Kitchen Organizing: Time to Open the Cabinets!

This is a continuation on the series of organizing the heart of your home-The Kitchen:

The big job of the day may be cleaning out all those cabinets – both lower and uppers. Your counters are clear now, so there should be space to take everything out of the cabinets. If they need it, wipe them clean. Then sort and purge items that you no longer use or need. You must be ruthless here so that you really do clear out the clutter and the things that are simply taking up wasted space in the cabinets.

If you have multiple frying pans that are really way past their prime, pare down. If there are bulky large items that you really don’t use – consider selling or donating them or if they are a once or twice a year item, perhaps they need to be re-located to some other location like a laundry room closet or cabinet. You should keep the items that you really like and enjoy using in the kitchen. Just because it was a gift doesn’t mean you have to keep it. Now that you are down to the things you are keeping make a plan to return items to cabinets with these things in mind.

1. Accessibility – things should be most accessible and easy to reach when they are used daily or weekly. Things that are used monthly or only occasionally are put further away or higher up.

Seasonal or rarely used can be put in the highest or most hard to access cabinets, for example the cabinets above the stove or the refrigerator.

2. Centers or categories – you want to place items together that go together for certain uses. Baking centers, cookware, cups and glasses, dishes, serving platters & trays, Tupperware, seasonal items, etc. For instance, dishes and glassware are best placed in the upper cabinet closest to the dishwasher so that they can be put away easily. Spices can be put on tiered spice racks, turntables or wall-mount or counter-top spice racks depending on space available.

3. Containerize – small items like sauce packets and mixes, jello, or other small things can be put in a drawer divider or clear food storage container so that they are all together, easy to see, and easy to take out or put away.

If your cabinets are well-organized you will save a lot of time during food prep, cooking and putting things away later.