Organize Kitchen Cabinets and Drawers

My organized kitchen cabinets, drawers and counters — The kitchen as it looked before we moved out

Hi friends! This post is very late in coming! I was planning to get this info to you in March and we’re over halfway through April! I offer my sincere apologies and hope that these tips on how to organize your kitchen cabinets and drawers will give you something to do, since most of us are stuck at home because of the Coronavirus! So, let’s get started. If you want to be more productive in the kitchen then consider organizing your kitchen items into zones. Next, place the items you will need in that zone in the cabinet or drawer closest to where you’ll use them. I am amazed at how many people don’t organize their kitchen in zones, they just haphazardly place items wherever they think they fit best. Keep reading to see how I organize my cabinets and drawers for maximum productivity. I’ve also got some fun tips on how to organize the items on your counters so they not only function better for you, but look great too!!

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HOW TO ORGANIZE your kitchen CABINETS, DRAWERS AND COUNTERs

We will use the 6/P process to organize the kitchen cabinets and drawers and clear the counters so the kitchen looks beautiful and clutter free. If you’re not familiar with my 6/P process click here to find out how it works!

Pick of printable explaining how to organize kitchen cabinets and drawers — Use this printable to guide you as you organize kitchen cabinets and drawers

Prepare

Grab a trash bag, a box, and a laundry hamper to use for the following categories: Trash, Donate and Relocate. Next, clear off your dining table to use for the Replace category items. Now the fun begins, empty out all those cabinets and drawers! Be sure to put each item in one of the following categories!

Trash goes in the trash bag
Put items you wish to donate in a box
Any item that belongs in a different room should go in the laundry hamper
Place any items that need to stay in this space on the table

empty kitchen cabinet ready to be organized — The cabinet is empty and wiped clean!

Polish

Now that the space is empty it’s time to clean using a top down approach. Clean the following items:

remove cobwebs from ceiling
clean light fixture/pendant lights
dust/vacuum tops of cabinets
wipe down door and all wood trim
clean windows and window treatments/blinds
scrub back splash
disinfect doorknobs and switch plates
clean outside and inside of cabinets and drawers
wipe counter top and if you have granite use this opportunity to seal it
clean kitchen table and chairs and/or bar stools
vacuum/mop floor

Personalize

This is your chance to make the kitchen function better for your needs. While you’re at it, I encourage you to brainstorm ways to make the area more beautiful so you’ll like to be in the space and enjoy working there!

You’ve probably figured out by now, that I like to organize by zones and the kitchen is the perfect place to incorporate zones. Now is the time to figure out what zones you need so that the kitchen functions better for you. For example, if you love to bake consider a baking zone. Put all the items you need to bake your favorite goodies in the same cabinet and drawers nearest the counter you use to prepare them.

Next, start thinking of how you can put like items together and store them in the cabinet or drawer nearest the area they are needed and used most. For example, put all of your measuring tools, spoons/cups/bowls, in the same drawer or cabinet near the counter where you prep your food.

There are lots of ways you can improve the beauty of your kitchen, but lots of times that comes with a large price tag. So, use the printable below to brainstorm any DIY projects you can do yourself that can add beauty to the room now. If you’re not into DIY then you can start planning long term goals for a complete kitchen remodel!

Pick of printable to help you personalize your kitchen — Need help brainstorming organizing ideas for the kitchen? Use this free printable!

EXAMPLES OF HOW I PERSONALIZED MY KITCHEN

Organize Counter Tops

I have tried to make it a rule to only keep items on my counter that I use every day. Otherwise, clutter becomes a constant issue. So, think about those items you need on a regular basis and place them in a way that’s easy to reach, in the area they are needed most.

organized kitchen counters — Got tired of pulling salt, pepper, olive oil & vinegar out of the pantry constantly, now they’re in reach!

Organize Cabinets and Drawers

Before you organize your kitchen cabinets and drawers, look closely at their location. Determine how you can store items closest to where you will be using them. For example, put everyday dishes in the cabinet closest to the dishwasher for ease of putting them away.

Organized dishes are stored in the cabinet above the dishwasher for easy unloading. — Make chores easier by storing everyday dishes above the dishwasher.

Always store similar items together. One idea would be to put all of the items you use to cut or chop food together.

chopping utensils in Organized kitchen drawers — Some of the tools I use to cut and chop food!

My son and I make smoothies a lot. To make the process fast and easy, we made a smoothie station/zone. Now all of the items we need to make a smoothie are in one place near the refrigerator/freezer.

organized kitchen cabinet smoothie station — Smoothie station is kept behind the scenes in this roll-down cabinet

Keep reading to see how I place items in my kitchen to improve function and productivity. But before that, here are some pics of what we did to change the look of our kitchen without spending a lot of money.

