How to Organize Your Kitchen

From that mad dash for coffee in the morning, to catching up over dinner and drinks on the weekend, daily life happens in and around the kitchen. The kitchen plays an important role in our daily lives. You can help set the tone for these moments, from calm to crazy, by optimizing the layout of your kitchen and how you use it.

A well-organized kitchen makes cooking and cleaning go faster, with fewer interruptions and a streamlined, instinctive layout to make every step quicker. Whether a tiny apartment or a custom home, there are a few standout tips for how to set up a kitchen to keep it organized and clutter-free. Look through our guide for kitchen organization ideas on layout, storage shelving, and everyday kitchen organization tips.

How to Setup a Kitchen

Whether you just moved in or it's time for some spring cleaning, organizing your kitchen is always easier when you begin fresh, with a blank slate. That means the first step in organizing your kitchen is to empty the cabinets and drawers.

Next is to clean up the kitchen to keep the household healthy. Scrub and dry the cabinets completely. While it’s empty, measure the inside shelf space so you know how much room you have to work with when fitting dishware and supplies into cupboards.

While the shelves and countertops are empty is the perfect time to consider minor kitchen updates for style and effectiveness. 

• Add a decorative wallpaper liner to the wall inside the cupboard. Adding wallpaper to the shelves serves as a protective liner and allows a subtle touch of color and character.
• For a DIY weekend style upgrade, install a tile backsplash against the wall under the cabinet, above the oven range, or behind the sink and faucet.
• Consider the lighting in the room. Update the overhead ceiling lighting if needed, or add task lighting above the counter tops to make food preparation easier and safer. Under cabinet lighting is quick to install and offers an instant boost to the look and feel of the kitchen.

It's a good idea to attempt kitchen organization projects when the pantry is low on supplies, so you'll know what to replenish after you've cleaned the space and found the most efficient home for every spice, condiment, and baking staple that you regularly use.

Work Areas and Prep Stations

When it comes to organizing your kitchen, a common piece of advice is to set up the work areas around what is known as the work triangle. The kitchen work triangle is the area between the refrigerator, stove, and sink, as these are the most frequently utilized areas. The ideal kitchen setup will include storage for everything needed for the meal prep work that happens within that golden kitchen triangle.

 The kitchen work triangle has evolved to include work zones, allowing for a more open floor plan approach to kitchen organization. 

Kitchen zones can be divided up into five basic types:

• Food preparation zones are the open spaces of the countertops or kitchen island where meals are prepared.
• Cooking zones are the areas around the stoves, ovens, and microwaves.
• Cleaning areas include the dishwashers and sinks.
• Consumables storage includes the pantry, food cabinets, and refrigerator.
• Non Consumables storage is for those inedible kitchen items, like cutlery, dishware, and appliances.

A self-contained work zone creates a place to prepare different types of food or tasks in specific areas, based on what is stored nearby. For instance, a work area located between the stove and refrigerator, with a spice rack nearby, would be ideal for cooking dinner. 

Other zones could include:

• A work zone between the pantry and the oven to make it quick and easy to tackle any baking project.
• A work space between the sink, dishwasher, and dishware cupboards would be ideal for a cleaning station for hand washing and putting away dishes. 
• A nook between the pantry, the dishware cupboards, and the coffee pot would be an ideal coffee or tea bar to keep stocked with mugs, sugar containers, and tea or coffee selections.

You may find that grouping kitchen tasks with their tools and the location where they are most often handled is very different than your usual kitchen setup. It will save time and help meal preparations move more smoothly, once you get accustomed to the new organized kitchen layout.

How to Organize Your Kitchen

Kitchens are among the most difficult rooms to keep clean and organized. Having the right kind of storage will reduce visual clutter and boost efficiency. Even the smallest kitchens have hidden storage opportunities. There are many different types of organization solutions for setting up an efficient and comfortable kitchen. When looking into how to organize kitchen spaces, consider how much space you have for storage, counter space, and movement.

Countertop space should be used sparingly for storage in the kitchen. Look for opportunities to use wall space, either for extra shelves or for hanging items from, such as hanging pots or spice racks, or glassware under the upper cabinets.

Whenever possible, utilize the cupboards and cabinets for storage, out of sight, by finding ways to customize the space in your cabinet.

• Hide trash and recycling bins under the countertop with pull-out trash cans in a drawer installed in a base cabinet.
• Tip-out trays can be added to the false drawers in sink areas. They’re a handy place to stash scrubbers, drain plugs, and sponges.
• Cabinet fillers are slim, pull-out racks that utilize the narrow spaces between cabinets or alongside appliances. There are models designed for cookware, spices, canned goods, and other kitchen necessities.
• Extra kitchen storage shelves can be installed on walls or over doorways.
• Consider specialty racks for wine bottles, stemware, plates, spices, and towels.  
• Trays and baskets are good for keeping pantry items organized, or keeping items accessible when stored on high or deep shelves or cabinets.
• Canisters, storage containers, and countertop dispensers keep food fresh and accessible.
• Add storage and increase your work surface with kitchen islands.

