Did you find an ancient can of beans in the back of your cabinet that you don’t even remember buying? Did that expensive black of cheese go bad because it got pushed behind everything else, and now you found it because of the smell? You are not only welcome here, but you’re also not alone. Keeping a kitchen organized can sometimes feel like a full-time job, but we hope that these tips and tricks will help you get organized and stay organized! And maybe save the next block of cheese you buy from getting wasted.
Clean and Useful Refrigerator Storage
With spilled yogurt, old veggies, and the questionable container of leftovers in the back, the refrigerator is likely the most neglected spot in your kitchen. Pull this week’s grocery haul out of its packaging and use plastic containers, glass containers, or woven baskets to organize them in a more useful and appealing way. You could even use ceramic cups filled with a bit of water to keep fresh herbs fresh for longer.
Drawer Storage for Everything
Plates and bowls traditionally go in a top cabinet, but organizing them in a drawer can make it easier for everyone in the family to reach in and grab what they need. This also eliminates the annoying way you have to reach behind the small plates to reach the smaller bowls while trying not to knock over the dessert plates.
Change boring to Aesthetically Pleasing
Our pantries and cabinets are filled with plastic packaging and cartoon characters on boxes. While these are great at selling you to buy the product, they aren’t too aesthetically pleasing when lined up in your pantry. So instead, use uniform baskets and bins to organize and hide all those colorful packages and transform your pantry into Pinterest goals!
Save Your Ears with Vertical Baking Sheet Storage
Do you warn the rest of the household when you’re about to pull out a muffin tin? So do we! The banging and clanging of baking sheets and cupcake tins are loud enough to wake the dead or a sleeping baby. So let’s avoid all that with vertical storage. Like a bookshelf of baked goods tools, storing your baking sheets in this way allows you to see and access all the items without needing to push, shove, and bang your way to the one you want.
Lazy Susans Aren’t So Lazy
You might have a lazy Susan corner cabinet or have a pretty wooden lazy Suzan on your dining room table. Either way, there are many more ways a “not so lazy” lazy Susan can be helpful around the kitchen. Find some affordable options on Amazon and use them to organize your oil and vinegar collection. This way, you can always see what you have and easily access them while cooking. In addition, you can use this same item to display your spices in a much more accessible way than lined up in a cabinet.
Drawer Organizers Are Your New Best Friend
Everyone has that famously annoying junk drawer in their home, but to avoid every drawer becoming a nightmare of reaching, shoving, and searching, try to use drawer organizers wherever you can. These can be used for eating utensils, cooking utensils, and even the infamous junk drawer. Even if each section has a weird combination of items, it will be much easier to find that single AAA battery you’re looking for if it’s not piled under the collection of take-out menus.
Utilize Every Corner You Have
Not all of us have been blessed with Chrissy Teigen’s kitchen and the unfathomable amount of storage she must have. However, we can make the most of what we have and get creative. For example, many kitchens have cabinets with exposed sides at the end of the cabinet row. The sides of your cabinets are a great place to put shelves or hanging racks where you can store smaller items. Or you can create a bit of a DIY project for yourself and turn your toe-kick area into a thin drawer for items you use less often or for items that don’t seem to have a place. Like those hot dog sticks the kids had to have.
Use Your Kitchen Tools as Decoration
When you’re running out of space or don’t have enough storage for your collection of pots and pans, maybe consider taking them out of the cabinets and hanging them on the walls. Not only will this free up an enormous amount of space, but it will also provide decoration for your kitchen. Of course, this could also work for knives. A magnetized wall hanging device can bring your knives up and out of the way but still have them accessible.
Create a Cookbook Library
If your kitchen cabinets don’t quite reach the ceiling, you don’t have to leave this space for dust bunnies. This is an excellent opportunity to show off your cookbook collection or a beautiful plant. You could even find a pretty basket and hide random bits and bobs that don’t have a place in the kitchen. A good example is food processor attachments. These are great when you need them, but they take up awkward space in a drawer, and you could cut your finger on them. Use a basket with an older towel to protect them and get them up and out of the way.
A Sponge Holder Can Hold More Than a Sponge
Those annoying little packets of organic gummies that the kids love make organizing the pantry a headache. So you either use the giant box they came in and lose a bunch of space, or you throw them on a shelf, and you lose a bunch to the “back of the cabinet monster”. Instead, use a sponge holder to stack these smaller packaged items and get them up and out of the way, but still easy to find and quickly grab.
Don’t Hide Those Pretty Mugs
While your mug collection might be a little out of control, that doesn’t mean it should be hidden in a cabinet and taking up precious storage space. Display those awesomely unique mugs by hanging them on hooks on the underside of a cabinet. This makes them easy to see and receive compliments on them and easy to grab while making your favorite hot drink in the morning.
While all of these tips and tricks will help you organize your kitchen and make it look like it belongs on the cover of a magazine, they won’t help if you don’t keep up with it. So while grocery shopping is exhausting and you just want to sit down when you get home, take the time to put everything away in its rightful spot. This will make life for future you much more manageable, and things will stay cleaner and more organized for longer.
