Kitchen Organization Tips that Work

For years, I have been trying to get my kitchen organized and I have found some kitchen organization tips that work. I cook almost every dinner that we eat. We usually eat out one night on the weekend, but I would much rather cook. For many years, I did the food ministry at my church so I am working in my kitchen all the time. When I was in Culinary School, I learned that you have to be organized in your kitchen to know where your ingredients and kitchen tools are so that you can easily locate them. I have moved things around and purchased many things to get my kitchen organized, and now I have an organized kitchen that works for me. One of the best things about your kitchen being organized is that you know what ingredients you have on hand when searching for recipes for dinner.

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Most kitchen organization area that you see online looks as if it came from a magazine with all matching jars and matching baskets. If you look closely at some of the pictures, you can tell that the photos are staged. If I used the large glass jars for all my baking goods, I wouldn’t have room for anything else. Also, the boxes of food in the pictures match. You mean to tell me that this woman only uses food that comes in bright blue boxes.  These are some of my real-life organization tips that have worked in my home for years. 

Declutter

The first thing you have to do before starting is declutter and remove many of the kitchen gadgets that you are not using.  I had to think about what I use and what I don’t use often or at all. I didn’t want to get rid of any of my gadgets because I might need it one day. There were several choppers, dicers, and slicers that were not used. If you think about it, these things can be accomplished with a good knife. If you have room in your kitchen, then keep it but I did not have room for all my gadgets that I thought I needed. So every time I picked up a gadget, I would think, “Do I need this and could I use a basic kitchen utensil to do this task?” 

The other thing to remove from the kitchen is items that you have too many of.  Just keep the amount that you will use. I do not need 15 coffee mugs even though I like them. I only need 6 so I pick out my 6 favorites. I do not need so many slotted spoons so I keep 2 and donate the rest, I do not need so many kitchen towels that I can’t shut the drawer so I remove all but the amount that fits in that drawer.  Do you know what I discovered? I do not have wash dishes as often.  This really works!!

Make your dishes easy to access.

Everything that I use needs to be easy to access. Having to lift bowls to get to the plates can be frustrating. This wooden plate rack is amazing. It cost around $5 and will change your life. I did replace all my dishes with everyday Corelle plates and bowls. The reason I LOVE these plates and bowls is that they are so lightweight even smaller kids can easily handle them. These dishes do not take up much room in the cabinet, dishwasher, or sink. Corelle dishes will not break when dropped. I have also purchased extra plates. 

Another area that use to make cooking more difficult was storing heavy glassware and ironware. Having to pull out all of the pans to get to the one you want can make it more difficult.  

A slotted organization rack is perfect for pans and dishes. You can also turn it vertical for stacking pans, but I like to place it on the side so I can slide my pans in and out easily. 

 Hanging a corkboard on my pantry wall to hang my strainers, funnels, and small appliances have helped. You could do this in a closet or laundry room or anywhere you have the wall space.       

  A cabinet to store small kitchen appliances.                                   

I scored this beautiful cabinet at the thrift store for $40, and it looks and smells new! I had no idea where I would use it, but it turns out to be the perfect place for my small appliances.

Having a place for small kitchen appliances that are easy to access will make cooking easier. It will also free up your counter space.

Use small trays and pedestals for kitchen items.

Gather like items that are used often and place on trays or pedestals. This small cake stand found at Marshall’s is perfect for soap and brushes.

There are things that you use when cooking that just make sense to store on the counter. Salt and pepper plus cooking utensils need to be close by. Storing these items on a small tray makes your kitchen counters look cleaner and neater.

Hang items on hooks.

Many kitchens do not have great cabinet and drawer space. Keeping a few potholders and towels on a kitchen towel rack helps. The rack in the photo came from Hobby Lobby and it is hung next to my oven. Also, in the picture are my measuring cups with handles hanging on the wall. When I am cooking, I want the measuring cups closeby. The measuring cups have long handles which make it easy to get into storage containers. The cups are hung with command hooks.

These are my favorite kitchen organization tips that work for me. I hope that you find a few of these tips helpful. I just know that an organized kitchen makes getting supper on the table much easier and less stressful. Next week, I will share how I organize and store food items.