Keeping your kitchen as organized as possible will save you a lot of time and hassle in food preparation. Here’s the key concept to get your head around: a place for everything, and everything in its proper place. Once you’ve got that sort of thinking firmly established in your mind, your kitchen will always be organized at its absolute best.
That being said, there are a few specific strategies you might want to consider for best results. Following, we’ll take a look at several key areas where messes are common: drawers, cabinets, and the pantry.
KEEPING DRAWERS ORGANIZED
Drawers get messy quickly, and usually, this happens after you make a specific effort to organize them. What you need to do is compartmentalize them—that is: design specific areas in the drawers for specific things. As an example, look at your silverware drawer. Do you have a little tray with raised segments where specific utensils can go?
Well, that’s fine; but it may not be enough. You can use wood, cardboard, or other organizational media to separate sections for each kind of cutlery. Additionally, there are boxes you can purchase designed to separate silverware. Some are even stylish. What’s probably going to derail you is overflow—you buy new cutlery, and it won’t fit in the space.
In that case, separate out the good silverware and put it elsewhere, leaving common implements in the drawer. Additionally, drawers aren’t only for silverware. Tupperware can be neatly stacked in compartmentalized categories as well. So can cooking implements like spatulas.
Figure out what sort of cooking implements you’ve got, how many drawers you have, and what will fit comfortably in them. You don’t want to overload them, while you do want to include some additional space for when you get new implements, cutlery, or what-have-you.
KITCHEN CABINET ORGANIZATION TIPS
Kitchen cabinets can come in any shape, size, or color you wish. RTA (Ready To Assemble) options can be built to fit your exact specifications. Whatever works best for you is the key to designing cabinetry. In terms of organization, like with drawers, you want to compartmentalize and organize the space properly.
Find places to store fine china or appliances that aren’t often used. Additionally, specify cabinets that are going to be in more frequent use. If you’ve got unused wall space, it’s fine to install some more cabinetry. Upgrades aren’t a bad idea either. For more ideas on cabinets that will best fit your present needs, check out this affordable kitchen cabinets guide.
ESTABLISHING MORE EFFECTIVE PANTRY ORGANIZATION
Last, but certainly not least, is the pantry. The pantry ends up being like the garage of your kitchen. All sorts of odds and ends find their way into this room or closet, and oftentimes things get pretty messy. Again, it would help if you determined the means of organization specifically. Sort things into sections. Have you seen those waist-high plastic drawers? They could be a storage option.
Look at what you have in your pantry now, and divide everything up by category. Put canned goods in one camp, loaves of bread in another, crackers in a third, and dessert items in a forth. Separate cutlery and appliances. Where are chemical cleaning supplies located? Get them as far away from food as possible; putting them on the floor isn’t a bad idea.
Once you’ve got all the things separated into categories, organize them together in a way that is straightforward, and which resonates with you. Leave extra space, and use this organization time as an opportunity to clean up. Throw away goods that are past their expiration date.
To get the process started, take everything out of the pantry and put it somewhere else so you can properly clean the premises and allocate items to their most convenient place in the space you have available.
A CLEAN KITCHEN READY TO COOK
Drawers, cabinets, and pantry space tend to be the primary areas where disorganization in the kitchen occurs—outside the sink, of course. Start by cleaning up each of these areas and removing all items in them, then allocating specific space for each implement, appliance, or food item.
Throw out the garbage, consign regularly unused items to a storage space, and think about perhaps installing additional storage solutions. Tactics like these will help you most effectively utilize the space you have available in your kitchen.
