Where Disorganization Lurks in Your Kitchen

Even if your kitchen counters are clear of appliances and your cabinets are neatly organized with your plates, cups and bowls, it can happen.

Even if you display fresh flowers on your counter and a bowl of green apples on your kitchen island, disorganization can still lurk in your kitchen.

For many families, the kitchen is where you spend some serious quality time, whether you’re cooking dinner and chatting about the day, eating breakfast at the bar or have the kids doing homework at the kitchen table.

It means this room—the heart of your home—is subject to serious foot traffic and utter disorganization. There are so many places “stuff” can hide in your kitchen—so many cabinets, drawers and probably a pantry.

Here are a few places where disorganization lurks and how to clean them up and declutter.

1. The Junk Drawer(s)

If you need a takeout menu, roll of tape, pen, pencil, rubber band, battery, phone charger, scissors, notepad—there’s a great chance it’s stashed in your junk drawer. Your junk drawer is a go-to place for anything random you might need to grab that would normally live in your office. And it also becomes a lost and found for your home—it’s the place where you put a button that’s fallen off a blazer.

Junk drawers are okay to have in your house—but not when you’ve got to spend five minutes searching for something you just know you stashed in there.

Take everything out of your junk drawer and group similar items together. Use a drawer insert to organize your “junk” into sections so you can find a rubber band or that roll of tape quickly.

2. Under the Kitchen Sink

The space under your sink is likely to home trash bags, maybe some sponges, a bucket and any number of cleaners for your kitchen, bathroom, carpet—basically, anything you can shove under there. And when you go searching for the Pine Sol or the carpet cleaner, there’s a great chance you spend several minutes reaching for various bottles in the back of your cabinet before getting frustrated.

To organize the cabinet under your sink, try a slide out drawer that holds cleaning products, bags, sponges and any other go-to cleaning items.

To get the most out of the height of that cabinet and keep your cleaning supplies in view, Good Housekeeping also recommends using an easy-to-install tension rod to hang spray bottles so you’ll always know what’s in your cabinet under the sink.

3. The Pantry

You store so many different types of things in your pantry. Cereal boxes, spices, zipper bags, coffee, snacks, dry goods and even placemats, serving trays and tablecloths—most of the items might just be stashed where they fit, rather than organized by group or use.

And if you’re anything like us, you have a hard time remembering just how much brown rice is left, or if you ever bought more paprika. It’s a space that begs for some good organization.

A custom pantry solution can help you stay organized by giving each can or container its place. Adjustable shelves will maximize your space for canned goods or boxes of pasta, cereal or crackers, while rollout wire baskets help you store bags of snacks. Vertical slotted storage can even help you store serving trays and cookie sheets.

Rollout drawers and lazy susans can make your spices and small bottled goods easier to see, so you’ll know what you’ve got and what you need.

These smaller spaces within your kitchen can be organized rather quickly, and it’ll make a big difference the next time you’re cooking, cleaning or just trying to order takeout.

If you know you should get organized, but need a little help, reach out to us to talk about custom solutions for your kitchen.