchen storage is going to be much smaller than what I have here so I’m about to make some purge decisions of my own!
Suzan | It's My Sustainable Life
May 12, 2020 at 12:38 PMGreat tips! Putting things back where you find them always help as well. I have a family that loves to move my stuff around 🙂
Jen Wade
May 12, 2020 at 1:39 PMHa! Putting things back in the right place is key! I have a cutting board that my kids have hidden from me!
Linda Egeler
May 12, 2020 at 2:42 PMI’m sharing you post with my mom. She’s been after me to organize my kitchen for years!
Eva Keller
May 12, 2020 at 6:22 PMI’m so afraid of purging kitchen stuff! I have past roommates that basically just left everything and I had my own stuff too, so now I have 2-3 sets of everything but I’ve kept it all because I don’t know when I might need it and I don’t love doing dishes so I can let them pile up a little because I know I have backups. Lol, its a really bad habit that I probably could break if I just purged. Don’t worry though, I don’t let anything pile up for more than 2 or 3 days at a time.
Crystal
May 12, 2020 at 7:40 PMGreat tips! I love your kitchen and the ideas you mentioned are so helpful! I don’t like anything on my counters as it feels cluttered. Having specific spaces in the right areas is so important!
heather J jandrue
May 12, 2020 at 8:02 PMCan you come organize mine? LOL! This is great. I am saving these tips and hope to put them into practice.
Jen Wade
May 13, 2020 at 2:11 AMIt depends on where you live! 🙂
Kendra
May 12, 2020 at 8:50 PMI have such a kitchen clutter problem because I just HAVE to have EVERY cool gadget and utensil out there! Great tips!
Lisa Manderino
May 12, 2020 at 11:04 PMI really need to work on my kitchen organization! I probably need to get new utensils too!
Santana
May 13, 2020 at 3:33 PMMy husband is always putting things in the wrong drawer! 😂 At least he helps with the dishes I guess.
Ethel
May 13, 2020 at 6:54 PMI’ve been putting off organizing my kitchen. These are great tips! I think I’m going to try & finally do this weekend.
Jen Wade
May 14, 2020 at 2:19 AMYou won’t regret it!
Jane
May 14, 2020 at 3:37 AMGreat tips here! When we had our house built, the one must have for our kitchen is a pull out drawer besides our oven to store the commonly used items. It was the BEST upgrade ever!
Jen Wade
May 18, 2020 at 12:39 AMThat sounds fantastic. Way to think ahead!
Sandi
May 14, 2020 at 4:19 PMThese are all great tips. Clutter is a hot button issue for me!!
Katherine Wolfe
May 14, 2020 at 11:52 PMI LOVE an organized kitchen and these tips look amazing! I especially like the idea of keeping unnecessary stuff off the counters. I cannot live with cluttered counters…just ask my family, ha ha!
Tonya | the Writer Mom
May 15, 2020 at 4:05 PMThanks! I’m always looking for ways to get more organized. I have one kitchen drawer in particular that needs some attention.. 🙁
Tiffany
May 17, 2020 at 3:51 PMThese are some great ideas – I need to figure something out with my coffee area – some of these might help a bit!
Alice
May 18, 2020 at 12:57 AMSome great ideas! I have the world’s smallest kitchen, or at least it feels like it! Right now it’s in HELP mode!
Cindy
May 18, 2020 at 2:48 AMThese are excellent suggestions! Purging is what I need to do next! I do love a place for everything and everything in its place.
Melissa Jones
May 18, 2020 at 3:49 AMGreat tips!
Ruth Iaela-Pukahi
May 24, 2020 at 11:30 PMGreat tips! I really need a bigger kitchen. lol. I’ve been trying to store all unnecessary things in the cabinets but we don’t have enough space. Maybe it’s time to get rid of the smaller crockpot. I wanted to keep it so I could make the main dish in one and the vegetables in the other…hmmm…
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April 4, 2021 at 9:06 PM[…] the spring, I wrote a post with my Kitchen Organization Basics, but I thought I would go a step further and share some of my favorite products that are great for […]