Wondering where to put things in kitchen cabinets? This is the post for you!
When we moved into this house five years ago, I tried to plan out the best use of each kitchen cabinet. I got a few of them right, but not all. Since I’m all about efficiency and organization, it seemed nuts that I hadn’t fixed the problem areas.
If you’re in the same boat with scary things happening behind cabinet doors, I’ve got some new kitchen oganizing ideas for you!
Before I started, I listed out all the little annoyances that I wanted to address, such as the disaster of a serving cabinet, measuring cups not being convenient to where we use them, and the stand mixer attachments not having a set home.
To customize this project to your own space, I’d recommend keeping a little notepad in the kitchen. Over a few days of cooking, jot down all the things that could work better for you.
I don’t have before pictures of everything, but I wasn’t kidding about the serving cabinet situation. Anyone else in this same boat?
Kitchen Organizing Solutions
Before I started emptying out cabinets, I made a new plan for what made the most sense to be stored in each section.
This will be your next step when after your problem list is finished.
It seems obvious in retrospect, but I realized that everything we need for preparing food should be in the zone between the stove and sink.
Things for serving and storing food could then be together on the secondary wall with the fridge.
The cups have always been next to the fridge, so it made perfect sense for the plates and bowls to join them. Imagine that, everything together!
The “pretty” dishes went in the center cabinet, and plastic items got a new home in the cabinet closest to the window. That’s the same cabinet that used to hold the mixing bowls and measuring cups/spoons.
The section below the cups was previously for small kitchen appliances. You’ll see where they ended up in a moment, but this cabinet is now the perfect Rubbermaid container space.
I added a storage drawer
for the smaller containers and stacked the larger ones on top.
Over the past few years, I’ve switched to using these Rubbermaid containers with stackable lids. They are almost life-changing and completely affordable on Amazon. The glass ones are a little pricier, but not outrageous.
Get rid of your mismatched containers via donation or garage sale and use the stacking lid versions. It’s a small change that makes dinner clean up much more pleasant!
That takes care of the storage bins, but what about storage bags and wrap? A utensil organizer placed in a drawer is the perfect solution!
Ready to see what the former servingware CABINET OF DOOM looks like now?
I used four dish pans (even cheaper in store at Target) and separated the contents of the cabinet into groups. It isn’t my prettiest organizing project ever, but holy cow, I can find everything I need!
I even came up with an assortment of mexican food items that had been in three different cabinets for one of the bins.
Holiday specific items were moved into the cabinet above the fridge, and a pile of items we never use went to the garage sale box. SO MUCH BETTER.
Moving to the other wall, all the mixing bowls and strainers went to the cabinet that previously held our plates and bowls. The cooking items like oils and seasonings stayed in the same cabinet, but I did take every one of them out so I could clean the shelves.
I also checked expiration dates and found a disturbing number of items best by 2011. Wow.
While I had everything out of the cabinets, I moved the middle and top shelves down to better suit my height, or lack of it! I’m 5’4″ and the shelves must have originally been installed by an NBA star.
Don’t miss adjusting the height of your shelves as needed if possible in your space!
Since I dream of marble counters, but don’t want to pay to replace all the granite, I found a little marble lazy susan at World Market.
It’s perfect for daily use items like the salt & paper shakers and olive oil. Since I’ve never committed to a paper towel holder, they look so much better sitting on marble than they did randomly placed on the counter.
Update: This is STILL one of my favorite additions to the kitchen and one we use daily! For under $20, the individual items look so good grouped together.
Under this section, I added a cabinet door shelf to hold the measuring cups and spoons. I’m beyond excited that they now have one set home and in a location that makes sense!
Update – I still love having these items on the door, but the organizer I used is open on the sides and things fall out more often than I would like. I might replace them with this version. Also, this option is perfect if you are renting.
The inside of the measuring device cabinet holds all the baking dishes (cookie sheets are above the microwave).
I wish I had a picture of this cabinet before, because the turkey roaster was front and center. Which made no sense since we only use it once or twice a year.
Now my clear Pyrex dishes that we use all the time are the easiest thing to grab. I was also able to make room for the casserole dishes that were previously buried in the disaster cabinet.
Adding a pan organizer and shelf basket helped maximize the storage in this small cabinet.
On the other side of the stove, the spices live in the drawer, which I HIGHLY recommend.
Even when we had limited drawer space at our prior house, I found a way to make a drawer for spices. It’s just so much easier to see them all at once. If you absolutely don’t have drawer space, I’d use something like this cabinet door/wall rack so they could all be vertical.
All the details on the spice drawer organization can be found here.
