Kitchens are commonly the central hub of most homes. It’s where meals are prepared—not to mention where your utensils, appliances, and food is stored. It’s where families catch up after a day at school or work, where snacks are eaten and left out, and bad days are soothed with a warm cup of hot chocolate or tea. In short, kitchens are a happening place.

Of course, keeping that area of the house organized is no easy task, even when you’re doing your best to stay on top of it. Let’s take a look at some tips and suggestions for how to organize a kitchen.

Steps for Getting Started

Before you can begin organizing, you’ll need to start with the basics.

Remove Everything

The first step for how to organize your kitchen is taking everything out. Remove all the food in the pantry, the pots and pans, plates and cups, etc. As you do this, take time to assess if all of these items are really necessary for your kitchen. Can you throw this away? Do you really need that third coffee pot? Throw out or find a new home for anything that isn’t a firm “yes.”

Deep Clean

Before you start reorganizing everything and putting things away, take a moment to do a deep clean. Since you just pulled everything out of your storage space, this is the perfect time to wipe down the insides and outsides of your cabinets and pantry shelves.

Get a Feel for Where You Want Things to Be

Think about where you want to put things before you start shoving kitchen stuff around. It might help to draw this out on a piece of paper. Try dividing your kitchen up into sections—this part is for pots and pans, that area is for cups and bowls, etc.

Organization Tips

Now that everything is empty and clean, it’s time to put your organizational skills to good work.

Think About What You Use Most

This is an important organizational tip that will set you up for success. Pay close attention to the items you use the most and put those in a more readily accessible area. The things you don’t use as much can go in less accessible areas.

Don’t Be Afraid to Mix Things Up

If you find you need to easily get to more items than you planned for, don’t be afraid to take matters into your own hands and DIY it. For example, hang a rack on your pantry door that lets you organize some of your commonly used whisks, mixing spoons, and salad tossers.

Stay on Top of It

Perhaps the most important tip of them all, the key to keeping your newly organized kitchen a continual success is to stick with it. Try taking a moment to evaluate the new setup a couple of weeks after implementing the changes. See what works and what doesn’t, and make adjustments if necessary.

Cabinet Accessories for Organizing a Kitchen

Check out some great cabinet accessories and other useful tools that will help make your kitchen organization even easier to manage:

  • Lazy Susan: A lazy susan lets you store many items in one convenient location without having to take everything out to reach something at the back.
  • Utility Tray: There are a number of utility tray options you can consider that will help you organize your utensils and other handheld kitchen items.
  • Expandable Cookware Organizer: Keep your pots and pants orderly with an organizer that separates each item. It’s a great solution to the problem of ever-rising stacks of pots and pans.
  • Over-Cabinet Kitchen Storage Organizer: Keep your cleaning supplies localized in one place under the kitchen sink, or organize other items that you want to be able to “grab and go” when you open the cabinet door.
  • Food Storage Containers: There are many types of food storage containers you can use to keep the food in your pantry organized (and safe from pests, too).
  • Wall Mount Grocery Bag Dispenser: Don’t deal with the mountain of plastic bags that pile up under the sink. Use this cabinet accessory to store all your used plastic bags in one contained area.

Find Cabinet Accessories with Cabinet Corner

For more ideas on how to organize a kitchen, take a look at our line of cabinet accessories and find some great organizational options that are sure to help keep your kitchen orderly.