Disorganized kitchen? We've curated 15 top kitchen hacks for organizing your kitchen. In this guide, learn how you can:
- Repurpose your kitchen island
- Hang kitchen towels
- Maximize kitchen storage space
- Create a wake-up zone
- Organize kitchen utensils
- Choose clear kitchen storage containers
- Organize by cuisine
- Keep kids in mind
- Hang your pots
- Place cabinet racks
- Hang bottles under the sink
- Get two shelves from one
- Add 'drawers' to deep cabinets
- Store sideways
- Use your cabinet doors
"A kitchen is where memories are homemade and seasoned with love."
While we absolutely love that saying, let’s be real - a memory from a disorganized kitchen leaves a bad taste. So to make cooking easier, we have found 15 genius ways to organize a kitchen so you can ensure your flavor zone is clean and maximizes space.
Repurpose Your Kitchen Island
If you use your kitchen island for prepping meals, you can add shelves under one side of the island for instant and easily accessible storage. You can also add some wooden crates to store vegetables and other oft-used staples.
Hang Kitchen Towels
Keep your towels in a drawer? Free up drawer space and keep those handles clean by hanging paper towels on tension rods, wire, or even cabinet handles for easy reach. Brownie points (pun intended) if you replace paper towels in the kitchen with reusable, washable cloth ones.
Maximize Kitchen Storage Cabinet Space
The most frequently used items should be on the bottom shelves of a cabinet. Consider rearranging the cabinet's interior shelves to accommodate your different-sized dishes. If your shelves are stationary, nesting bowls and casserole dishes are a great choice because they’re so conveniently stackable and make use of all that vertical space. For more stackable dinnerware, take a look at our picks here.
Create a Wake-Up Zone
Stack your favorite tea bags, sweeteners and single-use coffee pods by your kettles and machines in a clear organizer tray for visibility and quick access especially on those lazy mornings. You can also add adhesive hooks to the kitchen wall to hang your mugs on for easy reach.
Organize Kitchen Utensils
A crowded utensil drawer, while hidden from prying eyes, is still a crowded utensil drawer. It's time to invest in a compartmentalized organizer. The drawer organizers (also called cutlery trays) come in a variety of sizes and materials. Resist the urge to pile everything back into the drawer. Instead, make sure you can see and reach everything (like emergency ice cream spoons!) without having to dig through.
Choose Clear Kitchen Storage Containers
Organize your pantry staples in see-through, pull-out baskets and glass jars. Doing so will make it easier for you to instantly see what you have and what you need.
Organize by Cuisine
Create meal-based zones for food storage containers, pots and pans, cooking utensils, and even ingredients. For example, devote a section of counter space or a cabinet near the oven to baking and stock it with cookie sheets, loaf pans, kitchen mitts, flour, sugar and other baking elements. It is just so convenient to have everything you need in one place, especially when you spontaneously decide to treat yourself to fresh cookies.
Keep Kids in Mind
Designate a spot in a lower cabinet for lunch boxes, quick snacks, and stackable food storage containers. Keeping like items together makes it easy to set up a smooth meal prep production line during hectic mornings so you can get everyone out the door on time.
Hang Your Pots
A pot rack with an integrated light fixture and small halogen bulbs takes advantage of vertical space and adds task lighting to the workspace below.
Hanging bulky pots like this makes your kitchen look simple and welcoming, and frees up tons of space in the cabinets. This is an especially great tip for small kitchen arrangements.
Place Cabinet Racks
To maximize your cabinet space, try placing stackable wire racks. The racks come in different heights and widths (some are even adjustable) so you can totally find some that work for you. This way, it’s easy to store a huge number of dishes in the same space.
Hang Bottles Under the Sink
When organizing your kitchen, it’s easy to forget the dark area below the sink. Stop tossing in the miscellaneous cleaning supplies, and give them a space that’s all their own. By adding a small tension rod under the sink, you will be able to hang your cleaning spray bottles and open up space on the bottom of the cabinet for other items.
Two Shelves From One
With wire shelf risers, you can multiply vertical storage space, giving you even more room to store all of your dishware. Just because you're short on space doesn't mean you have to compromise on your love of mugs, dishes, and cute bowls.
Add "Drawers" to Deep Cabinets
Store your table linens — placemats, cloth napkins, or even the table runner you only use on Christmas — in durable plastic bins that act like drawers in the cabinet. The best part? They pull out easily so you won't have to go digging for anything in the way back.
Store Sideways
It seems like no matter how hard we try to keep our pots and pans organized, they're always a jumbled — and noisy — mess. Stack pans, cutting boards, lids, and baking sheets on their side to increase accessibility and reduce frustration.
Use Your Cabinet Doors
Hang your most-frequently-used cooking utensils (like measuring cups and spoons, if you're a baker) on the back of a cabinet door using adhesive hooks and rods, instead of cramming them into already-full drawers.
With these kitchen organization tricks, we hope you’ll enjoy more peace of mind when you whip up delicious meals. Go on now, get organized, and be the Masterchef you want to be by utilizing your kitchen space to the max no matter how big or small it is. Let us know how it went in the comments below!
To add a little more zing to your culinary adventures, you can pair your newly organized kitchen with a beautiful dining room. Our interior designers can help you find gorgeous dining room furniture that matches your space and style and is also super affordable.
Got Questions?
What is the best way to organize a kitchen?
It stands to reason that if your kitchen were more organized and simple to use, your life would simply be easier. Cooking and baking pieces should be kept close to where you prepare food. Utensils should be in the drawer closest to the prep area as well. Glassware might be best 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.
Which kitchen layout is more efficient?
The galley kitchen, also called a walk-through kitchen is a lean and efficient layout and as research states, is the best. It is characterized by two walls opposite each other or two parallel countertops with a walkway in between them. It could be open on just one end or open on both ends. This layout maximizes the space available in such a corridor and keeps your cabinets and appliances within easy reach.
What is the best way to arrange my kitchen items?
First, declutter and do away with extra items. Your best bet is the use of drawer organizers and dividers, this keeps everything super accessible, it cuts time and is hassle-free. Finding the right spaces is a must, like storing items on the inside of your inside cabinet doors and doubling your cabinet space by adding under-the-shelf racks. A pretty kitchen is a plus, but being practical goes a long way.
How do I get more storage in a small kitchen?
To expand a tiny kitchen, add extra shelves in places they'd be most functional, like above the stove. Use your window sills for plants or other extras and hang a rod at the tip of the wall for pots, aprons, and other essentials. Consider a recycling station or a sink skirt to give your kitchen additional style and space for storage, freestanding shelves to store spices, and pierced corbels to hang the utensils to free up valuable room inside your drawers.