Below the spices, I solved another big problem. What the heck do you all do with mixer attachments?
I LOVE my KitchenAid mixer, but the attachments are bulky and we never seemed to put them in the same spot. It was more of a “wherever we can shove them” scenario, which wasn’t the best when we needed to use them the next time.
Now they live in a door-mounted rack right below the mixer. Imagine that! And the extra food processor blade is now in the same cabinet as the food processor. Insanity!
And then there was the crown jewel, which prompted all this organizing in the first place. With the plastic containers in their new home, I finally had room to install an under cabinet trash can!
In a moment of partial frugality and partial stubbornness, we refused to pay an outrageous price for the builder to install the pull-out trash bins. I think their price was something over 4 times what it should have cost. We asked them to leave the cabinet without a shelf so we could buy and install the trash cans ourselves, but four years later we hadn’t done it. Whoops.
Who knew that it was going to be so easy to actually install them?
I used the Rev-A-Shelf 35 qt double bins and was able to install them myself while Corey was at work. The whole thing installs with only four screws and I was pretty shocked I was able to do it on my own in under 30 minutes.
This is HUGE for us because Maddie (the German Shepherd) likes to occasionally catch us off-guard by dumping out the trash and dragging it all over the house while we are gone. It didn’t happen very often, but not only was it a big mess, we were concerned she was going to make herself sick.
On top of the dog issues, the trash can was never convenient when we were cooking. Now, it’s right below the prep space. Handy!
Update: We’ve now attached the trashcan to the cabinet door so it pulls out without having to open the cabinet door first.
See the rest of our kitchen drawer organization next!
After that, don’t miss the other kitchen organizing posts :
Organizing Under the Kitchen Sink
Pantry Organization (including food & my hack for storing plastic Target & Walmart bags)
Organizing the Refrigerator
And even the area around the kitchen sink!
And if you need MORE cabinet space, check out these tips for using an inexpensive shoe cabinet as kitchen storage.
Wondering how to store all those grocery store bags or disposable party ware? Check out the pantry cabinet post!
Erin @ The Organized Life says
Looks amazing! I realize you found a great solution for your Kitchen Aid attachments, but since you asked, I just store my attachments in the bowl of the mixer. I only have 3 attachments so they fit easily.
Melissa George says
Thanks Erin! The bowl is one of the many places the attachments occasionally ended up, but I’d go through phases of them either getting dusty OR using the mixer so much it was annoying to take them all in and out. Total #firstworldproblem!
Tracy says
This is great. I need to do the same
holly says
What an amazing re-organization of your kitchen! Everything is streamlined and items make sense in their new homes. #winning
Katie @ Addicted 2 DIY says
I love it all! Your kitchen is so pretty and the organization tips were pretty amazing too:) I’m definitely going to be getting myself a little drawer for my tupperware. I feel like I’m taking my life into my own hands every time I open that cabinet door! So many great ideas!
Mary H says
These are some great ideas that I can use in my kitchen! My tupperware cabinet is a hot mess and I can never find matching lids/bottoms. Thanks for sharing!
Melissa George says
You are so welcome! Those dang lids were my nemesis for so long!
Krista says
Fantastic Melissa! I’ve been working on getting my kitchen into shape and this post is so inspiring!!
Roxana says
My kitchen is in desperate need of reorganization I don’t know that I’ve changed anything since we moved in… 14 years ago. Eeeek! I think I’m going to enlist my biggest kid’s assistance and get this done! 😉
Melissa George says
Do it! It’s amazing how many little annoyances you can fix to make cooking more pleasant once you’ve lived in a house long enough to know how you really use the kitchen.
Kelly | Typically Simple says
First. I am in LOVE with your kitchen. Gorgeous! And second, I so need to purge and clean our cabinets. We’ve been in our house only a year and I can’t believe how out of control some of them have gotten…especially the rubbermaid containers. I will definitely be finding a drawer to put the smaller ones in, great idea!
Melissa George says
You will LOVE LOVE LOVE the drawer for the containers! And thanks for your sweet words!
Candi says
What a beautiful kitchen. We just moved and as big as my kitchen is, I have not made the best use of space yet. I just wanted to unpack and get everything in. I will have to do some of your suggestions, when I get a few moments.
Melissa George says
I’m so glad you can relate! And congratulations on your new home!
Evelyn B says
Hey Melissa, what great ideas you have shared with all of us!! I particularly like the drawer for the small Tupperware items. I’m going to fix my space and throw the “extras” and cut down on the amount of them!! Then my space will hold them better. The racks on the doors for the attachments and for the measuring spoons and cups is brilliant! You are right about putting everything together that goes together or that you use together. It makes cooking so much more pleasant. Thanks for sharing your wonderful ideas with us and it looks so pretty as well as organized.