Paint

We painted the kitchen the same color as the dining room since it is an open space. It had been a yellow/gold color for 22 years and we changed it to a light creamy color.

When we painted, we removed the vinyl “saying”, which I loved when I put it up years ago, but now I’m growing tired of all the signs with sayings on them.

View of organized kitchen cabinets, drawers and counters from great room — Paint color now

Storage

You don’t have to use traditional storage containers to coral your kitchen items. I’m actually using bathroom accessories that I bought at Walmart many years ago. So, don’t ever close yourself in a box, look outside of an object for other ways that it can be used! I removed the top of this tissue box to use as a utensil holder.

Utensil holder on counter — I think this is a pretty way to store utensils!!

I’m using this bathroom tray as spoon holder to keep messes to a minimum when I’m cooking.

Spoon holder on counter — Everyone needs a pretty spoon holder on their counter!

I use an office letter holder to store my cutting boards, a cookie jar to hold my dishwasher tabs and a basket to hold my trash can liners.

Organized cutting boards and dishwasher tabs in jar — Sorry you can’t see the black letter holder that is separating the cutting boards

I’ve never used a lazy Susan on the kitchen table but it is perfect for holding all of the cleaning products I use in the kitchen. It is in the cabinet under my kitchen sink. So handy!!

Kitchen cleaning products organized on lazy Susan underneath sink — A lazy-Susan makes it easy to reach all your cleaning items!

Place

Well friend, now it’s time to place everything back in your newly organized cabinets and drawers. Don’t forget to incorporate the tips I gave you earlier and hopefully the pictures below will give you lots of inspiration! Here are some of the stations/zones I have incorporated in my kitchen!

Drink Station

This area used to be a desk that held our phone. How many of you remember the days when the phone had to be plugged into a wall? The good old days, right? Well, since that’s no longer necessary, we made it into a drink station when we remodeled.

Coffee station has organized kitchen cabinet, drawers and counters — Desk area we converted to a coffee/drink station

It’s the perfect place for our Keurig and all supplies needed for coffee.

Coffee pot and K-cup organizer — Love the K-cup organizer it allows plenty of room to store different coffee flavors

I store my tea in one of the small cabinets above the coffee pot.

organized cabinet above coffee pot holds different flavors of tea — Tea fits perfectly in this small space

Inside the cabinet below the coffee pot, I store lemonade, Gatorade and water. Sorry, I forgot to take a pic with the door open!!

Cooking

I store all of my pots and pans to the right of the stove. I nest the pots according to size and stack the skillets on a wire rack. The rack is such a great use of empty space at top of cabinet.

Rack I use to store my skillets and pots and pans that are nested. — My organized skillets, pots and pans!

I chose to store the lids in the cabinet next door in a wire rack. They fit perfectly in the oddly shaped cabinet (vent for cook top takes up part of cabinet). This rack is great and makes it so easy to grab the lid I need. They are easily accessible when I’m ready to use them! I also have room to store our griddle vertically!

Lids of my pots and pans organized on rack in kitchen cabinet under stove — Vertical storage for lids and griddle

To the left of the stove, I store my baking dishes. I keep the plastic lids stacked vertically on the side, so I can nest the dishes. I turn the glass lids upside down to stack the bowls.

Glass baking dishes nested with the lids stacked vertically so they all fit in the cabinet. — Remove lids and nest dishes if they won’t fit stacked on top one another.

Measuring

I keep larger items for measuring, like glass cups and bowls in a cabinet. This cabinet is to the left of my sink, so it’s the perfect place to store my colanders.

Smaller items for measuring, like plastic cups and spoons, are stored in a drawer.

Food Storage

I recently threw the majority of the Tupperware I was using for food storage in the trash. As a result, I asked for glass food storage containers as a Christmas gift. I am really enjoying them and decided to store them next to the refrigerator. They “nest” inside one another for easy storage and I kept a couple of the old Tupperware pieces to store the lids in.

Appliances

I have a large corner cabinet that holds most of my kitchen appliances.

Put Back

It takes a lot of hard work to organize kitchen cabinets, drawers and counter tops. However, your effort will pay off with maximum productivity and make it so much easier to find the items you use on a regular basis! But… there’s always a but, if you don’t put items back where they belong, you will end up with clutter all over again! So, whatever you do, please don’t forget abut this very important step!

I’ll be back soon to share my pantry organization tips! Good luck as you organize your kitchen cabinets and drawers! You’ll be glad you did!

Blessings, Donna and Rich

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