5 Tips for Organizing Your Kitchen

Whether you love to cook or dread it, taking the time to organize the kitchen has benefits for everyone. A well thought out plan can help you be more efficient, make clean up easier, and help make cooking more enjoyable. If you are building a new home, now is a great time to start fresh! You can take this opportunity to make sure your kitchen has all of the features you want to help keep you organized. If you’ve lived in your kitchen for a while and feel like it needs help, a quick afternoon of reorganization can make all the difference. Here are a few tips to help get your kitchen organized!

Define Zones

Most kitchen designs were created to make moving from the sink to oven to refrigerator easy. This is referred to as the kitchen work triangle. The idea is that the majority of work done in the kitchen uses these three elements. To further improve your efficiency, set up zones in your kitchen, and store relevant items in each zone. For instance, create a prep zone. This area would be where you would want to keep your knives, cutting boards, mixing bowls, and other items you use in food preparation. Keep this zone close to where you will be cooking the majority of your food. This helps cut down on time you spend wandering from place to place in your kitchen. Think about how you use your kitchen and what zones make sense for you and your family. Then strategically define the zones. Once you have your zones defined, you will know what items should be placed in each zone. Keep like items grouped together in their zones.

Keep Frequently Used Items at Eye Level

As you are placing items in cabinets and on shelves, try to keep items that you frequently use at eye levels, such as plates and glasses. These are items you will not want to have to be reaching or bending over to get on a daily basis. Reserve top shelves for items that are less used, such as your holiday plates or small kitchen appliances not frequently used. You will have the best idea as to what you want to keep easily within reach and what can be put either higher or lower in the cabinet. Be sure that if you have small children or pets, that you keep dangerous and fragile items out of their reach.

Make Use of Organizers

Drawer organizers and dividers are a must! Who is guilty of having that one drawer that barely opens and is full of miscellaneous items rolling around? A simple drawer organizer can even make that drawer look organized. Follow your zone boundaries and keep like items in the same drawer. In addition to drawer organizers, there are also other organizers and gadgets you can use in your cabinets and pantry for helping to store your items in a more orderly fashion. Hang divided wire racks on the inside of your cabinet doors under the sink. Use this area for things like sponges and washcloths. That way, that area isn’t lost, but nothing impedes the area around your pipes. Hang a shower organizer on the back of your pantry door. Using these can free up valuable shelf space in your cabinet. They work great for storing bags of rice, spices, snacks, and other items.

Use Clear Containers

Containers are fabulous for keeping items fresh and keeping things tidy. When choosing containers either for storing in the pantry or in the fridge, choose clear containers so you can easily see what is inside.  Imagine, instead of a row of half-opened, different sized cereal boxes in your pantry, a row of clear cereal containers with your favorite cereals on display. Rice, pasta, beans, and other items turn almost into decoration rather than just a box on a shelf. Use containers for whatever you want to keep fresh and neat. Use similar-sized containers for like objects to help keep the look cleaner.

Add Pull Out Units/Rotating Shelves

Pull out units, sliding shelves, and rotating shelves add so much convenience to your kitchen, especially where there are deep cabinets and drawers. You know how you found that can of soup way in the back of the cabinet that was dated years ago. Sliding shelves and pull out units help keep items from getting lost in your cabinets. They also make it much easier to organize your items. Rotating shelves are also great solutions for this as well. If you’re building a home with Rockford Homes, ask your design specialist about adding these and other convenient kitchen features to your dream home!