How to Organize a Kitchen Cupboard

Clear jars make it easy to see what you have and its quantity.

Organizing a kitchen cupboard can make all the difference when it comes to the usability of a kitchen. A cabinet that is untidy and disorganized can easily make any meal preparation an exercise in frustration when you can't find the items you need. When everything is properly organized and in its place, you never have to spend any of your food preparation time hunting and searching for that one ingredient that is holding you up. Organizing a kitchen cupboard is not nearly as difficult as it may seem at first, no matter how messy it is.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. Take an inventory of everything that you have. This can be a surprisingly helpful way to create a plan for the entire organization process. It is much easier to organize a kitchen cupboard when you are sure of everything that you need to fit inside.

2. Eliminate anything that you do not use or will never use. If you have a bottle of cherry plum vinegar or some other item that you bought for a recipe three years ago and are likely to never use again, it may serve you best to eliminate it from the kitchen cupboard entirely. If you think you may use it again, store it in the kitchen pantry. Otherwise, give it away or discard it to make room for other items. The same goes for anything expired or damaged.

3. Divide items by placing like types in the same cupboard, or on the same shelf. Food that does not need to be refrigerated can go in the same cupboard. Separate different types of items onto different shelves. For instance, baking items that are used less often on the top shelf, canned and packaged goods on the middle shelf, and snacks and cereal on the lowest shelf. Likewise, place dishes in cupboards near the dishwasher or sink and glassware in the cupboard nearest the refrigerator -- better to grab a quick drink.

4. Place your most commonly used items up front. It just makes good sense to ensure that the items that you are going to be moving in and out of the kitchen cupboard with the highest frequency are also the easiest and quickest to get to. Keeping them up front ensures that you will not have to go hunting for them each time you need to pull them out for something. The exception would be large items that you can easily reach over other items for. Those are best kept in the back.

5. Take your less used items or larger items and place them in the back. Since they are going to be used so infrequently, having to take a bit of time to hunt for a less used item is going to be much less of an inconvenience than it would be for a more common one. Large items are easily visible over others, and do not suffer by being placed in the back of the kitchen cupboard.

Tips & Warnings

• Each kitchen cupboard should have a specific theme, such as spices or bakeware or pots. This will make it easier to find things.

References

• CBS News; Organizing Your Kitchen; Rome Neal; Feb. 11, 2009
• The Container Store; Organizing Your Kitchen Cabinets