5 Organizing Tips For a Clutter-Free Kitchen
A consistently organized kitchen can make life easier—as in, you can put away groceries more easily, and prep meals faster, or even save money. Try these smart strategies to streamline things in the heart of your home:
Categorize food. Organize your pantry and refrigerator as you would a library—meaning, grouped by category. For example, baking supplies, spices, canned goods; even juices and drinks should be grouped together and then assigned to designated spaces. Grouping like with like allows you to easily see what you have and cuts down on grocery spending because you won’t buy what you already have.
Think vertical. Space is a hot commodity in a kitchen, so co-opt otherwise unused real estate when organizing. Hang pots and pans from the ceiling or wall and mount spice racks or knife holders under cabinets. Even the pantry door can get in on this action— hang a clear shoe bag on the back of it and tuck pet treats, snacks, and first aid essentials into the pockets. Or use an over the door organizer like this one. Extra bonus? Less clutter on counters!
Install rollout storage. Slide-out shelf organizers, available at home improvement stores and online, make frequently used equipment and supplies easy to grab. (They also boost access to hard-to-reach shelves.) If your cabinets can’t accommodate sliders, tiered stackers, clear containers and open baskets will allow you to see what you have at a glance.
Store items by frequency of use. Everyday dishes, glasses and silverware should be stored in easy-to-reach locations (think lower shelves or in deep cabinet drawers). Tuck special occasion platters and grandma’s silver away on high shelves or store in another location altogether if space is super tight.
Purge periodically. Just like clothes and papers, kitchen contents need to be weeded out on the regular. Expired canned goods? Toss. Spices you bought to make that specific recipe once? Toss. The dried fruit from the gift basket you received three years ago? Toss. This goes for cracked dishes, stained Tupperware and broken cooking utensils. If you don’t need it, like it or use it: Toss!
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