When you have a larger, open kitchen, a kitchen island offers extra preparation space, storage, and a unique style. Kitchen islands can hold everything from cook books, larger dishware or small appliances, or even the wine collection with the help of a wine or beverage cooler. 

The kitchen island can be as simple as a cart with a chopping block top, or it can offer all the same features as the kitchen base cabinets. The kind of kitchen island features you choose will depend on the amount of space available and the tasks you expect to use it for.

How to Organize Kitchen Cabinets and Drawers

When organizing your kitchen, it's a good idea to compartmentalize the contents as much as possible. The cabinets and drawers are the first step to organizing your kitchen supplies.

It's important to explore different ways to keep the items you use near the places where you use them. For instance, spices could be kept in an upper cupboard near the stove, or the alternative location in a drawer beside the stove. Look for organizers, like drawer racks, or a tiered rack so you can see the selection while cooking, and so the bottles stay orderly and don't stack up to block the drawer or doors from working smoothly.

Keep loose items contained so they fit better in the shelves and drawers, and are easier to find and return to the same spot consistently. This could mean using trays for food containers, or drawer organizers for utensils. Even tupperware or pans can be kept orderly with individual organizers dedicated to holding only the lids.

How to Organize Kitchen Cabinets

Kitchen cupboards are great for storing everything you need in your kitchen. The trick is to find out how to organize kitchen cabinets in a way that allows you to easily see and access everything in them.

One way is to only store tall things at the back of the cabinet and short items or stacks in front, but that wastes a lot of time moving supplies out of the way in order to reach the back. Cabinet organizers remove these stumbling blocks and provide effective solutions to fully accessing every inch of the cupboards.

Base cabinet organizers and upper cabinet organizers offer pull-out shelves and door racks to help optimize the interior cabinets. Roll-out shelves hold the same contents as other shelves, but they allow you to view every item outside of the cupboard rather than lose sight of the items at the back.

• For wide and deep cabinets, especially those with narrow access doors, corner base cabinet organizers such as multi-tiered lazy susans or pull-out shelves put the cupboard contents within view and simple reach. 
• Kitchen racks can be installed inside cabinet doors to keep accessories such as hand towels, or smaller items that should be kept at the front of the cabinet.
• Dividers allow for the use of vertical space by standing tall, narrow items such as pans or serving platters side by side rather than stacked flat.
• Risers and shelves tucked inside cupboards allow for more storage, or for alternating height shelves to keep everything separate, and stacked for easy reach.

To add creative interior organization to the upper shelves to help keep the shelves tidy, line the inside of an upper cabinet door with wallpaper or corkboard and create an organizer from the flat surface.

• Install small removable hooks or finishing nails to hang measuring cups or spoons, or post your favorite recipe cards with pins. 
• Find appropriately sized removable hooks and create slots for pan lid storage on the cupboard doors of lower cabinets.

How to Organize Kitchen Drawers 

When looking for ideas on how to organize kitchen drawers, remember to keep it simple. The idea is to create a defined space for each tool in your chef’s tool kit. 

Drawer organizers are designed to streamline meal prep with form-fitting compartments that hold spices, cutlery, utensils, and other kitchen tools in an orderly, easy to find layout. Utensil trays and dividers can be found in different materials, from bamboo and wood to metal and plastic, and can work well with any kitchen style. Lining drawers with cork board also helps keep the utensils in place by providing a skid-proof surface.

How to Organize Kitchen Countertops 

The final consideration when planning how to organize kitchen spaces is the countertop. The countertop is the food preparation area and should be kept as cleared and clutter-free as possible. It is a hygienic concern as well as an anesthetic one. Fewer cluttered and dusty surfaces is healthier and less visually busy, which helps to create a more efficient kitchen workspace.

Organizational tools are that much more important on the countertop to help keep the necessary supplies where they can be used most effectively every day, without being in the way. 

• If you're looking for ideas on how to organize kitchen drawers crammed a little too full with prep knives, wall-mounted magnetic knife bars and knife blocks free up room in drawers by storing the most frequently used cutlery either on the counter or above it.
• Lazy susans make quick work of organizing common cooking oils and spices, and are particularly useful when paired with a multi-tiered basket or tray system.
• Wall shelves help utilize vertical space and preserve countertop surface for food prep. Add baskets to keep items group together and easier to grab despite the extra height. 
• Countertop organizers can showcase your personal style with your preference of tools like jars, clear storage containers, or display racks.
• Specialized racks install against the lower side of the upper cabinets to sort and hold wine glasses, tea mugs, or bottles.