Knowing how to organize a kitchen is vital; a proper layout makes it easy to have what you need and not run around the kitchen searching for cake pans or offset spatulas. It’s a perfect way to keep your kitchen in an organized manner, thus, making it easy for you to access items. Another benefit of organizing your kitchen cabinets is that it will reduce the time you spend cooking.
Organizing your kitchen can be difficult, as this means you have to keep everything neat while also keeping everything you need to reach close by. Below are some tips, tricks, and kitchen storage ideas to help you have an organized kitchen – whether this is a slight rearrange or a complete kitchen overhaul.
Declutter Your Kitchen Cabinets
To have an organized kitchen decluttering your kitchen cabinets is the first step to organizing your kitchen – this you must do before purchasing cabinet storage solutions or rearranging items.
You must ensure you have a trash bin and a box for items to donate. Then, remove everything from your cabinets. Review each item and put it in the trash, donate/sell, or keep piles. Remove your storage boxes before organizing your keep pile.
Categorize Your Kitchen Items
After you’ve decluttered your kitchen, next is, organizing the contents of your kitchen cabinets. You must categorize items in a way that makes sense for how you or your household uses the kitchen. Divide your items into these two groups, and subdivide the groups from there.
Edible items can be subdivided into drinks, canned goods, baking ingredients, and whatever other food items you keep. Then cookware can be subdivided into cutting boards, pots and pans, cooking utensils, plates and bowls, glasses and mugs, and more. How you want to subdivide items should be entirely up to you, but the plan is to keep each subcategory together once you place everything in your cabinets.
Assign Items to Kitchen Cabinets
When reorganizing your kitchen, you should ensure all kitchen items are as close as possible to where you most often use them. And do not hesitate to change the location of where you previously stored items to a place where you use them the most. For example, you don’t have to keep your cooking spices in the pantry; they could be next to your stove because it would be more convenient for you to reach them for use that way.
Furthermore, plan how you position items within each cabinet. You drink coffee daily before work and only have a glass of wine once or twice a month. It’s only fitting. Place your coffee mugs and wine glass upfront within the cabinet. You can set the wine glasses at the back, then put your coffee mugs at the front for easy reach and access – that way, it’s more convenient for you to reach the mugs. Use the same approach for your everyday dinnerware and utensils as opposed to items you only use on special occasions.
What to Store in Upper Cabinets
The following kitchen items are ideal for storing in upper cabinets:
- Food: when you store your food items above your kitchen workstation, i.e., the space you use in making food, you can easily access it when cooking. However, if you have a pantry, use it for food storage to free up space in your cabinets to store other kitchen items.
- Glasses and dishes: you should store glasses and plates over your dishwasher or drying rack to ensure you can quickly put away items easily.
- Cookbooks: keep your cookbooks in a glass display cabinet you cannot reach easily because, most times, you likely won’t be using them as often as other items.
- Food storage containers: you should put them right above the counter space you use when they are filled with food.
What to Store in Lower Cabinets
These are items you can store in your lower cabinets as they are a good place for these items:
- Appliances: it is advisable to store kitchen appliances in the lower cabinets, below your cooking space, for easy access during food prep. If you use a device daily, consider moving it to your countertop.
- Pots and pans: store pots and pans in a lower cabinet below your cooking stove, and you can keep baking sheets near the oven – if it’s separate from the furnace—nest pots together for space.
- Cutting boards and mixing bowls: store these items in a lower cabinet close to the drying rack or dishwasher.
- Cleaning supplies: store them in a lower cabinet under the sink. Consider using a child-proof lock on the cabinet if you have small children or pets.
And if the cabinet has two shelves, store the cleaning supplies on the bottom just in case of leaks or spills. It will help if you keep cleaning supplies in a different cabinet to food items.
Maintain Your Cabinet Organisation
After successfully organizing your kitchen cabinets, you must ensure everyone in your household keeps them organized. Ensure everyone in your home knows where the items should be placed. Also, consider labeling containers, storage bins, and cabinet doors if it helps everyone know where things should be.
Also, keep all items neat when you put them away; turn food labels, so they’re facing out, and stack dinnerware based on size and type. That way, you keep the cabinet clean.
Conclusion
Finally, it would help if you reorganized your kitchen cabinets at least once a year. Going through your kitchen cabinets for decluttering and organizing would be best. Make sure to dispose of expired food or food you’re not going to eat. And get rid of kitchen items you have yet to use. The more often you do those, the more functional and beautiful your kitchen will be. Organizing your kitchen is as essential as being in it. It makes cooking easy and also accessing items, and it’s the ultimate hack for kitchen organization for you and your family.