47 kitchen organization ideas that declutter cabinets, countertops, and more

Get creative with the containers you have at home. Use cans (such as a large glass jar of pickles) to store dry goods in your kitchen cupboard. Blueberry tins, jam jars, and similar food containers can be wiped clean, too.

16. Add dividers to give the closets an arrangement

Use cabinet dividers to keep kitchen utensils in place. Measure cans and containers to make sure everything still fits – there’s nothing worse than buying something that makes your kitchen organization worse!

17. Use pull-out shelves

For kitchen cabinets that look a little awkward – maybe they’re too short or too deep – add functionality with a pull-out drawer organizer with pot rack to reveal neatly stacked cookware. You’ll never have to crawl into the cupboard to grab a pot from the back or avoid the avalanche of searching for a stray pot lid.

18. Shelves and stack baking sheets and cutting boards

The same principle with pot racks applies to baking sheets and cutting boards. Stop piling sheets in the oven and arrange them neatly so you don’t have to shuffle the surface before baking the next batch of cookies.

19. Organize lids with dividers

A kitchen cupboard with a swarm of lids might also be a mess. Keep it all in one place with dividers, which you can also use for all the insulation sleeves you’ve collected over the years.

20. Employ a lazy susan for a kitchen cabinet or countertop

Even if you have a spice rack in your kitchen cabinets, no one wants to take out every single bottle and can only to find paprika. For those often-used spices and seasonings, use a lazy susan on your countertop or kitchen cabinet to shorten the search.

21. Use a divider to stack pots and pans

While it may seem like a half-step above just stacking everything on top of one another, using a divider for pots and pans will help make everything easier to find — plus, you’re less likely to start a kitchen cabinet collapse. Cabinet dividers can also be used to stack cutting boards, oven trays, and all the cheese boards you’ve gifted for every occasion since college.

22. Add a rolling tray holder

Cardboard carriers can keep their shape for about as long as it takes to get from the grocery store to the kitchen. But at this point, it’s no one’s guess when they’ll open and release a series of aluminum cans. Avoid that hassle—and the unsightly look of a shredded cardboard box in your fridge or cupboards—with a polished version that will last forever.

23. Use risers to get more storage on each shelf

Make use of that empty vertical space by placing lifts in closets. This will help keep the items separate so you don’t have to try to pick something out from the middle of a huge pile.

24. Take advantage of the closet doors

The inside of the cabinet doors is filled with storage possibilities. Install hooks to store pans, lids, or serving and measuring spoons, or add a slim shelf to stash pot lids or boxes of foil and plastic wrap. Sure, you might have to push back the contents of your cabinets a bit, but you’ll be glad you did when you opened the door and saw this very organized stand.

Step 5: Opening the Kitchen Drawers

25. Keep cutlery from spinning

Every time you open the cutlery drawer the silverware scrambles unless you have something keeping it all in place. Invest in cute drawer dividers to keep everything together for easy table setting, or get a pot holder that looks neat and organized.

26. Stick knives

The last thing you want is to cut yourself and bleed all over the silverware while digging for a knife. You can have a countertop knife holder, a knife divider for a drawer, or a magnetic strip to show off your best chef’s knives.

27. Put sticky liners in drawers

Aside from silverware, kitchen utensils—like whisks and spoons—are not usually uniform pieces that can be stacked on top of each other in a drawer divider. Using a sticky liner can help prevent the gear from spinning.

28. Invest in a poster maker

A kitchen in order means cupboards are organized, too, especially when it comes to food storage containers—you can’t rely on sight or smell to tell all-purpose flour from cake flour. Keep a label maker on hand, perhaps in an organizer storage bin for odds and ends that find their way to your kitchen drawer.

Step 6: Research

29. Go up with a ladder

Maximizing closet organization means using upper cabinets and even the space above. But unless you’re tall enough to be in a basketball league, how do you reach for anything you put out there? With a ladder, of course. Look for one that’s thin enough to slip into the space between your refrigerator or oven.

