Bring order to your food space with these excellent kitchen organization hacks. Cooking will be more streamlined before you know it!
In the heyday of food economists, you’d nab the paper from the porch and open the Culture or the Life section, and find the musings of home economists teaching readers how to cook, how to clean and so much more. It was a single stop for all things life skills.
Times have changed. The degrees in home economy have all but gone extinct though we are in no lesser need of knowing how to manage our personal budgets or prepare for the family to come for a holiday dinner. There are fewer columnists. And home economy isn’t the central topic it once was.
To be fair, it was a topic I actively avoided in school. I swore I would never need to cook or sew.
I was wrong.
Ironically, in place of that home education in school, blogs like this one have been created to share knowledge of baking, table setting, cooking and food shopping. So it struck me, as my teenage daughter insisted that I allow her to do an “edit” on my kitchen (despite all the purging during the move last year, it needs it), that people still need hints, tips and tricks to keep their kitchen in order.
Enter this post on kitchen organization hacks.
I’ve combined my own tips with those of other food experts to compile a handy list for a more organized and orderly kitchen. You’re going to love these kitchen organization hacks.
Store Spices in a Drawer
When it comes to spice organization, I’ve tried cabinets, special organizers, tiered things and more. But after years of struggling with finding what I needed when I needed it, I found the perfect solution: storing the spices in a drawer. I lay my containers flat so that when I open the drawer I can see everything inside. And that means spices are easy to find and easy to put away. Plus, I never have to wonder if I have something.
The drawer I use is pretty big, but if you have a smaller spice collection go for a smaller drawer. Either way, the grab-and-go storage method will make seasoning meals a breeze.
Organize Bakeware Smartly
How do you store your bakeware? If you have yours stacked in a cabinet, forcing you to lift everything to get to that one baking sheet, then it’s time to learn a better way. Food blogger and home cook Farwin of Love and Other Spices has plenty of bakeware and shared her genius way of storing it all.
“To organize my baking trays, cooling racks, cookie sheets, muffin tins, pie tins and cake tins, I use a lid organizer from a local kitchen store. With this organizer, I’m able to stack all these trays and sheets vertically in my cupboard making them easily accessible, rather than stacking them on top of each other,” Farwin said.
Use All Your Space
When we moved into our house last year, I worried about cabinet space. What I didn’t want was overstuffed cabinets where I couldn’t locate anything. So I organized by use. But that left me scrambling to find space for a few crucial things. For instance, where would the cat food go?
Enter the slimmest rolly shelf I have ever seen. I found this handy cart on Wayfair, and it fits perfectly in the space between my counter and the wall. Moreover, it’s the perfect width for storing my cat’s cans of food. Other space on the cart is great for additional cooking gear and overstock storage.
Keep Lesser Used Items Elsewhere
Stop constantly reaching past the Santa mugs and big serving dishes. If these aren’t items you are using regularly, then they should be stored in another location, professional organizer Ben Soreff said.
“We want items we don’t use often to be stored in kitchen run-off in the garage, basement or pantry. Holiday baking cookware isn’t really [a] kitchen item anymore, it should live with the holiday. Thanksgiving and entertaining should also live elsewhere,” Soreff said.
And while you’re at it, make sure that what you do have in the kitchen is easily accessible.
“Think about how often you use an item to determine the best place for it to live in your space. We want items to go in easy but also come out easy,” Soreff said. That’s why he recommends storing only decorative items on high shelves that are hard to reach.
Sounds like a good plan.