Since clearing out my kitchen cupboards recently, I’ve been able to move many of the items I used to keep on the countertop into that newly freed up cupboard space. What a difference it made — my kitchen looks bigger and brighter than ever now!
That got me thinking about other ways I could streamline and achieve my goal of an organized kitchen while making my kitchen both easier to use and nicer to look at. After some research and brainstorming, I came up with 9 practical kitchen organization tips to share with you today.
Check them out and see what you might be able to use in your own kitchen!
9 Practical Tips for a More Organized Kitchen
1. Get Rid of Unnecessary Items
Every good organizing effort should start with an effort to identify and get rid of any unnecessary clutter in the area. Go through your stuff and figure out what you can sell, donate, or give away, which will both reduce the amount of items you have to organize later, and make it easier to do so by freeing up some additional storage space.
(Drawing a blank? This list of kitchen items to get rid of should give you some ideas.)
2. Consider Your Countertops
In many kitchens, countertop space is extremely valuable real estate, so be mindful of how you’re using yours. Avoid cluttering them up with too much stuff — a good rule of thumb is to limit your countertop to items you use every day, and keep everything else in a cupboard, drawer, etc.
For more tips that can help you tidy up your countertops, check out my list of what should be kept on the counter.
3. Store Ingredients in Space-Saving Containers
Store bulk ingredients like flour and sugar in neat, stackable containers and label them so you can easily find what you need. These storage containers have saved me a lot of shelf space in my pantry!
Plus, you can refill your containers by shopping in the bulk section at the store. These items are often quite a bit cheaper than their packaged counterparts, so it’s a smart way to save money.
4. Keep Fruit in a Fruit Basket
Corral produce that doesn’t need to be kept in the refrigerator in a wire fruit basket. Fruit baskets not only allow you to easily see what you have on hand, but they also allow for airflow that will keep your fruit fresh longer — a win-win!
5. Hang Things up on Adhesive Hooks
Use adhesive Command hooks to hang your oven mitts or pot holders somewhere near your oven. This will free up space in your drawers and keep your oven mitts closer to the area where you use them most.
You can also use Command hooks to hang measuring spoons and other small items on the inside of a cupboard door or wherever they’d be handiest. It’s a lot easier than digging for them in a drawer!
6. Use Your Cupboard Doors
Speaking of the insides of your cupboard doors, another way to use that space is to hang the lids to your pots there. You can do this with Command hooks by using two hooks at the bottom to support the lid, along with one at the top to hold it in place.
Cookware lids can be one of those things that take up a lot of space when stored elsewhere, so this could free up some very valuable storage space in your kitchen. (And check out other ways to use Command hooks here.)
More Ideas You'll Love
7. Keep Necessities Close
Set up an area somewhere near your stove to store your most-used cooking items. For instance, I keep cooking oils, a ramekin of salt, and a pepper grinder next to my stove, since I use those all the time when I’m cooking.
You can do the same thing with your coffee-making supplies or other often used items. Arranging them on a nice platter (there are some pretty cute ones at Home Goods!) will help keep them neat and organized.
8. Find the Right Organizers
If there’s something in your kitchen that has become an organizational pain point, do a search on Amazon or Google, looking for “[item name] organizer.” You’ll be amazed at the types of organizers you can find for coffee and tea, underneath your sink, and spices and seasonings.
Finding the right organizer can be a game-changer. For instance, this adjustable rack for pots and pans can be configured in a dizzying number of different ways, making it easy to find the ideal setup for your unique collection of cookware.
9. Think Creatively
There are plenty of items that can help you get organized that aren’t considered “kitchen items,” like pegboard, mason jars, and magnets. Pegboard is highly versatile and can provide additional storage space for all sorts of things.
You can use mason jars to corral and store things, and you can use magnets to turn any metal surface (and some non-metal ones!) into more storage space.
Want Even More Kitchen Organizing Hacks?
- For even more tips and tricks that can help you keep your kitchen organized, check out these posts:
- 9 Simple Hacks That Will Help You Get Organized In The Kitchen
- 7 Clever Hacks To Organize Your Kitchen On The Cheap
How do you keep your kitchen organized?
I also recycle spaghetti, condiment jars. In one small salsa jar, I poured my baking soda inside and put a label on it from my P-Touch. I always hated the opened box of baking soda in my cabinet. Now it stays fresh with a tight lid. In my spaghetti jars, I put steel cut oats, rice, and other snacks…
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I love the over the door shoe rack idea and have successfully been using it for a few months now. I can’t remember how I lived without it. I have a tiny kitchen and I keep as much out of sight as possible. I keep my blender under my sink and use baskets to corral things in my cabinets. We drink a lot of tea and except for the bagless variety I have all of my tea bags loose in one of those huge cheeseball containers. I love it, it’s lightweight and see-through.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have counterspace, but found it getting cluttered with small appliances (toaster, sandwich maker, crock post, etc.). I realized that by rearranging my cabinets below the counter I could fit those in and still have them be accessible. I looked at the flow of our kitchen and how we use it. Once I figured that out, I moved some things around and was able to get those appliances in place. It didn’t take very long and the extra space is SO worth it!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.In my tiny kitchen I don’t have any cupboards, cabinets, drawers, anything-just a pantry. So I used an old window bar railing and had my husband hang it into the ceiling above the stove. I hang all my pots and pans on it. The tops go in the bottom draw of the oven lol. I use a rolling kitchen cart for my microwave utensils and mugs. I turned a bookshelf I had into a bar and we keep all the glassware and china there. There’s no room for any thing else but a table! Cluttered and cute.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We recently downsized to a townhome and my kitchen is tiny. I’m now storing my mixer and blender on a shelf, in a cabinet, above my washer and dryer. We also have the Kurieg cup storage center and our Kurieg sits on top of it. I purchased a couple of brushed nickel bathroom soap dispensers, from Ross, to put liquid dish detergent and hand soap in. No ugly bottles and it dresses up the sink area.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Have you ever tried reusing old liquor bottles as your soap dispensers. Some of them have beautiful shapes. Minus the label if it has one of course.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.After the wax from my candles from Bath and Body Works are burned completely, I wash them and make them sparkly clean. I use them in the bathroom counters for storage. I even glued a ceramic bird to the top of one. Looks really cute and makes the jar so easy to open. Got that idea from youtube…
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have them in my kitchen cabinet for tea bag storage too.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I like to go through my pantry and clean out expired food and boxes. This frees up space, and I know that the food I grab is healthy for my family!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.First, have old fridge that works well still, took out old drawers and replaced with wire basket bins that open up the space.
