Vidalia Onion Festival
You may have seen my other posts about recently attending the Vidalia Onion Festival down in Vidalia, Georgia just a few weeks ago. There are some great stories about the farm tour, the festival...
How to Organize the Kitchen
How to Organize the Kitchen
Other than closets, kitchens tend to be a catch-all for clutter. It is amazing that whenever I go through the kitchen I find stuff I didn’t know I had, forgot buying or even bought duplicates of. I can’t tell you how many junk drawers I had at one point in my kitchen. It is a daunting task, because there are so many places clutter can hide, but it is possible to rid yourself of kitchen clutter and stop being afraid to open your cupboards for fear of something falling on you! We hope that this How to Organize the Kitchen post inspires you.
How to Organize the Kitchen
Come up with a plan.
Knowing where you will be cleaning and what you are hoping to accomplish is very helpful when tackling clutter. Decide what level of clutter would be acceptable to you. For instance, we need a junk drawer or two but do you? Prioritize what you need to keep and make a decision on what you will do with things you don’t want or can’t use. Consider starting with The Complete Book of Home Organization to start things off.
Start with your refrigerator.
The easiest thing to start with is often the area where food is kept. I always find that this makes the greatest impact quickly which motivates me to continue. Start with your fridge. Take everything out, wipe all the surfaces, and throw out anything that is past its useful point. Make sure to go through condiments as well as they are often neglected for years. Next, move onto your pantry and do the same thing. We added Sorbus Fridge Bins and Freezer Organizer Refrigerator Bins Stackable Storage Containers to our refrigerator and pantry to keep things easy to find and organized.
Inventory and clear out.
Go through your plates, utensils, and cooking pans. Get rid of anything that is broken, chipped, damaged, and missing parts. There is no need to hold onto these things. You are probably not even using them regularly, so they are just taking up room.
Remove all of the piles.
Another place you may have some clutter is with the piles of papers many people keep in their kitchen. It is easy to place them there, but do you even know what you have there anymore? Go through them and properly file them and throw out or recycle what is not needed anymore. We use a desk organizer to hold mail and items that require immediate attention. For food, we added this two-tier fruit & vegetable rack.
Clear out any junk drawers or consolidate them into one space.
Most of us have one in our kitchen that we use to toss coins, rubber bands, box tops for education, random pens, and all kinds of odds and ends. It is important to keep this area clear as you might be able to make room for more important things. This madesmart Junk Drawer Organizer makes it much easier to find what we need and keep things in place.
Don't forget the kitchen sink.
Clear out under your sink. You probably have some cleaners down there that haven’t been used in years and some other random stuff that you forgot you had. We have these Simple Houseware Stackable 2-tier Sliding Basket Organizers in chrome under our sinks to easily organize cleaning materials.
Clean the trash can.
It’s a gross job, but to prevent odors and keep your home pest-free, it is important to clean your trash can, both inside and out. Try a solution of half vinegar and half water with a couple of squirts of dish soap. Swirl it around and allow to sit for a half hour. Then, dump it out and using an old cloth, clean all the surfaces. This simplehuman Stainless Steel Rectangular Kitchen Step Trash Can makes it easier to throw things away and with less mess because you can open it with your foot.
Finish with the cabinets.
Make sure to use a good kitchen cabinet cleaner to wipe down all your cabinets and drawers including the inside as you are going through them as these are often neglected areas in most kitchens. A simple all-purpose cleaner will work. Also, if you have wood cupboards, this is the perfect time to shine them and condition them.
We hope that you are inspired by this How to Organize the Kitchen post. Happy organizing!
So timely because I’ve been meaning to get into my kitchen and get it cleared of clutter before the holidays hit. This is the motivation I need to hop in there and just get it done.
When I go to organize my kitchen, it never fails I can’t seem to get a starting point. These tips will come in handy for getting it done!
I clicked on the madesmart Junk Drawer Organizer and immediately began mentally adjusting the items in my kitchen’s small drawers. What a clever design. Just two weeks till payday, giving me time to return and get some of the things designed to make my life easier. Your hints to make things easier to organize are fantastic. Than ks for the great ideas.
I often find it so difficult to keep my kitchen as neat and tidy as I would like it to be. These wonderful suggestions will help for sure!
No matter how hard I try to keep my kitchen clean, it never seems clean enough! These tips are fantastic and I will be using them
We just moved and having to clear everything out really helped. I ended up throwing away or giving away so much from the kitchen. It’s easier to keep things organized when you don’t have as much!
Thank you so much for these helpful tips! I will definitely use these!
The fridge is a huge task omg do my needs a serious deep cleaning. Also cleaning out ALL of the cabinets completely and pantry will make for a cleaner kitchen.
I couldn’t agree more with you – cleaning the trash can is not an easy task but it’s totally necessary. I try and do it at least once a month.
I definitely need to clean and organize my kitchen. Thanks for these tips it’s easy to know what I should do.
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