how to organize your kitchen

How to Organize Your Kitchen

HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR KITCHEN

Your kitchen is the most used room in the house, so how to organize your kitchen is important.

If you do it well, you'll have efficient space. Do it poorly, and you might hate being in your kitchen. Luckily, if you don't get it right, you can move things back, reorganize, and keep changing until you feel comfortable using your kitchen and where things are.

Keep in mind "handiness" and try to get the feel and look you want and need.

THE FIRST THING YOU NEED TO DO IS DE-CLUTTER YOUR CABINETS

Here's 5 simple steps how to organize your kitchen by de-cluttering:

Start in any cabinet, look through it's contents. Pitch what you haven't used in 1 year (unless it's a specialty item that is used yearly, then put it away in storage or in that hard-to-reach cabinet - like the top shelf of a high upper).
If it's a food storage cabinet, like a pantry, throw anything that has expired. If you find nonperishable food items that you won't use, donate them to your local food pantry. Yes, you can pitch the stale crackers and hard ice tea or tang.
Get rid of duplicates. If you have two or three can openers and you don't use them (let's be honest, you don't), put them in a bag and later take to Goodwill, or store for a garage sale.
Go through your sink cabinet. Get rid of old cleaning supplies (over 1 year). If you haven't used them in a year, you probably aren't going to use them. Some chemicals can actually change their composition just sitting there for a long time, becoming less effective or even dangerous.
Get rid of cracked or melted tupperware or other damaged storage items.

ORGANIZE WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE

Five things you can do to organize:

In your pantry or food cabinets, put like items together: cereals, canned goods, pasta, sugars and flours, etc.
Think about where you place things from your dishwasher, such as dishes. There's not much you can do but stack them, but, are they conveniently located, or should you move them to another cabinet? Same with utensils. Put things where they are the easiest to get at.
Keep spatulas, can-openers, stirring-spoons, whisks, and the like, within easy reach of the stove. An on-counter idea is to keep these things in a decorative canister or crock near the stove.
Keep your pots and pans near the stove. Use the drawer under your stove and/or keep them in a nearby base cabinet.
Put your cooking and mixing bowls in a separate cabinet, next to your prep area.

OTHER NEAT IDEAS HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR KITCHEN:

Utilize or install a base corner lazy susan, a D-shaped "pantry" lazy susan, or a lazy susan in your upper corner cabinet.
Make use of a blind corner by installing a blind-corner type lazy susan (there are base blind corner slide outs, half moon glide outs, and pivot out systems for blind corners). These finally let you access that hard-to-reach corner. Most prices for these run from around $60 to $120, however some are as high as $500. The lesser expensive models seem to work just as well as the high-end models (but even at $500, you're saving money by not having to remodel an entire kitchen to access a blind corner).
If you have a base corner cabinet, you can also install a rotary recycling unit that has three bins for your garbage and recycling. It's really nice if you have two corners, a lazy susan in one and a rotary recycling unit in the other.
Purchase a knife rack with scissors included. Your knifes will be protected (as well as your hands) and scissors in the kitchen are always handy.
Install a pullout garbage rollout, or get the door mounted kind that uses regular brown paper bags. There are dozens of types of garbage rollouts and recycling centers. You're sure to find one you like when you are deciding how to organize your kitchen cabinets.
Knape & Vogt makes an entire backsplash system for between your upper and base cabinets. You can choose from different types of hanging shelves, cookbook holder, towel holder, utensil holder, "S" hooks, etc.
Install an under-cabinet or interior type wine rack or stemware holder.
Purchase any of several types of hanging, door mount, drawer mount, or cabinet mounted spice racks.
Use hanging baskets in your kitchen to hold towels, fruits or veggies. They can be mounted under your cabinets or even from your ceiling. If you don't like where you've put them, it's not hard just to move them to make sure they are strategically located for your handy use.
Get a towel rack and mount under your sink cabinet or in a narrow cabinet.
Purchase some tray dividers for those narrow cabinets. Even one will help hold up cookie sheets and muffin tins, allowing you to put more in a small cabinet.

HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR KITCHEN - 10 THINGS YOU CAN MOUNT UNDER (OR IN) YOUR UPPER CABINETS (it lets you clear off some counter space):

Small Appliances
Spice Rack
Message Center
Cookbook Holder
Wine Rack
Stemware Holder
Lights
Radio/Cd player
Knife Holder
Trays that mount to the inside of doors (for miscellaneous packets and seasonings)

If you follow these steps and know how to organize your kitchen, it will be well worth the time and effort. You won't believe how much more you can enjoy your kitchen.

Return to from How to Organize Your Kitchen to our Hardware for Kitchen Cabinets page.

You can also check below for more links.

And remember - HAVE A HAPPY KITCHEN!!!

OTHER RELATED SITES:

Bathroom Organizers - I had a tough time organizing our bathrooms, especially the kids, until I implemented these ideas into my bath

Hardware for Kitchen Cabinets - It's what's on the inside that counts!

Kitchen Cabinet Accessories - What to change to make your kitchen work for you!

Kitchen Storage Ideas - Beyond De-Cluttering!!

The Woodworkers Depot - Online hardware store. Great prices, great products.