Keeping your kitchen organized is kind of like doing laundry—it’s a task you never really finish! We all do our best to keep our food, bakeware, dishes, appliances, and gadgets organized, but sometimes (or maybe most of the time) that’s a lot easier said than done!
When it comes to organizing chaotic areas like the kitchen, I often find that it’s the simplest solutions that end up having the biggest impact. So in today’s post, I’ll be sharing 9 simple kitchen organization hacks that can go a long way toward conquering kitchen clutter!
With the help of these easy tips, you’ll be well on your way to calming the chaos and creating a more functional and organized kitchen! :-)
Related: 7 Clever Hacks To Organize Your Kitchen On The Cheap
9 Smart And Simple Kitchen Organization Hacks
1. Keep Wrap Boxes On Your Fridge
Can’t seem to find a good place to store plastic wrap, wax paper, tin foil, and other long, narrow boxes? Use magnets to hang them on your fridge so they are always handy when you need them!
Just tape two or three magnets to the inside of each box, then place them on your fridge somewhere out of the way. When the box is empty, just remove the magnets so you can reuse them in your new box!
Related: 10 Easy Ways To Get More Organized With Magnets
2. Store Dry Ingredients In Airtight Containers
Dry ingredients typically come in boxes and bags, but those packages don’t do much to keep them fresh. I like to transfer dry ingredients like rice, beans, flour, and dried fruit to airtight plastic or glass see-through containers to protect freshness and keep them tidier!
If the box or bag has cooking instructions you’ll want to refer back to, just cut that section of the package out and attach it to the container somewhere. If you use a jar with a clip top, try taping the instructions to the inside of the lid so you can read them from the outside!
Related: This Is My Favorite Set Of Pantry Storage Containers
3. Add More Storage With Adhesive Hooks
If you have a small kitchen, removable adhesive hooks can help you make the most of every square inch of potential storage space! Get creative by installing hooks on walls, inside cabinet doors, or under shelves or cupboards.
Hanging things in spaces that typically go unused will free up valuable space in your drawers and cabinets, and help make your kitchen storage a lot more functional! Get more tips for organizing with adhesive hooks here.
Related: 7 Of The Smartest Kitchen Organizers You Can Get For Under $30
4. Reuse Baking Powder Containers
Certain types of containers are so useful that it’s a shame to throw them out, including baking soda containers! The size is nice and compact, and many of them have that built-in ledge for leveling off measuring spoons.
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I like to save my empty baking powder containers to store small amounts of other ingredients (like salt, sugar, and baking soda), which makes them easier to measure when I’m in the midst of a baking project or recipe. I keep the rest of my stashes in large storage containers elsewhere so I can refill my repurposed baking powder containers as needed.
Related: The 9 Best Household Containers To Repurpose
5. Corral Spice Jars In A Cake Pan
Try as we might to make all our spice jars easy to reach, not everyone has enough space to make it happen. And even if you do have the space, sometimes it’s just easier to pull them all out at once!
Storing all your spice jars in a cake pan makes this quick and easy. You can just pull out the pan, locate the spices you need, then slide the pan back into your cupboard or drawer!
6. Keep Your Freezer Tidy With A Salad Container
Using your freezer is a great way to keep things fresh if you’re not going to use them right away. You can freeze plastic ziplock bags of food scraps to use for homemade broth, cheese rinds for soup, butter wrappers for greasing pans, and much more!
To prevent all those bags from cluttering up your freezer, line them up in one of those plastic containers that pre-washed greens come in. It’ll help keep your freezer less cluttered, and your bags will always be easy to find when you need them!
7. Utilize Lazy Susans
Never underestimate the power of the lazy Susan. In my opinion, these rotating platforms are one of the most underrated tools for organizing almost any space around the house!
You can use lazy Susans in your cupboards, fridge, drawers, and anywhere else you can think of to make things more accessible.
8. Line Your Fridge Door Shelf With An Egg Carton
Apparently Food Network star Alton Brown is just as clever when it comes to organizing food as he is about cooking it! He suggests using one side of an egg carton to line the shelves in your fridge door. With the carton providing extra stability, you can store all your condiments upside down so they’re always ready to use!
9. Store Condiment Packets In A Sponge Holder
When you get takeout or go through the drive-thru, sometimes you end up with more condiment packets than you can actually use. And it seems wasteful to throw them out, right?
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To hang on to those packets without creating clutter, store them in a sponge holder! It’s the perfect size for keeping all those little packets tidy and easy to find.
What’s your best simple kitchen organization hack?
