9 Pro Tips to Reorganize Your Kitchen for Easier Usage

Guest Post

Is your kitchen the messiest room in your home?

Don’t worry—you’re not alone.

The kitchen is one of the most used rooms in any house. We use it every day, and the number of items it contains can be quite high. With so much use and so many items to organize, it’s no wonder it gets messy from time to time.

But a dirty kitchen is no fun to use.

No one likes to cook in a dirty space, and if you’re not in the mood to clean when you’re hungry, you have to spend money on expensive takeout. It’s time to start saving some money and getting your kitchen back in order. Follow these 9 tips from the pros to clean and reorganize your kitchen. Once you’ve got it under control, keep it that way!

1. Empty All Your Cabinets

Before you can reorganize or clean, you’ve got to take inventory of what you have. The first step in getting organized is to empty all your cabinets. Decide what you want to keep and get rid of anything you don’t need.

Are your cabinets full of chipped coffee cups, serving dishes you never use, and storage containers that are missing their lids? Toss what you don’t need, don’t want, or don’t think you’ll be able to make use of again.

2. Prioritize the Basics

Once you know what you’re keeping, identify the items you use the most. From everyday dishes to small appliances to utensils, you should place your most often used items within easy reach. Put the items that you use a lot, in accessible locations. Put the items that you use less often towards the back of your cabinets or on shelves that aren’t easy to reach.

3. Tackle the Pantry

Now that your cabinets and storage drawers are under control, it’s time to tackle the pantry. Empty every shelf. Toss expired items and those half-eaten bags of snacks you haven’t touched in weeks. And when it’s time to put it all away, group items together in a way that makes sense.

Store cans and soups on one shelf. Store baking supplies and spices together. Keep cereals in one area, and group snacks together in another. Try to think of your pantry shelves like supermarket shelves and arrange similar items in the same location so that everything is easy to find.

4. Utilize All Your Storage Space

Cabinets are just one way to store items inside a kitchen. If you want to make the most of your space, make use of the walls. Hang slotted shelves that you can use to suspend pots and pans. Hang a magnetic strip to hold kitchen knives. If you’re not utilizing your walls, you’re wasting space.

As for cabinets, you can maximize storage if you use more than just the shelves. Create a hanging pantry. Hang items from the back of a cabinet door. If you have a deep corner cabinet that’s hard to access, consider adding a lazy susan so that you can locate items with ease.

5. Compartmentalize

It’s easy to turn drawers and cabinets into pits of disorganized storage. By adding dividers or small open-top storage boxes inside your drawers, you’ll spend a lot less time trying to find what you’re looking for. It will also encourage you to put items back where they belong rather than throwing them in with no sense of order.

6. Label Everything

Have you ever confused the flour for the baking powder? Have you ever made a batch of cookies using salt when you meant to use sugar? Those mistakes are easy to make if your products aren’t labeled. Labels are a great way to organize all sorts of items, especially those that are easy to mistake for other things.

7. Store Items in See-Through Containers

With see-through containers, it’s easy to spot what you’re looking for. Clear canisters, clear jars, and clear plastic storage bins with lock-top lids are ideal for holding all sorts of food items. You’ll be able to identify things quickly, and you’ll also be able to spot foods that are about to go bad.

8. Deep Clean the Refrigerator

Don’t overlook your refrigerator. There’s a good chance you open your fridge more times a day than you do any cupboard or cabinet, so make sure it gets a deep clean. Start by removing everything and discarding anything that has expired.

Clean out those vegetable and crisper drawers. Wipe out the egg tray. Clean every shelf and get into every crease. Most refrigerators have removable shelves and trays, so if they’re really dirty, give them a good soaking in the sink.

When it’s time to put everything back in, group like items together, just like in the pantry.

9. Clean and Organize As You Go

Don’t rip the entire kitchen apart in one hour then have to spend eight hours putting it back together. Follow these steps one at a time so that if you get tired, you can pick up where you left off the next day.

Once you’re done, make it a point to keep the kitchen clean at all times. It’s much easier to spend 10 or 15 minutes a day tidying up than it is to do a major monthly clean-up session.

To Sum it All Up

You’re bound to feel better when your kitchen is clean.

• Start by emptying cabinets and pantry shelves.
• Toss what you don’t need and rearrange what you plan to keep by grouping similar items together
• Make use of storage space on the walls, under cabinets, and on the backs of cabinet doors.
• Compartmentalize your items.
• Store the things you use more often within easy reach.
• Create a storage system using clear containers and identification labels.
• When the shelves and drawers are clean, tackle the final step and disinfect the fridge.

Most importantly, when all the steps are complete, keep up with it. Don’t go back to your messy ways. Keep things neat from day to day and you’ll never have to spend an entire weekend cleaning your kitchen again.

Chances are, if you follow these rules, you’ll be doing a lot more cooking and a lot less ordering in.