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?
Great article! We bought really pretty pottery vases to hold our most used kitchen utsensils. Helps keep everything at easy access and brightens our kitchen.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I love all these ideas. I just recently put one of those short tension rods inside my spice cabinet. It sits above the tall bottles, and I use it for all those little spices that usually get lost behind the others. I also put plastic bins inside the freezer to hold like items and keep all the food from tumbling out every time I try to remove something from the freezer.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use oneof the large metal bakers shelfsbut it looks cluttered. I will use seberal of your ideas nlw to declutterthe shelf…mainly the spice shelf idea.thanks for the great ideas.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I put all my spices in tupperware modular mates (size rectangle 2) they hold the taller spice containers as well as all the other various containers from small tins to baggies; and I can stack them in my cupboard.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I added a tower of small Sterilite plastic drawers in my kitchen – not the most beautiful addition but boy did it add a lot of space and really helps me stay organized.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We installed a towel bar below the counter to hold our kitchen towels. That helps keep them off the counter and frees up a drawer.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I am SO glad you posted this. We just moved and my storage space is a night mare. I am so unorganized and needed the inspiration. Thanks!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Our kitchen dry erase board helps us to remember what we need and upcoming appointments.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.What I meant to say was thank you very much for the time you spent creating and sharing your awesome posts.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I don’t have any suggestions but just wanted to say how much time you put into sharing this post with us and plan on using about all of your suggestions.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I stay organized by keeping like items together. I keep my most used utensils next to the stove within easy reach. I also keep lesser used tools and appliances in a closet away from the kitchen, which allows me more space for food items. I also purge my drawers and cabinets a few times a year of tools I no longer need.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use storage containers from rubbermaid or stearlight (sp?) – a pasta basket, a baking basket, a spice basket, a plastic lids & containers basket, and so on to make different kitchen area in my cabinets. I live in a apartment and it helps to have each type of cooking in a basket so I can just grab it and go!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I just keep recycling/ repurposing items to make more shelves. Or building. Just made a kitchen island, with a butcherblock and knife rack . :)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I too have a super small kitchen. Having two gluten free, I have many cookbooks. I store my them in the small over the stove hood cabinets. Out of the way yet still accessible. I also turned a closet area right off the kitchen into a pantry and now store no food except coffee, tea and spices in the kitchen.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I go on a major reorganization spree in my kitchen every 6 months or so… Moving things to different drawers, switching cabinets. I always feel like there must be a better way to fit everything in. And then six month later, I’m at it again! I think I’ll try some of these ideas for my next “redo!”
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We also have a smallish kitchen and therefor we have to use every square inch effectively. I took a page from Alton Brown’s Good Eats episodes and switched a bunch of my spice bottles out for aluminum twist-top containers (in 4 and 8oz. sizes), then used industrial Velcro to adhere them to my cabinet doors. I labeled the tops of the containers two I knew what was in each one, and now, when I need a particular spice, I just take it down, measure out what I need, and stick it back up on the door. It cleared out an ENTIRE shelf of bottles, bags (I buy in bulk) and containers, and now I have more room for my Costco sized containers, without having to take everything out to get to them.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Also, I used a bakeware rack to store all of my pot and pan lids, use an old crock to hold all of my wooden spoons and long-handled utensils, and I keep my sugars, flours and bulk spices I use a lot of in 1/2 and 1 gal. mason jars on my counter (with chalkboard labels to identify the contents). Also, NO PILES. Not a single thing gets set on my counters during the day (because piles immediately result when we do!) All mail, things to be returned, dishes, produce from the garden, EVERYTHING goes where it belongs when we walk in the door. That way, we are ‘company ready’ at all times!
I’m lucky enough to have a nice big kitchen. I minimize mess by working on the small section of counter between my stove and sink. It forces me to clean as I go, and leaves the other counters free to sit my finished dishes when I’m cooking a meal, or for the kids to have room to play or color while I’m cooking.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I like to use items I have in unique ways. I have little counter and cupboard space and live in a rental. So I re-did an old dresser and use that for storage and counter. There was a small space between my stove and the wall. I found a night stand that fit perfectly and I keep my coffees and teas and some other daily used items there. Sometimes it’s looking at ordinary things in new ways.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use lazy Susan’s in my pantry to store canned goods. To see what I have, I just give the thing a spin.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Lazy Susans also work great in the frig!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have an older kitchen design where you see the bottom inch or so of the cabinet frame, below the bottom of the shelf. I used small picture hooks, and nails, to hang items around the stove and sink. I hang strainers, cutting boards, pot holders, bottle brushes, wire racks and paper plate holders. These are all items I use almost daily and are now easy to get to. This will date me, but there weren’t all of the
Please log in or create a free account to comment.‘Command’ type hooks available when I hooked up my kitchen.
As for pot lids, I’ve been using a wire file organizer for all of my glass lids for years. They sit on a side shelf in my pantry. The metal ones I’m not worried about them breaking so I just keep them in my dutch oven pot under the sink.
The cooking utensils I use most often are in a tin we received cookies in one year, that stands about 7 or so inches tall on my kitchen counter, so that I don’t have to go rooting around in a drawer for them all of the time.
Those huge popcorn tins you see for Christmas? I use those for things like cookie cutters and cat food storage. (They’re also good for hiding snacks you don’t want to share.)
I don’t have a pantry, so it’s easy to run out of space for food very quickly. We have a portable, roll-around dishwasher, and I use the top of it to store any snack foods that take up a lot of room in the cabinet. Chips, loaves of bread, etc. saves me a lot of space! I also hang my measuring cups and spoons above my stove. When they match your decor, it’s pretty cute. I hang up my wooden cutting boards as well!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I put a long piece of 1″ PVC all the way across in front of both under the sink cabinets…this is for hanging spray/cleaning bottles which can be slid around on the PVC ‘rod’ to easily find the one you want AND to have use of the space under them for sponges, gloves and other small items. And of course still have your normal storage for non-hangable items behind! By far the best working organization idea that I’ve done in my kitchen! Wish I could attach a pic to show you, but I pinned it in my household tips & remedies board :-).
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We Rv’d it for a couple of years. I found out that using low sided baskets were an extremely good way of organizing anything in the kitchen area! After getting back into non-RV living, I find that I still need to use baskets to store all the assorted foods in my pantry, because it’s just so much easier to pull a basket forward to see what’s behind it, rather than moving single jars, etc.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I once lived in a house that had wooden separators built in to cupboards to store cookie sheets and pizza pans on their sides, and that was just the best thing since sliced bread! I’m in a rental now, so we can’t build those in. Grrrr. We all have our special storage solutions, and it all relates to what our living spaces give us, as well as our imagination (or complete frustration) does for us.
It’s fun to read your blogs, Jillee!!!
haha, and, oh yeah, in my spice cupboard, I have my spices in alphabetical order, so I know where to find them.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I bought 3 of the small 3 drawer Rubbermaid drawer sets for my spices and knives. I live in a mobile home and there isn’t enough drawers and cabinets in the right places. I am able to put 2 of those 3 drawer sets on a plastic or wire shelf and put my bread plastic keepers underneath. that way spices, knives, spreaders and bread all all right there close to the condiment lazy susan to make what ever.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I stay organized by doing the occasional purge of things untouched for extended periods of time. And when it is time to replace items (dishes, sheet pans, etc), I make sure to buy things of the same size/style for clean stacking and weird teetering of things that don’t properly nest inside each other.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.*avoid weird teetering…. guess I need to do better at doublechecking texts before hitting “Submit”
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