Melissa George says
Thanks so much Evelyn! No matter how many spaces I organize, I’m always surprised at what a huge difference it makes to the feel of a room! And hooray for ditching some Tupperware!
Natalie Gallagher says
Great job! As a professional organizer, I routinely suggested that we recycle the mismatched collection of plasticware and invest in a new set with a few of each size. People always always have too much plastic ware! Your photography is gorgeous!
Melissa George says
Thanks Natalie, I totally agree. The plasticware adds up over the years and never gets purged!
Erin Spain says
I so need to do this!
Brynne@TheGatheredHome says
I love it! In preparation for listing our house, I finally got around to organizing the cabinets and I’m like, “Why the heck didn’t I do this sooner?!” Having a place for everything is just the best thing ever – I’m determined to start with kitchen organization after our move! I love these ideas – pinning for sure!
Melissa George says
Ugh, moving is the worst, but sometimes the little things it forces you to do turn out to be so helpful!
jessica says
okay, I need you to come and organize my house and I absolutely LOVE your pantry!
Melissa George says
Thanks so much Jess!
Stephanie @ Casa Watkins says
Loving your kitchen Melissa! My kitchen is always a mess. I can’t even have the open shelving dream since its just a mess of kiddie plates and bowls. Love how you decorated your kitchen with your organization skills. Pinning for when I finally can have all grown up bowls in my cabinet. 🙂
Melissa George says
Don’t be fooled, ours is often a big mess too!
laura says
Love it!!!
Barbara Marrin says
I did this not so long ago, purged plastic mis-matched food storage containers, re-organized and re-located kitchen essentials. Our cabinet shelves aren’t tall enough to accommodate the stand mixer, blender, food processor, crock pot, so I had to ‘add’ shelving in our kitchen. We also have very limited counter space considering the fairly generous size of our kitchen, so having them off the counter really helped. I hung our measuring cups and spoons on the interior door of the kitchen cabinets(with ‘COMMAND’ wire hooks) that contain frequently used spices (on tiered wire shelving) so they are handy when I need to measure anything. The ‘add-on’ shelving is a simple white 3-shelf bookcase with adjustable shelving to handle the height of the taller appliances. My treasured cobalt blue glass 4-piece canister set sits on the very top for easy access. Having the plates, cups, bowls in the cabinet to the immediate right of the stove makes plating so much easier at breakfast and lunch and casual dinners. I disposed of the ‘molded’ flatware container that didn’t seem to meet our needs and replaced it with 6 individual narrow white plastic bins that fit perfectly in the drawer to the immediate right of the stove. I got 2 sets of 4 at Big Lots for around $3.00 and had two left over to use elsewhere in our home. Infrequently used stock pot, serving dishes are on the upper shelves of cabinets since I only take them down 3-4 times a year, ridiculous to store in the lower cabinets where space is limited. Organization helps meal prep, keeping things uncluttered and cuts down on frustration looking for something ‘I KNOW I have one of those-where did I put it?’ issues.
Melissa George says
I agree, the reduced frustration is amazing!
Marianne says
Melissa,
Will you just come to my house and stay for say……….a month?!
Melissa George says
I’ll pack up my labels and head that way!
Christine says
My big issue is the misc utensil drawer… prob need to just use some smaller bins to help sort bulky things like cookie cutters, beaters, scalloped edge slicer, etc I use these in other places, so why not?!
Melissa George says
Those utensil drawers are tricky – I actually still need some dividers for mine. When I rearranged everything, I was able to weed out some stuff to donate and that helped. I also took the things that always get in the way of the drawer closing on the first try (like the big soup ladle) and put them in a vase inside the lower cabinet. I wish I had done that years ago!
Nancy Little says
What a great post! I love the marble lazy susan idea. A word of caution (if I may)? I have previously worked in the cabinet industry and have had many a call from a customer that used the wire racks on their inside cabinets but used longer screws. Just make sure the screws you use are not longer than the depth of the cabinet door so they don’t ‘pop’ out front. Have also done the rev a shelf trash bins. Game changer. Purchased, in addition, the hardware that converted the door to a pull out. LOVE the rubbermaid bins for leftovers! PS Your kitchen is beautiful!
Melissa George says
Excellent point, Nancy! I’ll try to add that to the post later to remind everyone! We’re always triple checking the depth on ours, but I can see how easy it would be to not even think about it in the excitement of adding the new organization.