Kitchen cabinet organization is something you probably dream of when you’re wasting time trying to find things. This can not only be annoying but can also cause havoc if you’re at a crucial point in a recipe and have to turf out the whole cabinet to find something.
Having organized cabinets also means that you won’t waste money by letting food go past its use by date because you’ve forgotten about it or by buying duplicates of foods you already have.
So we now know WHY we want organized cabinets but what about the WHEN and the HOW?
When to organize your kitchen cabinets
Organizing kitchen cabinets is unlikely to be something that you are looking forward to doing at the weekend, so rather than put it off indefinitely, make a plan to GET GOING.
The next time you have a spare 10-15 minutes, perhaps when something is in the oven that doesn’t need your attention, get started with your kitchen organization ideas and work on one cabinet at a time.
You may need to empty two or three cabinets to start with, to give you room to re-organize, so keep the contents of the others in a cardboard box until you have another short spell to get to them.
How to organize kitchen cabinets
Follow these 4 easy steps when organizing your kitchen cabinets:
Step 1
EVALUATE what you’ve got in there and TOSS or donate everything that is either past its expiry date (food) or never used (think appliances, pots and pans, serving ware and utensils).
This is a hugely important step and can make or break how organized your kitchen ends up. You want to free up space for things you use everyday.
Infrequently used items should be stored elsewhere. Do this step properly and you’ll be surprised by how much kitchen cabinet storage space you really have.
Step 2
SORT what’s left and group like items together.
Step 3
Consider your kitchen zones of: food storage, food preparation, cooking, serving and cleaning and ensure that items relevant to each zone are stored in the zone. For example, canned goods would be in the food storage area, pots and pans would be in the cooking area and serving plates would be in the serving area.
Step 4
Once you know which cabinet is going to house which group of items, you can then decide where to STORE each item within the cabinet.
Generally heavier, bulky items will be stored in lower cabinets and lighter, smaller items will be stored in wall cabinets. So pots and pans will be stored down below in the cooking zone while oils and spices will be stored up top.
Organization within each cabinet will be determined by how often the item is used. As such you need to separate each group of items between those used on a daily basis, those used regularly but not every day and those used only occasionally.
Items used frequently will be stored on the bottom shelf of wall cabinets. Those rarely used should be placed on the top shelf and the rest will find a home on the middle shelf.
Kitchen cabinet organization products to help
Whilst you don’t really need anything but a little bit of common sense to order the contents of each shelf, there are a lot of kitchen cabinet organizers on the market to make your life a little bit easier and your cabinet a little more aesthetic.
These help to use your limited space more efficiently: for example, just adding an extra shelf doubles the amount you can store and using a tiered plate rack saves you having to lift the bowls to get to the plates.
They range from the plastic functional kind to the downright attractive depending on your taste and budget.
Options include stand alone shelves; slide out shelves and drawers for lower cabinets; under-cabinet shelf wire baskets, cup and paper towel holders; 2-tier shelves for pots and pans and lid racks; over-cabinet door organizers as well as Lazy Susans and cabinet liners.
For some great products in the kitchen cabinet organizer range please click HERE.
Or click HERE for a DIY project where you can make your own pull out kitchen cabinet shelves.
Not enough cabinets?
If you are stuck with a kitchen that does not have enough cabinet space, then please remember three things:
- We use 20% of our kitchen items 80% of the time, so move those rarely used items out of the kitchen into another room where you have more storage space.
- Don’t forget about your under-cabinet space. There are a number of under mount appliances you can find including coffee makers, microwaves, toaster ovens and can openers. You can also mount a stemware rack, a paper towel holder or affix some hooks to hang decorative mugs and cups.
- Don’t forget about the dead space between the ceiling and the upper cabinets. This can be ideal for attractive appliances or serving dishes but if your seldom-used items are not that attractive, use pretty matching baskets to keep them in.
Hopefully you can now see how to organize your kitchen cabinets easily to save money and time. Try to curb your ‘all or nothing’ mentality and make a start on one cabinet or even one shelf in a cabinet today. Ready, get set, organize!
I’d love to hear any tips and tricks you use to keep kitchen cabinet clutter at bay. Please leave me a comment.
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Photo credit: Rubbermaid Products.