Kitchen Cabinet Organization Ideas That Will Work for Anyone
Easy kitchen cabinet organization ideas that will work for anyone, with any size kitchen, and even with older cabinets. Tips, tricks, and inspiration that will definitely make you fall in love with your kitchen all over again!
My kitchen cabinet organization project is finished! All my cabinets have been emptied, the contents purged, they have been cleaned, and order has been restored. I honestly can’t remember a time when I have been more at ease in my kitchen. I know exactly what I have, and I know exactly where everything is located.
I followed the same four steps with each cabinet I tackled.
- Empty the space.
- Clean the space.
- Edit the contents.
- Restore order.
I also spent time shopping online for just the right organizational tools. I knew if this project was going to be a success, I needed help! I purchased clear bins, lazy Susans, storage containers, spice jars, and a few odds & ends. I had given myself a budget of $500.00 and I was pleased that I came in under budget at $447.00.
See the entire kitchen cabinet organization series
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The set of cabinets I’m featuring today is on the opposite side of the kitchen from the cooking/baking area. This area is all about dishes and clean-up. There wasn’t much purging required for the cabinets that hold our glasses, plates, and bowls, but I did do a little re-arranging. I had a set of glasses we hardly ever use in the cabinet over the dishwasher. I re-located them and that left more room for the glasses and mugs we use every day, with room to grow.
Tip: Kitchen Cabinet Organization
Store seldom used items on higher shelves and in cabinets positioned away from the kitchen sink and dishwasher. Store items used every day in cabinets as close to the sink and dishwasher as possible.
Plates we use every day are stored in a plate rack over the kitchen sink. In the cabinet to the right of the sink we store smaller plates, cereal bowls, pasta bowls, and soup bowls. The little white cow creamer is one of my favorite pieces and even though it’s not used everyday, I left it front and center. We all need something to make us smile!
The section of countertop pictured above is used for drying items that don’t go in the dishwasher. I just stack them there and when they are dry, I put them away. I gave up drying dishes a long time ago! The drawers store flatware and kitchen towels.
On the bottom is perhaps the most efficient cabinet in our kitchen. It’s wide and tall, and has a pull-out shelf that allows me to store items all the way to the back but still access them easily. I store my Pyrex on the pull-out shelf, and on the bottom are more casserole dishes along with some odds and ends. You can’t see it, but I have a large basket on that bottom shelf that holds plastic lids.
Tip: Cabinet Organization Ideas
Take advantage of any “specialty” features that are included in your cabinetry. In an older kitchen like mine, sometimes these features are few and far between. I have two cabinets with pull-out shelves and that’s the extent of any specialty features. The large one pictured above holds items that are quite heavy, so being able to pull out the shelf makes access so much easier.
Organization Ideas: Lessons Learned
When I started this kitchen organization project, I honestly had no idea if it would be a success. More than that, I had no idea if it would make a difference in the way I felt about the kitchen. As I explained in the first post, my frustration with our kitchen had reached a record high and nothing was functioning properly at all. Every minute spent cleaning and restoring order has been worth it, because now I can spend time in the kitchen without feeling discouraged. I still plan on getting new counters, along with a new back splash and sink, but the rest of the kitchen will remain as is.
Thank you all so much for following along during this journey, offering words of encouragement, and sharing your own tips. I hope you learned a thing or two that you didn’t know before. I also hope that I have inspired those of you who have kitchens you don’t love to look at them with fresh eyes. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that the glass is half full, and not half empty.
See the other posts in the kitchen organization series:
- Small Kitchen Organization: Pantry Cabinet
- Baking Cabinet Organization & Spice Storage Ideas
- Kitchen Storage Ideas: Cookware & Utensils
- Under Kitchen Sink Cabinet Storage Ideas
Most items pictured in the cabinets are vintage, were family pieces, or are no longer available. All the organizational tools mentioned in the post are linked to in the individual posts. Feel free to email me at ann@onsuttonplace.com if you have a question about anything! Until next time…
