ORGANIZATION / 5 KITCHEN ORGANIZATION IDEAS
5 Kitchen Organization Ideas
5 Kitchen Organization Ideas That Will Work in Any Kitchen
What with cooking, eating, and all that stuff, kitchens can get dis-organized fast. Here are six ideas to help you get your kitchen organized and in good working order.
1. Only kitchen items allowed.
There are three kinds of things:
For example, a flashlight. It’s not necessarily a kitchen tool, but I keep two under my sink. And I know they’ll be there when I need them. If, however, you decide that a flashlight doesn’t belong in your kitchen, then if you ever spot one in your kitchen drawer, you know to remove it. And if your coffee mugs belong in your kitchen, you’ll be more motivated to not let them accumulate in your office.
2. Simplify your cleaning routine.
Though cleaning and organizing are different skills, two things that make a kitchen look and feel really disorganized are a) being dirty and b) containing a mess of cleaning products scattered about.
The solution to the first problem is to clean regularly, and the answer to the second is to streamline your cleaning supplies and designate a place for them. Commercials might say differently, but you don’t need a million different cleansers. In almost all cases, you can clean your sink, stove-top, and counter with the same thing.
You can choose a less bulky (and less time consuming) Swiffer over a mop and bucket, and convenient cleansing wipes instead of some product + a sponge.
3. Declutter.
If you’ve read anything about organizing you’ve heard this advice before: get rid of as many unwanted belongings as possible. That’s because it’s just so much easier to be neat, productive, and in control of your environment when it’s less cluttered. Of course you can organize massive collections of objects, but do you really want your kitchen to resemble a museum storeroom?
If not, set aside some time to get rid of that weird coffee maker you never use, those glasses you’ve always disliked, and any expired foods. Give your cabinets, pantry, counters, and shelves a good look and decide what you can part with. Then box it up to donate or discard.
4. Simplify your cooking and shopping habits.
Unless food and cooking is a particular hobby and source of enjoyment for you, you don’t have to be regularly testing out complicated new recipes that require lots of fancy ingredients and new tools. Keep a list (mental or physical) of a few standard dishes that can be modified without too much extra work.
How you shop depends on how far in advance you plan meals as well as how often you go to the grocery store. Some people like a standard list of staple foods onto which they can add different things each week; some have it worked out well enough in their head to go shopping without a list. Similarly, it might make sense to you to plan every meal for the upcoming week, or to see what looks good (or is on sale) multiple times per week. Choose a method that works for you; there’s no use being organized if it’s done on someone else’s template.
5. Change your space.
Sometimes when a room is hard to organize, it’s the room’s fault. My kitchen growing up was cut off from the adjoining room by a large decorative wooden pillar which also took up a good chunk of counter space. One day my dad sawed it down and voila, a more airy and organizing-friendly kitchen. Other tricks that can help include taking doors off of cabinets, or replacing them with glass doors. Installing open shelves. Painting everything a paler color or replacing dark wood with light. If you can’t make permanent changes, you can add extra counter space in the form of a cart or small table, or put a free-standing shelving unit in a storage-challenged kitchen.
1. Only kitchen items allowed.
There are three kinds of things:
-
Things that belong in the kitchen;
-
things that don’t belong in the kitchen;
-
and, things that you might want to store in the kitchen despite the fact that they don’t belong there.
For example, a flashlight. It’s not necessarily a kitchen tool, but I keep two under my sink. And I know they’ll be there when I need them. If, however, you decide that a flashlight doesn’t belong in your kitchen, then if you ever spot one in your kitchen drawer, you know to remove it. And if your coffee mugs belong in your kitchen, you’ll be more motivated to not let them accumulate in your office.
2. Simplify your cleaning routine.
Though cleaning and organizing are different skills, two things that make a kitchen look and feel really disorganized are a) being dirty and b) containing a mess of cleaning products scattered about.
The solution to the first problem is to clean regularly, and the answer to the second is to streamline your cleaning supplies and designate a place for them. Commercials might say differently, but you don’t need a million different cleansers. In almost all cases, you can clean your sink, stove-top, and counter with the same thing.
You can choose a less bulky (and less time consuming) Swiffer over a mop and bucket, and convenient cleansing wipes instead of some product + a sponge.
3. Declutter.
If you’ve read anything about organizing you’ve heard this advice before: get rid of as many unwanted belongings as possible. That’s because it’s just so much easier to be neat, productive, and in control of your environment when it’s less cluttered. Of course you can organize massive collections of objects, but do you really want your kitchen to resemble a museum storeroom?
If not, set aside some time to get rid of that weird coffee maker you never use, those glasses you’ve always disliked, and any expired foods. Give your cabinets, pantry, counters, and shelves a good look and decide what you can part with. Then box it up to donate or discard.
4. Simplify your cooking and shopping habits.
Unless food and cooking is a particular hobby and source of enjoyment for you, you don’t have to be regularly testing out complicated new recipes that require lots of fancy ingredients and new tools. Keep a list (mental or physical) of a few standard dishes that can be modified without too much extra work.
How you shop depends on how far in advance you plan meals as well as how often you go to the grocery store. Some people like a standard list of staple foods onto which they can add different things each week; some have it worked out well enough in their head to go shopping without a list. Similarly, it might make sense to you to plan every meal for the upcoming week, or to see what looks good (or is on sale) multiple times per week. Choose a method that works for you; there’s no use being organized if it’s done on someone else’s template.
5. Change your space.
Sometimes when a room is hard to organize, it’s the room’s fault. My kitchen growing up was cut off from the adjoining room by a large decorative wooden pillar which also took up a good chunk of counter space. One day my dad sawed it down and voila, a more airy and organizing-friendly kitchen. Other tricks that can help include taking doors off of cabinets, or replacing them with glass doors. Installing open shelves. Painting everything a paler color or replacing dark wood with light. If you can’t make permanent changes, you can add extra counter space in the form of a cart or small table, or put a free-standing shelving unit in a storage-challenged kitchen.
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