Next, repurposed nice boxes into organizer for small plastic bags of spices that you can get bulk spikes at many grocery stores.
And, very small kitchen and dining area – moved dishes 7 glass ware unto hanging shelves in dining area. higher shelves are items not used often.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We have a nice size kitchen, I’ve always thought, but not HUGE by any means. And we have zero storage space in the rest of our house. So there is no extra spot anywhere else to stash something that only gets used once every three years. I’ve been trying for the last year to slowly organize things better in the kitchen. This post certainly helped!
The one good thing I feel I have implemented is our spice storage situation. We had a tiny spice cabinet beside the stove that was a living NIGHTMARE. Cooking every meal turned into some odd reality tv show where you had to cook with bottles flying at your head while having to substitute the spices you could find for the one you absolutely couldn’t!!! Years of frustration were pent up in that spice cabinet. I had to fix this somehow. We have a large, wide drawer under our oven that was always where we kept all of our spatulas and large spoons and meat forks, all haphazardly strewn about. I moved things around a bit, reassigning utensils to other drawers, and was able to clear the drawer. I then purged the spice cabinet of all out of date and unwanted spices. I bought a box of small canning drawers that were just the height of my drawer, filled them with the spices and labeled the lids with what the spice was. So now when I open the drawer I am looking down on all my spices, super easy to find, and thanks to the glass jar I know at a glance what I’m running low on!
Now the issue I need help with is Tupperware storage. This is a major issue that I can’t see a resolution too. Please help!!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I think of myself as organized, but my pantry is a MESS! Cleaning it out this afternoon, and thanks for the inspiration.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.In my pantry everything is sorted out of shelves
Top shelf for all my baking, next are canned items(in rows), boxes items next (spaghetti’s, Mac n cheese, etc), snacks/crackers, and finally cereals on the bottom. What I wish I could organize better is my fridge and freezer space!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I love these ideas! One thing I have under my kitchen sink is a tension rod that I can hang my most commonly used spray bottles. It keeps them at my fingertips and there is a little more room under them for storage.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use lots of bins to carrel items that belong together. My husband built a metal hook rack suspended from ceiling to hang my pots and I use a plastic magazine rack to hold plastic wraps, foils and wax paper.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use plastic shoe box size bins, metal racks and shelves to stay organized in my kitchen.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I also have a small kitchen. I only have appliances that can serve me in many ways. I have free standing furniture that I use for my pantry and that free’s up my small kitchen pantry for storage. I also use glass containers for storage in my pantry
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have pegs on my kitchen island (the kitchen island itself is a great organizer!) that I keep my measuring cups and spoons on, they are on rings. Love having them out of the drawer and easily accessible too!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use the shoe bag on the back of my pantry door. I put all of my diet foods there. Much easier than having to open individual boxes to grab something to eat. We also use this in our main closet and put the kids hats and gloves in it for winter.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have two (very old!) Rubbermaid turntables that I use to corral my spices. One is for the common spices. The other is for items I don’t use as much. I try to group spices I’m likely to use together next to each other on the turntable.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I also use a small plastic box to corral packets of seasonings like taco seasoning, olive oil herb packets, gravy mixes, etc. The box is just wide enough that the packets stand “single file,” so I can start at the front and flip through them to find what I need.
Great ideas. I use drawer organizers in all of my drawers. It helps keep things in their place.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We just downsized and our new house has a much smaller kitchen. I am working on staying organized by getting rid of things I never use. We had a set of martini glasses that we received for our wedding 11 years ago that we have never used (not sure why we even registered for them since we don’t drink martinis!). They are now in the donate/sell box :) Lots of other items are finding their way into that box as well.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We just did spring cleaning on our small kitchen. I took the spices out of the bottles they came in and put them into matching glass ones I got at the Container store. They are label and not only look nice they are all uniform and fit nicely in small pull down holder.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have a large kitchen but not a lot of storage space. I love to buy anything that will collapse. I have measuring cups, strainers and even a salad spinner that all fold flat for easy storage.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’m in the midst of moving to a bigger place which gives me the opportunity to get rid of the excess items in my kitchen. If I’ve only used an item once or never used it at all it goes into the donation pile where family and friends can take whatever they want.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I stay organized in the kitchen by making zones. All baking things go together in one area, all large appliances go together in another place, all serving pieces in another, plastic plates and cups for kids get put down low where they can reach and easily get what they need.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I recently put up two rails in my kitchen for hanging pots and I love it!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.