Learn my best tips for how to organize kitchen cabinets, step-by-step, including the awkward corner cupboards or under the sink.
Do you open your kitchen cabinets cautiously because you fear an avalanche of pots or canned goods will come spilling out?
Kitchen cupboards can become a breeding ground for expired food, among other things. If you find yourself frequently lamenting about the lack of storage space in your kitchen, it might be due to cabinets that are full of junk.
There are so many benefits to having organized kitchen cabinets. You’ll:
- Have lots of room for items you need
- Know where everything is stored
- Be able to easily access everything
- Save time and money
I don’t think you need more convincing. Here’s how to organize kitchen cupboards in seven easy steps.
How To Organize Kitchen Cabinets
1. Purge your Cupboards of Junk
As I mentioned, clutter builds up pretty quickly in the kitchen — your cabinets are not excluded. If you peek into a few of yours right now, I’m sure you’ll find:
- Expired food
- Ingredients you bought for a recipe you wanted to try but never used
- Appliances and gadgets you don’t use
- Duplicates of items
I think you know what’s coming next. That’s right, it’s time to declutter.
Get rid of all that stuff you’re not using and never going to use. You’ll have more space for things you actually want.
2. Store Items Close To Where They’ll Be Used
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Think about how you use your kitchen and the things in it. Store spices and cooking utensils close to the stove, glasses and dishware close to the sink.
The last thing you want is to feel like you’ve run a marathon after cooking. There’s no reason to be running around from one side of the kitchen to the next to grab items you need to make a meal. Just knowing where to put things in kitchen cabinets will save you a ton of time.
3. Make Items Easily Accessible
Here are some simple rules to follow to ensure everything stored in your kitchen cupboards is easy to access:
- Make sure you only have to move one item out of the way to reach another behind it. If you have to remove several items before you can access something, you’re less likely to use that item and you probably won’t put the stuff you moved back where they belong.
- Place rarely used items up high and frequently used items at eye level or in lower cabinets.
- Store heavy items in lower cupboards. If you put them up high, that’s just an accident waiting to happen.
- Install pull-out shelves so you can easily reach items at the back of cupboards.
- Use risers to create different levels inside the cupboard so you can see what you have on hand.
- Store kids’ items in a lower cabinet so they can get what they need without your help.
4. Group Similar Items
The best way to organize kitchen cabinets is to keep everything that has a similar use in the same spot or as close together as you can e.g. group all your baking ingredients in one place. This will save you from running all over the kitchen looking for items you need for a specific function.
You can separate items out from their group to create a convenient station. For example, if you drink a lot of tea, you can create a tea station. Pick one spot in your kitchen where you’ll store the teas, a few mugs, spoons, small container of sugar and anything else you need.
You’ll most likely have some of these items stored elsewhere but having just a few in one spot is really convenient when you want to make tea.
5. Use Baskets
Use baskets to make the most of kitchen cabinet shelves. I especially recommend this for packages that don’t stand up on their own. It saves so much space and stops them from falling over and creating a mess. Try this with items like pastas, snacks, even spices that come in packets.
Just slap a label on the side of the basket with the broad category of item stored inside so you know exactly what’s in there.
6. Be Creative
Use creative solutions for awkward spaces like corner cupboards or under the sink cabinets.
A Lazy Susan works wonders for tight spaces. Use a 2-tiered one to take advantage of the height inside the cupboard.
Here’s an awesome idea for a corner cabinet.
7. Kitchen Cabinet Storage Solutions
You can increase the storage space inside your kitchen without ever touching a hammer. Simply use every square inch that’s already available to you.
Try a combination of the following storage solutions:
- Kitchen cabinet door organizers
- Kitchen cupboard shelf organizers
- Hooks on the inside of cupboard doors or even the underside of upper cabinets. Use Command hooks to avoid damaging your cupboards.
- Under-shelf baskets
- Regular baskets
- Can organizers
It’s amazing how much space you’ll have when you know how to organize kitchen cabinets properly, even if you have a tiny kitchen. Just use these handy cupboard organization tips and ideas to make the best use of the space you have.