Real talk. How often did you have this silent conversation with yourself last year?
Man, I really need to organize this cabinet.
I can’t find a single thing I need for this recipe!
Ugh, when was the last time I used that?
Is this a lid of some sort?
I should re-arrange everything in here this weekend.
Yep, I’m going to do it!
Your organization method in the past… Cute, but not too effective.
But, dear friend, you never did it. Don’t be hard on yourself, though. You just never had a plan! You didn’t stand a chance against that mountain of containers or the dreaded junk drawer. Not. A. Chance.
Lucky for you, your pals at RecipeLion.com have some ideas to make this The Year of the Organized Kitchen! You can do it. It’s actually pretty easy.
How You’ll Finally Organize Your Kitchen
Now, let’s take a little organizational tour of your kitchen.
First Stop: The Refrigerator
Eliminate spoilage as well as disorganization with these quick rules to organize your refrigerator. These tips come from our free eBook, The Ultimate Kitchen Guide: How-Tos, Cooking Tips & Essential Kitchen Knowledge.
Top Shelf: Keep clear for chilling cooked and prepared foods, and tomorrow’s lunches or items that need to be prepped. Think of this as your fridge’s inbox.
Middle Shelf: Eggs. Leftovers in containers.
Bottom Shelf: Dairy (Milk, cottage cheese, sour cream, yogurt.) Deli meats, if you have no deli drawer. Raw meats.
Drawers: You should never mix fruit, vegetables, and deli meats in the same drawer. This can lead to spoilage because these items have different humidity and temperature requirements. Fruit should be kept in a drawer with low humidity, such as the crisper. Vegetables do well in a drawer with higher humidity. Deli meats and cheeses should be kept in their own drawer, which is generally slightly cooler than the rest of the fridge.
Door: Butter, soft cheeses, condiments, pickles, and salsa.
The Ultimate Kitchen Guide: How-Tos, Cooking Tips & Essential Kitchen Knowledge – a free eBook with a whole lotta tips.
Next: Cabinets & Drawers
This is a bit trickier than the refrigerator, because much depends on the layout of your kitchen. But whether your kitchen is big or small, these tips will help you make the best use of your space and stay organized.
1. Empty it out
Sorry folks, there’s no way around it. To get organized, you’ll need to see what you have. Don’t get crazy and empty everything at once; go cabinet by cabinet, drawer by drawer. The longer you’ve been living there, the more time consuming this will be. Get ready to face down odd kitchen instruments you don’t remember buying and parts of gadgets that you can’t be sure you need anymore. A good rule of thumb: If you haven’t used it the last year, you probably won’t miss it.
Count out the number of cabinets and drawers you need to organize, and create a plan for yourself to tackle them. For example, “I’ll clean out 2 cabinets this week, and 2 next week.”
2. Divide and conquer
It’s all about piles, people! Separate your kitchen items into piles that make sense. This will allow you to see duplicates and begin to decide the best way to use your space. Ask yourself tough questions, like “Do I really need five spatulas and three pizza cutters?” Honestly, you know you have a least favorite spatula. Do the right thing and donate it, or toss it if its better days have passed.
3. Contain the containers
If your kitchen is like mine, the worst offender is the containers. After years of keeping old deli containers and the like, you probably have a cabinet that waterfalls lids on you every time you open it. Take a look at your collection and note which ones you’ve used recently, which ones don’t have lids, and which ones are just too odd-sized or odd-shaped to ever be useful. Which ones can be stacked together? Move the larger containers to a high shelf or scoot them to the back, where they won’t be in the way. If your collection is truly a mess, you might want to donate most of it and invest in a new, matching set. Hopefully one that has stack-able/attachable lids.
4. Consider some shelving changes
Are your shelves at inconvenient heights? Is the location of your spice rack cramping your style? You may want to put in extra shelves or remove some to optimize your space.
5. Tell people what you’re up to
Talk to the people you live with about your re-organization plan. They may have some great ideas or lend a hand. Best of all, if they feel included, they may put some extra effort toward helping it stay organized.
6. Be realistic
Organizing and removing clutter may make cooking easier and help you make the most out of your space. However, what really matters are the meals and memories you share in your kitchen! Don’t obsess over making it perfect.
Need more kitchen knowledge? Download our free ebook: The Ultimate Kitchen Guide: How-Tos, Cooking Tips & Essential Kitchen Knowledge. It includes tips from Mr. Food’s Test Kitchen!
BONUS: DIY Organization!
Recycle old containers into new organizers to save space in your cabinets and on counters.
1. Soup Can Utensil Holders
2. Water Bottle Supply Organizer
3. DIY Organizer Board – Great for recipe notes!
4. 21 Fantastic Storage Ideas: Maximizing the Space in Your Home
What’s a great organizing tip?
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We use small colored baskets to help us keep clutter picked and organized. Each person has their own color – and items are picked up and placed in their basket for them to take to their room, etc. Has really helped in keeping the living room clutter-free!
