How to Organize Your Kitchen For Maximum Efficiency

Kitchens that are bustling spaces often experience clutter accumulation quickly. Therefore, regular decluttering and organizing should take place to maintain an efficient workspace.

Start by clearing out your cabinets and drawers of their contents – this may seem daunting but is definitely worth your while! Next, group like items together into categories.

Organize by Zone

Kitchens are at the core of every home, so it is crucial that they function for you and your family effectively. Organising by zone can ensure your kitchen runs efficiently.

Kitchen organization experts advise sorting drawers by frequency of use, placing items that are most frequently needed at the top and less-used ones below. A pot-lid holder may be useful to corral container lids while hanging parchment paper rolls or to-go containers from door and wall hooks can hold utensils or to-go containers for hanging storage purposes or hanging utensils or to-go containers from. A plastic basket in the refrigerator could help store food that keeps going back and forth from freezer to refrigerator and back again!

Although “kitchen triangle” is often used to refer to an ideal kitchen layout, most kitchens can actually be divided up into five zones: refrigerator (consumables), cabinets (non-consumables), sink and dishwasher for cleaning purposes and finally cooking or prep zone. By placing everything near its designated spot it makes everything easily accessible when necessary.

Organize by Category

An untidy kitchen is more than an eyesore; it’s also an inefficient use of time. If your cabinets and drawers are overstuffed, you could waste precious hours searching for items or worse yet misplacing and breaking them.

Assemble all of the contents in your cabinets and drawers into categories. Remove items not used often enough, duplicate items, or broken ones for donation or discard. Give each category its own home according to how frequently it will be needed.

Food storage containers should be located near your cooking station or counter for easy meal prep. Appliances, utensils and pantry items should also be put within easy reach to make meal prep quicker and simpler. In addition, practicing FIFO (First In, First Out) with foods will ensure newer items get used first before any older ones spoil – this way avoiding expired food being wasted as well as saving money in the long run on groceries.

Organize by Color

Organised kitchens make life simpler for both professional cooks who like to entertain as well as everyday essentials users alike. Playing storage Tetris with dishes or finding ingredients can sometimes feel like an uphill struggle, but investing in some turnkey organizational products will make this task much simpler and make maintaining an organized kitchen much less complicated.

One of the simplest organizational tips is to organize items by color. Selecting an appealing palette for storage containers, food bags and kitchen supplies can create visual unity in your space while helping quickly locate any missing supplies when running low on any specific item.

Another simple kitchen organization tip is investing in drawer organizers. This will prevent cabinets from becoming black holes of cleaning supplies, trash bags and household clutter – especially the cabinet under the sink which often becomes the go-to spot for unsightly clutter.

Organize by Material

Make sure all items in your kitchen have their own specific place – from pots and pans to wooden spoons and oven gloves! Begin by taking an inventory of everything in each drawer or cupboard, sorting by category (e.g. cookware or flatware) then labelling each shelf or cabinet so everyone in your household knows where each item goes after use.

Your most-used items should always be placed near the front of each drawer and cabinet, and less-used ones stored further back – that way you don’t waste precious storage space with items that won’t get much use (like the crockpot).

Consider investing in drawer organizers and cabinet racks that allow for easier retrieval, such as those for storing lids and spice jars on cabinet doors, or silverware dividers so you can quickly locate whatever it is you need. Repurposing is also an excellent way of getting creative with storage; use old file folders for organizing utensils, or mount a rake on the wall using its teeth as hooks for organizing cooking utensils.