The kitchen is one of those places that is usually used all the time. Unless you eat out constantly, you end up spending a great deal of time here. Let’s make that time count toward making delicious food and not looking for things!
Silverware bins are one of the most useful organizational tools in the kitchen. They can be used not just for organizing silverware, but also other odds and ends instead of letting them float around in a drawer. Once your silverware is organized into bins (either by type or set or whatever makes your job easier), look for other places where you can use them. For example, somewhat larger bins can be used to keep wooden spoons, ladles, and such in one place. I have four of these sets and organize everything from the pizza cutter and tenderizer to reusable wine bottle corks and birthday candles. Try to look for bins that come in different sized dividers. That way you have small and large places to better organize the odds and ends. Another hint: use opaque plastic if you can – it’s easier to clean and doesn’t get scratched as much as wood or clear plastic.
Another area that can quickly get out of hand in the kitchen is where the reusable containers, such as Tupperware, are stored. If you have various shapes and sizes, it’s more difficult to keep everything tidy. If you can, invest in sets of the same size and stack them inside or on top of each other. Glass containers are much better in terms of health and ease of cleaning, but they also don’t stack inside each other very well. One of the first things I bought when we moved into a house was glass containers because I just didn’t have room for them in a small apartment kitchen. Back then, I had three different sizes of containers and two of them were the same shape but some taller and others more shallow, so I only had two towers of boxes and the lids next to them or stacked on top. By using plastic, I had enough containers to fill the entire fridge but when empty, they only occupied a single narrow drawer.
Now I have three different sizes of glass containers and they stack on top of each other with the lids on each one. They take up more room, but by having only a few sizes, stacking is easy and I know exactly where they go when they are washed. Below is my cabinet where the food containers live, along with various jars I saved so I can reuse them. For example, I use the plastic jars from gelato for snacks for kids and the glass jars for soup or storing dry goods in the pantry.
Out of sight is best when keeping everything organized, so now that you have decluttered and hopefully have fewer things, you can hide most of them into cabinets or drawers. The most important part is having a designated place for everything. It’s too easy to leave it out on top of a counter if it doesn’t have a permanent home somewhere. If you have limited space, some DIY projects could help you maximize it.
Lids from pots and pans can be stored vertically in racks attached to the inside of a cabinet door. Cleaning supplies can also be stored in hanging racks or baskets inside the cabinet or attached to the cabinet door. Add small shelf units (similar to a hutch) inside cabinets to store more smaller appliances instead of wasting that vertical space. If you have movable shelves, you can also get an extra shelf and pins and increase your flat surface dramatically.
To increase your flat surface outside the cabinets, consider hanging as much as you can. For example, a paper towel holder is very easy to hang on the wall or under the top cabinets. Same can be done for cloth towels by using a hook – I am still thinking about how I want to do that.
A soap caddy would also help organize the sponges, brushes, or anything else that is kept by the sink. Make sure you get one that can fit everything you need, but don’t get discouraged if that’s difficult to find. I used to have one that had several things in it, but when it started rusting and I had to find a plastic one, I couldn’t find one I liked that had enough space for everything I used. I ended up settling on one and now I am so used to having fewer things in the caddy that I can’t even remember what I had to get rid of. Sometimes it seems essential but you can get along without it just fine, and it just ends up being another tool to help you declutter and organize.
Organizing the pantry can seem like a daunting task, but once you decluttered it, the remaining work is not too bad. You just need a few ways to keep similar items together and everything falls into place in no time. I cannot stress enough how useful having clear plastic bins is for organizing the pantry. As you can see below, bins help to neatly contain and organize the smaller items.
Keep all the smaller items in these bins and the larger containers, such as flour, cereal, pasta, and rice, next to them. These bins can contain everything, including tea bags, bags of chips, extracts, cupcake liners, cookie cutters, nuts, and even garlic and onions. When I bake, I take out two of these bins and the flour container and I have everything I need. All my tea is in a single bin. And if you are like me and drink lots of tea, check out the genius way to organize your tea collection that I came up with.
Similarly sized and shaped containers make a huge difference in keeping everything tidy since you don’t have to worry about things not fitting together nicely. For example, if all the grains are in the same type of container, they can stack one in front of the other and in rows, and everything will look neat and tidy. Or if they are all thin and deep, they can be stacked next to each other neatly. I love the idea of containers like that, where you can see the front of all of them, but I just opted for free containers in the form of empty rectangular mayo jars.
Extra shelves are another great way to fit more into the pantry if you have many smaller items that end up with a lot of empty vertical space above them. The shelves will give you extra surface area for all the tea boxes, coffee cans, or jars. Hanging or sliding out shelves are another great way to maximize your pantry space and make it easy to see what you have.
While I personally have all my spices in a plastic bin like most other items, minimalistic spice racks can save a lot of space and make it easier to find what you need. Try to avoid bulky ones that reduce the space you can use for other things, but otherwise, they are great for containing the little spice jars and making sure nothing is forgotten in the back corner and you end up buying multiples of it.
You can find more tips for organizing and decluttering your home in my book Minimalism for Everyone: Balanced Simplicity.