I put all like things in one drawer. Things I need to fix stuff is all together, things to wrap presents are all together. Makes it so much easier….now if everyone will just put things back where they belong,it will work just fine.
Don’t be afraid to throw things away…just because you’ve kept something this long – doesn’t mean that you have to keep it any longer
I organize my pantry by doing one shelf glass supplies, the next, all paper supplies: such as flour, sugar,
then I organize my storage containers, and then this makes it so much easier to store the rest, such as Lady fingers, baking supplies, crackers and cookies.
I organize my pantry by categories. Each shelf holds the appropriate items. Examples are as follows: baking items, condiments, pastas and crackers, pet foods and treats, cereals ,etc. I can find any item I need using this method.
Stick with your plan. Give it time to work before you start making changes or you’ll never know where anything is because you’ll always be looking in one of the last places.
I store my cooking gadgets (spatulas etc. ) in a large pitcher.The ones used mostly for baking are in another pitcher. I can just grab it by the handle and take it to where I am working so everything is close at hand and I am not juggling a hand full of tools .
Use it or lose it
I alphabetize my spices on paper so I know what I have at a glance.
I would love to win this I used to have some of this stuff until I had a house fire last March with no insurance I just replaced what I could afford and am hoping to get some of the other stuff soon
These items are fantastic
If you have not used it in a year out it goes!!!!
don’t be shy to use the back of cabinet doors, make a menu board, grocery board, clip on measuring spoons
My daughter has 5 cubes she puts her school clothes in on Sunday night for the week. Makes mornings less stressful for all of us.
For the refrigerator, use all the same type of containers. Make sure you label & date them, so there is a record of when it was put in & when it should be taken out. I love it.
Put a rod in the cupboard under your sink to hang bottles of cleaner…
Don’t look at the mess. No, just joking. Put on some music, put your hair up, and tackle one thing at a time.
Put things you don’t use regularly in a container. If you don’t use it in 30 days throw it out r donate it to a charity.
I put items that I don’t use much on the top shelf.
Don’t get bogged down with going through every little thing. It takes forever. Put things you want to go through in a box or a bag for later and keep moving.
This is a huge help. We are looking for ways to organize and arrange our new place. Organize has never been a quality we possess, and we really want to do better.
I always keep my mixing bowls, storage containers, etc. grouped largest to smallest. I also use the top of my refrigerator to store my electric skillet, grill, waffle maker, etc.
Label all your containers and and date them too so you can desgard faster.
Set a timer for 15 minutes and put things away where they belong every day.
If you have used it during the year, you don’t need it!
Deep clean at least twice a year, if you find something you haven’t used since the last deep cleaning get rid of it, toss or give away.
Never mix fruits and vegetables. …. oops, that’s why my things go bad so quick. I thought if I set the setting on the middle they’d be Ok. Well guess I’ll be doing some organization.
If you don’t use it, Loose it, I’m bad about this!
I love canisters, keeps a lot of items out of my baking closet and look nice and organized on my countertop
I organize everything in my kitchen according to where it will be used, ex. all baking stuff in is one section of the kitchen where the mixer, ingredients and pans are all near each other. All pasta’s are together, all soups together (each flavor has it’s own row). Spices in their designated cupboards. I make sure it is organized at all times. I hate not being able to find what I am looking for.
Please come to my house and help me!!!
Love all the wonderful hints for organizing my kitchen!!
My husband came up with this idea: large colored plastic storage baskets for the freezer. I use the different colors to organize the food by type – green for veggies, red for beef, etc.
My very best organization tip since I am never organized is this: Marry and often praise a born organizer! I function much better in organization, but I didn’t know it until I married someone who alphabetizes and sub-sets EVERYTHING! He doesn’t shame me for not being organized and I create special treats for him because he does!
I use pringle can to organize the tall things.I cover them with different colors or patterns of Duct Tape. Works wonders for the GrandDaughter who is 3 to help out and to learn colors and patterns.Double duty!
I just keep items with like items and go through everything every couple of months and get rid of expired items.
Label everything! You won’t remember what is in it or when it is from without it. The clearer the labeling the faster you can sort thru to find what you need.
All of my storage containers are see-through so that whatever I put into them can be seen when it is put into the refrigerator. Also, all of my storage containers are exactly the same size so that they stack inside each other when they are put away. Another advantage to this is that I always know that any lid I pull out is going to fit any container!
using clear storage containers in fridge and pantry I remove pasta , beans flour, sugar etc and put in clear glass jars so everything is visible to anyone and keeps neat and orderly . no digging . when it comes to the fridge if it has not been ate in two days either it is froze into tv dinners .vegetables in ziplock bag when full make soup. I believe in no waste make 1 meal transform into another meal constant rotation of things in fridge keep it clean and no waste
My tip is never having more that 6 of anything…that includes cups, dishes, apples, eggs, bread slices, ounces of peanut butter…..No wasting anything and it is very easy to keep my fridge and cabinets in order!