Always looking for space-saving ideas in our motorhome kitchen. I use a square wicker basket with a lip at the front and handle holes at the sides to corral coffee and tea caddies, small cafetiere and 2 mugs. Very lightweight and I only have to remove one item from the cupboard to easily access all I need to make hot drinks.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.What awesome ideas! I have used 2 things in my fridge which to me have been invaluable; a plastic shoebox-size container that I remove cans of soda from the big 24-pack box and lay them in there on their side. First row on the bottom and just keep stacking until I have 12 or 13 cans in there. I can always tell who needs more soda and how soon. Also, I have been a long time user of the lazy susan in my fridge. On that big lower set shelf where most of us put milk, I place the lazy susan behind there. Works amazing for jars of relish, jams & jellies, specialty mustard, etc. A long time ago, while cleaning strawberries, I thought, “these containers are such a nice size…how could I reuse them?” I put one in the door of my fridge and keep all my loose condiments in it! These are a few of the things I have found helpful and handy. God bless. :>)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Glue the magnets to the outside of the boxes. When the roll is empty just put the new roll in the box with the magnets already attached.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.All my spices, plus bottles of Worcestershire, A-1, Pam, etc., are on lazy Susans in my cabinets. I started doing that after a kitchen remodel in 1987 and duplicated it when we moved in 1999. Still going strong!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I love all these ideas! The egg carton is great…… I’m always ready to catch something that I put upside down, when I open the door. I’ve got several ‘ lazy susans’ in various places. I try to make use of square pans to contain small containers like extracts. And I do that in the fridge as well. I’ve yet to find a fridge big enough for all my stuff! :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I keep flour in an empty Parmesan cheese container for instances when I need a tablespoon or two of flour, or when I need to sprinkle on the counter to roll out pastry. This is also good for powdered sugar. Just make sure to clearly label the containers! Its very handy and I don’t have to drag out my larger containers for just a bit of flour or sugar. Love OGT an all the shared ideas!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.In our family we prefer Ikea’s Lingonberry Sauce to cranberry sauce. The jars are straight sided and just the right size for spices (I cook with a lot of spices). For a few years I just collected the jars and when we moved to a new kitchen with an island with drawers I finally was able to decant my spices into matching jars which I keep in a drawer. The lids are silver and I can write on them with a permanent marker (which I can also scrub off if I need to). I use mason jars – litre size and 1 1 /2 litres size for storing pantry staples. I try to avoid storing food in bags or boxes because they take up too much room although before a bag is opened for the first time I do sometimes just tuck it into the pantry.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.The sponge holder and the eggs carton ideas great!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great ideas. We already use a lot of the ideas in our kitchen. We use the lazy Susan for our spices. I love the idea of the egg carton for the fridge doors. I don’t think it would matter what type. We save most of our cardboard egg cartons for my sister.She has hens and uses these for giving us fresh eggs.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We also use the Parmesan containers for our baking soda, salt etc.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.The sponge holder for condiment packets is brilliant! I usually toss them into a ziplock bag and throw them into a door shelf… that’s definitely not working. While I’m out today I’m going find a sponge holder!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.With my tiny kitchen and limited storage in our “temp” house, many things must be stored out in the open, and I resolved years ago (in our last house) to have no plastic or product labels out on display. I’m a big fan of glass storage, and many (working on all) of my dry goods are stored in glass jars – apothecary jars, mason jars, clamp-lid jars, cork-stopper jars…all sensibly grouped and placed on top of the cabinets, close to where they’re used. This lends a practical, farmhouse-charm to the space. “Decorating” with practical things is a principle I’ve tried to apply elsewhere in the house as well.
One alternative to attaching a box to the fridge is something I found for our rolling island – a wall-mounted, wood paper towel dispenser/foil dispenser combo. I’d post a link but it’s apparently no longer available (from Etsy at least). You remove the roll from the box entirely and store it in the holder, using the built-in serrated edge to tear off a length of foil, wax paper etc. Now if I could just organize my “used” pieces!
A lazy-Susan is also a good idea, as I have a tall, deep pantry cabinet with a lot of dead space even with a shelf at the back. Maybe I can find one tall enough to use with my oil and vinegar bottles…
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Why not use a magazine holder to organize the “used” pieces? If you get a metal one you can attach it inside a door of the island with command hooks.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use dollar store plastic, open walled, bins in my fridge. They are great for storing little things, like a cut onion, and open jars of things. Instead of crud getting on the glass shelves, things are in the open trays which are easy to slide in and out and have 100% visibility for what’s in them. They come in all sizes and colors. I have hooks underneath a corner hanging cupboard, and this is where I hang brooms, easy to grab and off the floor, out of sight in the corner. We recycle all plastic bags and that can’t be hidden, so it just hangs on a hook until we take to the store for recycling.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great idea!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My fridge has a compartment in the door that extends all the way across with a roll-top type cover. I think it is supposed to be for butter, but I use it for other small items, too. I have found that two of the plastic mushroom containers fill this space exactly, and are handy to corral things together so they don’t fall out.
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