I am a firm believer that organizing is never a one-time task but rather a process that continues over time. And that is something that can undoubtedly be said about our kitchen.
Before Organizing Our Kitchen
As newlyweds, we chose to start our lives together in this house. And as is the case with the majority of newlyweds, you receive a lot of gifts and a lot of stuff that you don’t really need.
In our cabinets, we found more than 16 glass place settings, several silver pitchers that we do not use, and literally five Crock Pots. I suppose that when we got married, I thought that we needed to keep every gift that we received because one day I’d have a sit down dinner party, and that’s why I thought we needed to keep every gift. (I must have neglected to remember how frequently we make use of paper plates.)
I still haven’t used each of those place settings, so I moved them out of my cabinets and into storage boxes over the course of several years as I worked to reduce the amount of clutter in my home. In addition to all of the mess that used to be stored inside of my kitchen cabinets.
Let’s get this tour of our well-organized kitchen and the methods we use to keep it that way started, shall we?
Our kitchen is in the shape of a U and is quite large. There is an abundance of counter space! Although it is fantastic for meal preparation, similar to any other flat surface in your home, it can quickly become cluttered with messes. To make the kitchen appear tidier and less chaotic, I make it a point to keep only a select few items on the counters at any given time.
In one of the metal storage boxes, we keep the lids and straws for our tumblers, and in the other of the metal storage boxes, we keep the tools that we use to decorate cakes.
We have quite a few coffee makers stacked up in the far corner of the room. I like to joke around and say that my husband doubles as my barista. Because of his addiction to coffee, we always have a large supply of coffee as well as various creamers on hand. We store our coffee creamers and flavorings in a metal basket so that everything remains neat and organized at all times.
We were at a loss as to whether or not to install a cabinet above the refrigerator when we were planning the layout of our kitchen during the renovation of our home. In the end, we decided not to because there was only a slight possibility that it would fit, and I am so relieved that we did not. In its place, I have chosen to store our farmhouse breakfast tray, metal tiered stand, and wooden sign on top of our refrigerator. It ties in perfectly with our farmhouse gallery wall.
Organizing Kitchen Cabinets
Organizing Plates and Glass Dishes
In our kitchen cabinets, I try to keep it to a minimum and only store the things we use frequently. Our 16 glass place settings have been condensed down to only 4 square and 4 round and we use plastic plates most days. We also keep our toaster in our cabinet to keep our countertops clutter free. The top shelf has plates and bowl that we almost never use, but I keep them on hand just in case we ever need them.
Organizing Drinking Glasses & Cups
In our cups and glasses cabinet, we keep the drinking glasses that we never use on the top shelf and our daily use glasses and cups on the lower shelves.
Keeping Spices Organized
Our spice cabinet is over the microwave and we keep our spices organized by putting them in baskets. One basket contains spices we use on a regular basis. The next has spices we use some time and the last basket has spices that we almost never use. My barista of a husband loves his coffee and also loves to cook, so we have a ton of spices!
Since we store the spices so high up, keeping them in baskets makes it easy to pull down a basket, get what we need and then put it back without rummaging around the cabinet for a specific spice.
see also: TIPS AND TRICKS FOR CLEANING YOUR KITCHEN
Organizing Cookie Sheets & Baking Racks
We purchased this bakeware organizer from Amazon in a pack of 2, and it has helped us tremendously in maintaining order in our cookie sheet and baking rack cabinet, as well as making it much simpler to put dishes away. They have made significant alterations to the cabinet’s original functionality.
When we first started using this method, we simply stacked the cookie sheets and bakeware on their sides; however, whenever we took one out of the cabinet, the others would topple over. This cabinet is now much simpler to keep organized as a result of the addition of these racks, which were designed specifically for organizing cookie sheets and other bakeware.
Organizing Glass Baking Dishes
You can read more about how we stack and organize glass baking dishes here, but to quickly summarize, we stack our glass baking dishes on corner cabinet shelves that have been laid on their sides. This works out so much better than simply stacking them one on top of the other, and it makes it really simple to extract the baking dish that we require when we need it.
see more pin on pinterest kitchen organization
Organizing Oven Mitts
We used to store our oven mitts in a drawer that was located next to the oven; however, the drawer was never able to close properly, and I always had the feeling that there must be a better way to keep them in order! Therefore, when I came across an organizer that could be mounted over the door of a cabinet, I knew it would be an excellent choice for the cabinet that is located next to our oven. To store all of our oven mitts, pot holders, and dish towels, we hang this organizer from the top of the cabinet door. They can be extracted with minimal effort whenever we find ourselves in need of one of them because they all fit here like a glove.
Organizing Pots & Pans
We use this organizer for our skillets and this organizer for our pot lids to help us keep our pots, pans, and lids organized. Before we had these organizers installed, we would simply stack the pots, pans, and lids on top of each other in the kitchen. It was not working! Our skillets were being damaged by each other, it was hard to get out the pot or pan we needed without moving all the rest and the glass lids were always sliding everywhere. Now, this cabinet it always organized and it is so easy to put pots and pans back away after using them.
Organizing A Lazy Susan
We don’t have a pantry in our kitchen, unfortunately, so we use our lazy susan to store dry goods like sugar and flour. We use Sistema Containers to keep everything organized and transferring our food to airtight containers helps it stay fresh longer! I love these containers and highly recommend them! We also use them for cereal, oats, and cookies.
Organizing Kitchen Drawers
Keeping Knives Organized
Most people keep their knives on the countertop but since having kids, we have found it is a lot safer to keep them in a drawer next to our oven. We use this knife organizer to keep them safely stored. It doesn’t hold as many knives as I would like because of the way our knives are curved, but it is still great to keep our knives safe and organized! We also keep our wax paper, foil, baggies and electric knife in this drawer!
Kitchen Utensil Organization
A drawer is where we keep all of our cooking implements and utensils. Because this is the largest drawer in our kitchen, we have opted to use drawer dividers made of bamboo in order to keep items organized and prevent them from shifting around too much.
Junk Drawer Organization
For our junk drawer, we use a junk drawer organizer. This drawer organizer is without a doubt one of my top picks among the various organizers that we have in our kitchen. My junk drawer used to be a complete mess that was infrequently organized into categories. Because we now have a drawer organizer, it will be much simpler for us to maintain the organization of the drawer and prevent “junk” from falling into it.
Keeping Your Kitchen More Organized for a Longer Period of Time
Investing in organizers to assist you is a smart move.
When you have the appropriate tools at your disposal, it is much simpler to maintain order in your kitchen. Investing in kitchen organization products like cabinet organizers, pots and pan organizers, and drawer dividers will help you keep your kitchen organized for a longer period of time and make it simpler to find what you need.
Everything should be kept off the counters at all times.
If you don’t use your kitchen countertop as a dumping ground, it will be much simpler for you to maintain order and cleanliness in your kitchen, which I know is a challenge for you. Create designated areas in your home for things like paperwork and mail, purses and backpacks, and any other items that have a propensity to end up on your countertops to prevent this situation from ever occurring.
read also: Steps That Will Completely Transform How You Organize Your Kitchen