Never have your well meaning son in law move into your home! Especially if he thinks a clean kitchen means NOTHING on the counter regardless of where it goes, right place, wrong place, the “if I were **** where would I have put this?”. You open cupboards SLOWLY and catch what falls out the whole time repeating “I love him and appreciate the help, I love him and appreciate the help, my kitchen never looked so clean! Just NEVER open a cupboard in front of company. I have given up for the time being and when they can afford to rent (their condo is too small now for their family and underwater so they have to rent it out at a small lose each month sigh) I will redo EVERYTHING and so many of these ideas will help beyond words!! My husband will be so happy and so will I!
A Lazy Susan and pull-out drawers!!
Matches, Good Insurance, and a great plan. Burn Baby, Burn. LOL
I also keep a lot of food containers, juice jugs for storage of dry goods, you can get way too many of these, learn to recycle. a lot of the stuff we keep thats in our way is recyclable, or like me ylu tend to accumulate too much food stuffs, think of giving it away to a local food pantry.
not quite an organization tip but something i do regularly.
i love gadgets and upgrading small applicances… obviously this gets expensive. my tip is for every 10$ that something costs, wait one day. so if something costs 100$ (a dehydrator, new plates, whatever) you wait 10 days before you make a decision. most times, you forget that you want it (not need it) or you realize that you can live without it. so i stay nice and organized since i dont buy a lot of junk 🙂
Don’t take things upstairs or downstairs until you know if you’ll use it, if you have not used it in 6 months donate to local thrift and if you use it put it in its place.
I try to buy multi use appliances. We have a Cuisinart smart power blender series. It’s a blender, mini chopper, spice grinder, smoothie maker all in one. love multi use appliances for a small kitchen.
Organizing works best in “your” space. Otherwise it’s hard to get everyone on board!
I don’t have a hint because I haven’t gotten mine organized yet. Have tried several ways but so far, nothing has worked for me.
I organize our large upright freezer used only for meat by types and size of cuts of meat, and how long each type can be stored frozen, starting with the longest frozen shelf life on the bottom and work my way up to the top shelf for the shortest shelf life. Each shelf has a label with what type of meat. Then the shelves in the door are used for smaller portions in the same manner. I also keep a large erasable board secured to the side of the freezer so I can erase what I’ve taken out and add what was just put in with the date first stored. The erasable board allows me to keep inventory of what is available as well as how long each piece has been in the freezer. I have never had a freezer-burnt piece of meat yet.
Get a game plan in place and stick to it. Get everything you need to implement your plan in order to not get distracted. If you have items you can donate, get it out of your home asap. ( if you don’t, it might just stay with you until next time.)
My husband installed a magnetic tool holder behind my stove to hold our knives.
Things that don’t get used or that you have too many of go to the church rummage sale. We have a huge one every Spring and I “organize” a lot of things out of my house!
I am a failure at organizing, trying to organize my plastic ware-always out of control on that stuff!
I use water proof shoe hanger I have one in the shower and several in my sewing room have one on hanger in the back of my van
If you hav’nt used it in a year garage sale time
I use empty cheese containers and large nut jars for almost everything that comes in a bag. You can see what is in them and they stay fresher, Also the “easy close zipper” doesn’t accidentally come open and spill the contents.
I keep trying, but the best laid plans. . . . .and so I start over again. Thanks for the great tips.
D.I.N. (Do It Now)–A tip I learned from my brother. If something has broken, you’ve lost the lid for or just doesn’t “fit” any longer, get rid of it. I either throw away or put in a donation basket. Don’t put somewhere that “you’ll get to later,” do it right then–it’ll save clutter and help organize right now.
i tend to buy tings when on sale and then i don’t know where to put it so my resolution is to use up what i have first
I am in the process of going through all of my cabinets and cleaning them out. Over the years I’ve got so much stuff that I need to donate. This has some really helpful. ideas. Thank you
When organizing any food items – canned, refrigerated, and/or frozen – always use FIFO – First In, First Out – for food safety. Always check dates and throw out anything expired!!
purge purge purge and use of baskets
I freeze leftovers in sandwich sized plastic zipper bags, so I can take them for lunch. To keep them organized, I freeze them laying flat, then once they are frozen I stand them up in the cut off bottom of gallon milk jugs. (This also prevents the possibility of a leaking bag making a mess in the freezer.)
Chest freezers can be bottomless pits. My freezer has dividers built in and in each one, I put beef, chicken pork and misc. meats. Then fruits & veggies. I also have 4 baskets that have smaller items that could get lost. Two deep compartments for things like pizza. Freeze soups, etc. in freezer bags, FLAT, as they thaw faster.
When loading the dirty silverware in the dishwasher, place all forks, spoons and knives in an individual section. When unloading the CLEAN dishwasher, it is a quick task to put away in the silverware drawer.