30. Start hanging your cooking utensils

We’ve already looked at the space in and above the upper cabinets, but what about the rest of the ceiling? A utensil rack hanging from your ceiling can make use of wasted vertical space, and any frequently used utensils that have holes in them—slotted spoons, rubber spatulas, and the like—are also good candidates. Just avoid using anything heavier than the rack is rated to hold or using anything sharp or potentially dangerous, such as knives and kitchen torches.

Step 7: Don’t forget to organize your fridge

31. Wine bottle holder for the refrigerator

Bottles of wine may look great on the bar cart, but you probably prefer to drink white wine chilled, not wine that’s at room temperature. However, unless you have the space to put them upright, you’ll need a wine bottle holder to not only keep them organized, but also to prevent them from rolling and breaking, which is the number one way to kill the vibe.

32. Adjustable refrigerator drawer storage rack

Similar to kitchen cabinets, refrigerators tend to lose a lot of vertical space and there aren’t a lot of ways to adjust shelf heights. Fortunately, humanity has come up with insertable storage shelves with drawers, which make good use of the space under the refrigerator shelf.

33. Stackable fridge boxes

If you don’t necessarily need more vertical space, but do need to keep like items grouped together, consider stackable fridge boxes to keep like items together. Look no further than this Cheddar Bar.

34. Add a tissue holder

Place the magnetic paper towel holder on the side of the fridge to make room for valuable kitchen counter real estate.

35. Side implementation for extra storage

Besides being easy to install (just stick it there), the magnetic shelf is also of course removable: perfect for renters.

Step 8: Do Double Duty With What You Have

36. Find the use of emotional elements

“It doesn’t technically belong in the kitchen if it’s a sentimental item (because) if you don’t use it in the kitchen, it’s not a kitchen tool,” Catano says. She points out that this applies to items related to the kitchen but that you don’t actually use for cooking. Take advantage of nostalgic pieces that can carry things. If you rarely use your grandmother’s glass gravy boat, use it as a dessert bowl to encourage guests to take out all the sweets and snacks you want out of the house.

37. Place the mixer attachments in the bowl

Unless you have every accessory, the basic accessories that come with a stand mixer can fit in the mixing bowl. And since stand mixers tend to take up quite a bit of space, this can help reclaim space in kitchen drawers. Cover the bowl with a clean cloth to prevent scratches.

38. Use stocking glass as a cooking utensil

Plastic food storage containers, such as Tupperware, cannot be placed in the oven because they will melt. But glass storage containers can double as bakeware—or even act three times as bowls—if your kitchen cabinets are short on space.

39. Multitask with glassware

If you have tight space for glassware, consider using spherical glass jars for storage and extra glasses for unexpected guests (and their extra glasses). choji? Admittedly, but no one is going to complain once it’s in their hands and filled with beer.

40. Removable dish rack above the sink

Counter space is always at a premium, but there’s an easy fix: Get a dish rack that fits over the sink. The best part is that you don’t have to worry about the remaining water spilling onto the counters.

Step 9: Take Advantage of Exotic Places

41. Stick magnetic hooks on the fridge

Dish rags, seasonal kitchen towels, and oven mitts can find an easy-to-reach new home on the front or side of your stainless-steel refrigerator. And instead of losing those cute measuring spoons in your kitchen drawers, you can also hang them from hooks.

42. Get a storage cart

If you really don’t have a lot of kitchen storage options, but have an odd dresser in the hallway that doesn’t do much for you, get a small cart. You can add storage baskets, unfamiliar kitchen utensils, or spare linens, and roll them around in the kitchen when you need them. It’s not as convenient as cabinet storage in the kitchen itself, but it’s great for anything you don’t use every week.

43. Hang mug hooks strategically

Cattano suggests attaching mug hooks to the bottom of your kitchen cabinets to take advantage of that empty space between cabinets and countertops. This will make your coffee mugs easier to reach during your morning caffeine ritual—plus allow you to show off that DIY mug you brought back from your pottery spot.