Organize your kitchen: 7 steps to more storage space

Table of contents

• Step 1: Clean out the kitchen
• Step 2: Organize Kitchen Cabinets
• Step 3: Organize drawers
• Step 4: Organize pots and pans
• Step 5: Organize spice rack
• Step 6: Organize oils and bottles
• Step 7: Organize open spaces

The kitchen is often the messiest room in the home - no wonder, after all, it is used every day and a lot of food and utensils have to be stored. However, with a well-thought-out system you can ensure more order and get the most out of your storage space. Here are 7 clever ideas to help you do just that.

With these tips you will not only create more storage space in your kitchen, but also a relaxed, well-organized atmosphere - and that will make cooking much more pleasant!

Step 1: Clean out the kitchen

The first step in any organization project: First get everything out of the cupboards and get an overview. In order to properly organize the kitchen, you have to know what is there.

When clearing out, sort things that belong together straight into a pile. All the food together, all the pots together, etc. This will make it easier for you to put it away later. Once all the cupboards are empty, you can give them a thorough wipe.

When the entire kitchen inventory is spread out on the floor, you're sure to discover one or two things that you no longer use. Anything that is duplicate or broken and that you have no use for will be thrown out mercilessly. This makes it easier for you to organize later because you simply have to store less.

Step 2: Organize Kitchen Cabinets

Once you have freed yourself from unnecessary items, the actual organization of your kitchen can now begin. To make sensible use of the storage space in the kitchen cupboards, you can first divide them into zones:

• A zone for the dishes. This should be close to the sink and dishwasher.
• A zone for cooking utensils such as pots or pans.
• A zone for storage or fresh-keeping boxes.
• A zone for cleaning supplies and/or trash. This is usually the cupboard under the sink.
• A zone for tea or coffee. This should be near the kettle or coffee machine. Ideally also where the cups are stored.
• A zone for supplies if there is no pantry.
• A zone for special items, such as fine dishes or kitchen appliances that are not in daily use.

This kitchen zone system will help you keep track of your possessions and supplies. If you don't live alone, it also makes living together easier because your family members or roommates always know where something belongs when unloading the dishwasher. Once you have set the system, you can now put the things away again.

Reading tip:

Step 3: Organize drawers

Drawers are predestined for chaos. Because all sorts of small items usually end up in them and fly around uncontrollably when you open and close them. To ensure more order in the kitchen, there is no drawer without an organization system.

Depending on how big your drawers are and what you want to store in them, there are different organization systems available:

• pull-out dividers that can be adjusted to the drawer width (order here from Amazon*)

• classic sorting aids such as cutlery (order here from Amazon*)

• different sized boxes that you can combine with each other (order here from Amazon*)

• Staircase-like inserts for the spice drawer (order here from Amazon*) so that the can labels are easy to read

• Drawer inserts for tea bags (Shop here on Amazon*)

You can simply place the organization systems in the drawers or clip them and sort the contents. This helps to use the storage space effectively and to find food and utensils more quickly when cooking.

Step 4: Organize pots and pans

Pots and pans are difficult to stack and therefore often take up a lot of space in the kitchen cupboard. Fortunately, there are clever ideas for this too. With so-called pan shelves (is available here on Amazon*) you can stack pots and pans and easily remove them again for cooking.

Lids can also be stored this way. However, pot lid holders that can be attached to the inside of the cupboard door are even more space-saving. You will get a model similar to the one in the photohere on Amazon*.

Step 5: Organize spice rack

The spice rack is another point of chaos in almost every kitchen. The spices usually come in a variety of packaging, which results in a colorful mix of colors and shapes and makes it difficult to keep things organized.

If you would like to organize your spices and at the same time save valuable storage space in your kitchen cupboards, spice racks are ideal. You can mount them on the wall and fill the different spices into uniform jars.

This makes the spice rack a real eye-catcher in your kitchen. A wide selection ofspice containers* andspice racks* can be found on Amazon. Tip: Also get a few self-adhesive labels that you can write on and stick on the jars.

If you don't want to store your spices openly, you can still save space by screwing the spice racks to the inside of a cupboard door. Some models can also be attached with strong adhesive strips.

However, not every cupboard has enough space between the cupboard door and the shelves. Therefore, if possible, check beforehand whether the spice racks fit in the location.

Step 6: Organize oils and bottles

Just like spices, all the bottles in the kitchen can look very messy, especially if they are left open. It's better to store the bottles in the cupboard - this creates order and also protects them from dust.

So that you can get to all the bottles without any problems and don't have to clear half the shelf when you need oil from the back while cooking, there's a brilliant tip: Use a turntable (is available here on Amazon*).

You can simply put it in the cupboard and place all the bottles on it. So you just have to turn the plate a little and you can get to every oil and vinegar. This idea is also suitable for organizing your food, for example if you use the turntable on your pantry shelf.

Step 7: Organize open spaces

If possible, you should organize the work surface and open shelves last. Now that you have brought some order into your kitchen and ideally gained a lot of space, you can now use the open areas to showcase beautiful things.

For example, place cookbooks, herbs, beautiful salt and pepper shakers or a fruit basket. Here you can be decorative and don't have to pay so much attention to storage space. But remember not to place too much on the work surfaces so that the kitchen doesn't quickly look untidy in everyday life and you still have enough space to cook.