​Ideal interiors: The homify guide on how to organise your kitchen

Johannes van Graan Johannes van Graan
Contemporary design redefined, Neptune Neptune Small kitchens
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If it feels like you’re fighting a losing battle against clutter, don’t despair – you’re not alone. Most of us feel as if there are never enough storage spaces in our homes, which can become a real problem if it’s a public room where we like to host and entertain, like the kitchen

And if your kitchen flaunts tonnes of drawers and cabinets, yet you still can’t bring yourself to decently organise the space, it may come down to how you’re storing things. 

That is why we’ve scooped up a few tips and tricks on how to organise your kitchen. These hints will not only make the most of your current storage spaces, they’ll also help you to create more!

1. How to organise your kitchen: Empty your cabinets

First of all, we need to determine what is taking up unnecessary space in your kitchen. So, open up each cabinet and sort through them. Discard or donate everything you don’t frequently use, are duplicated, are broken, or things you forgot you had. 

Be ruthless with each cabinet and drawer you sort out. The goal is to clear up as much space as possible!

2. How to organise your kitchen: Group similar items together

Done with every single cabinet and drawer? Now, consider what is best for you in terms of how to group items. 

Sort all your baking items and pile them together on the floor. Do the same with your cooking items. Group your dining dishes, glassware, crockery sets, holiday- or other seasonal items that only get used once or twice a year, etc.

3. How to organise your kitchen: Organise your cabinets

Look at every pile you’ve grouped together on your floor and decide where each one should go. It just makes sense to keep cooking- and baking elements close to the area where you do food preparation. Cooking utensils should also be in the drawer nearest to the prep area.

For glassware, search for a spot near the sink or refrigerator. Make a coffee- or tea station that includes sugar, mugs and filters, and place it near the water source, if possible. 

Doing this crafts out a neat and practical little layout for you, cancelling out the need to move around as much as possible for the tiniest of activities in your kitchen.

4. How to organise your kitchen: Use clear containers for storage

Containers are quite effective at streamlining your cabinet storage. Group together packets of sauce mixes, sugars, gravy powders etc. and store them in small plastic containers. Isn’t this so much better than having them scattered around a drawer? 

Do the same for other items like pudding mixes, spice sachets, etc.

5. How to organise your kitchen: Store containers and lids together

We all know the joy of rummaging around a drawer or cupboard searching for that missing container lid. Well, no more! 

Any containers without lids (and vice versa) need to be discarded. For the remaining plastic containers and lids you have two options: 

1. Store them all with the lids on each container, or 

2. Store all the lids together in one large container so that they all stay together. 

Do the same with the lids for your pots and pans.

6. How to organise your kitchen: Use the vertical space

Look around your kitchen: is there any available air space you can turn into storage? 

How about placing hooks underneath cabinets for hanging mugs and teacups? Or hanging a stemware rack in the same spot for wine glasses? This is sure to free up lots of cabinet space. 

For the insides of cabinet/pantry doors, hang adhesive hooks to hold tools such as measuring cups, oven mitts or other kitchen goodies. Wall space or a ceiling rack can be used for hanging pots and pans (an especially nice touch above a kitchen island).

7. How to organise your kitchen: Divide and rise

When looking for clever ways on how to organise your kitchen, you’ll find that what’s inside drawers also count. Why else would they have invented drawer dividers? These are fantastic for storing those miscellaneous things together, avoiding an overflowing drawer. 

Do the same for pots and pans—install a few pan dividers and stack pots and lids within the cabinet. You can also organise baking sheets and pans by placing the dividers perpendicular to the shelf.

And how about using the vertical space inside cabinets? Place risers inside to help keep items separated, making the picking of something particular out of a huge stack so much easier.

8. How to organise your kitchen: Sort out all papers

Just as you did with the insides of cabinets, you need to decide which of those papers are worth keeping.

For example: can you find a digital version of that takeaway menu? Are your bills emailed to you as well? Then there’s no need to keep the paper versions of these around, is there? 

For the papers that you do intend to keep (like that notepad and pen for shopping lists or reminders), get a magnetic sorter box to hang on the side of the refrigerator. Each type of paper should have its own section in the sorter, meaning a much neater kitchen for you!

9. How to organise your kitchen: Clean out the refrigerator

What’s inside your fridge also adds to your kitchen clutter. Wait until it’s time to take out the trash, then open your fridge and see what foods need to be tossed immediately. As soon as you’ve added them to the trashcan, take the trash outside for pickup.  

That way, your fridge will only house items being used and will be much less cluttered. 

What you store and toss will depend on your personal style, but remember that the goal is to get that kitchen (or any other room you tackle) and its contents to serve your needs as smoothly and efficiently as possible. So, take the time necessary to do this (and do it regularly), and enjoy a much more welcoming and organised kitchen from now on!

From one room to another, let’s see How to organise your nursery in 9 months!

Do you agree with these tips on how to organise your kitchen? What would you change/add?

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