What is the best way to keep a kitchen well organized?

1. Create zones to keep your supplies and tools within reach

2. Clean as you go

3. Keep a constant eye on the amount of tools and whether you are using them

What are the different types of zones?

Prep Zone = This area will include your knife collection, poultry shears, cutting boards and other prep containers including measuring spoons and cups and mixing bowls. This is also where your Tupperware, baggies and paper wraps should live.

Cook Zone = This zone is located on and around the stove and oven. Store all cooking utensils within arms reach of this zone. A ceramic jar takes up a small amount of space and keeps your spoons, spatulas and whisks close at hand. You will also need to store your baking racks, pots and pans and pot holders within this zone.

Bake Zone = If you love to bake, you might find it handy to store your flour, sugar, baking powder, a set of measuring cups and spoons, your favorite mixing bowl, etc. together in one convenient spot. Right below these items will be the cabinet with the cookie trays, baking sheets etc.

Serving Zone = Everything you need to set the table including plates, bowls, platters, flat wear, napkins, trivets, cups and stem wear and the whole shebang!

It might even make great sense to keep your much loved and frequently used condiments here: salt and pepper, hot sauce, liquid aminos? Whatever your family uses with most meals.

Clean Zone = This is obviously by the sink and hopefully the dishwasher too. Keep your soaps, towels, scrub brushes, drying rack all in this area. A pretty ceramic flower pot will keep your scrub brushes upright and the hole in the bottom will keep them drained and free of muck and slime.

Waste Zone = This area is getting more complicated as we endeavor to recycle as much as possible. You will want an area large enough to hold your trashcan, recycle bin and possible even a compost container. The best location will be close to the cleaning and prep zone.

Storage Zone = If you are lucky, you have walk-in pantry, if not you still need to create a zone to keep all of your excess dry and canned goods.

A Bonus Zone = If you have kids, another great zone to create will encompass breakfast and lunch. Use lower cabinets to hold breakfast bowls, cups with lids, cereals and possibly even the peanut butter and jelly. The ideal location 6twill be close to the prep zone so it will be easy to make sandwiches and bag up your lunch items in a snap!

What about my pantry? How can I keep that organized?

There are many ways to organize a pantry but the most organized pantry will also have specific zones created within.

Here are a few examples of pantry zones you might use:

Condiments, Sauces

Canned Goods: Soups, Veggies

Baking Zone

Rice/Pastas

Teas / Coffees / Canned Beverages

Snack Zone

International Foods

Breakfast Zone

Entertaining Foods

Do you have any favorite organizing devices for pantry items?

For cans – If you have a large amount of shelf area, use stepped stacker shelves. These shelves come in white plastic or metal and expand to fit your shelf width. Make sure to buy the extra large shelves, the regular size typically accommodate spice jars, not canned goods.

For cans – You can also use extra large Lazy Susans with a tall lip on the edge. The extra large susans will hold 20-30 cans and maximize your recessed corner areas. Simply spin and find what you are looking for in a snap!

For bottles of sauces – Lazy Susans are the best storage device. Use as many as you need to hold all of your sauce bottles. I also use these in the cabinet next to my stove for quick access to oils and vinegars.

For Bags of Beans and Rice – Remove packaging them and store into tall rectangular containers. You could also keep them in their original packaging and pile them on top of each other in the plastic or glass containers with lids that seal tight. Avoiding round containers will save precious shelf space.

For Pastas – Baskets or plastic square or rectangular open bins keep these packages from falling all over the shelves. You can place this basket conveniently beside the marinara bevy.

Any Other Tips For an Organized Kitchen?

1. Keep all papers off of the kitchen counter. If you do bills in the kitchen, designate a drawer to hold the bills in between payments. Keep stamps, envelops, and pens within the same space. If you don’t have an extra drawer, create a vertical storage space that will live at the far end of a counter against a wall. Keep all papers and materials within that container. Stepped vertical file holders or stepped baskets work well. Only use tools that require minimal counter space and please do keep everything vertical and out of piles on the countertop!

2. Wipe down and clean out one drawer or shelf at a time at periods when they are the most empty. Cleaning a little at a time makes it less of a chore.

3. Determine where to store items based on how frequently you use them. For instance, if you only use your crockpot during the winter months, store it away from your main cabinets. It might even make sense to store it on the garage or somewhere outside of the kitchen area.

4. For those items that you use on a weekly basis, keep them in easy to access cabinets front and center, not high up or in the back out of reach. If you use one appliance every day like a small food processor,, it might deserve to live on your counter right beside the stash of knives and cutting boards.

These tips came from my interview with Betsy Karetnick & Sunny Anderson on Martha Stewart Living Show broadcast on Sirius Radio October 18, 2010

Although my family eats mainly fresh vegetables, we still need to keep cans of beans, quick sauces and condiments available for nights when we are pinched for time. Thank goodness that there are several wonderful ways to organize our caned goods! My three favorite solutions are shown below with the pluses and minuses listed.

Favorite #1 The Extra Large Lazy Susan

I love this organizer! It not only holds massive amounts of cans, it also organizes the pantry areas that become dark and deep black holes. So, instead of piling cans or boxes in front of one another, simply stack and spin until you find what you need. These organizers are a little pricey ($25 + each) but they are worth their price in gold. I currently have over 35 cans on one and loved it so much that I added a second one on the shelf below!

The minus ~ if you do not have a deep dark recessed hole in your pantry, this is not for you, The smaller lazy susan is great for condiment bottles but this boehemoth only works in areas 25″ or larger.

Second Runner Up ~ The Can Stacker Shelf

This organizer makes you feel really efficient and official. Once this shelf is in place within your pantry, all cans are visible and accounted for just like in the grocery. These shelves expand and contract to fit the length of the shelf at hand.

The Minus ~ Make sure to buy the extra large shelves, the others will hold only small spice bottles or micro-sized cans.

Third Place Contender ~ The Drop-Down Wire Organizer

After using this ditty for a year or so, I determined that it was only useful for items that I use repetitively and buy in mass. For me, this means my favorite Mexican sauce (for everything) El Pato, and my cat food. Items are organized behind each other and it is designed to roll the next one forward after the first one is used.

The Minus ~ It takes up too much shelf space unless you have a large quantity of the same items that you use over and over. As you can see in this photo, this was the beginning of my experience and my cans were not necessarily as organized as I had hoped. The size was a bit wonky so I even ended up storing packaged goods along with the cans. Not the best solution! Once I began using it strictly for my cat food and El Pato collection, it became more user friendly.

We Want Your Ideas!

Please let us know if you have created any other solutions for organizing  your canned goods or your pantry. All ideas are welcome here at addSpace. The more minds that ponder a problem, the greater the results. Go ahead and take a moment to post your solutions below so others can learn from you as well!

Situation:

An incredibly large pantry with built-in shelves and drawers but a very industrious and busy cook. It seemed to have a life of it’s own and created it’s own systems if we didn’t keep an eye open for small hands and hungry mouths!

Challenge:

There were so many shelves and drawers that it looked deceptively easy to organize. This is a common situation with too much space in pantries, closets or other areas in your home. Because of the expanse of storage space, you keep buying more and more products to fill it up. Sound familiar? This actually wasn’t the issue in this pantry but a good thing to keep in mind if you have a large but out-of-control storage area.

Solutions:

We decided what zones were really necessary to keep everything organized in this space. Zones were super important since this was a very busy mom with a multi-cultural family with a variety of palettes.

Specific zones were created to include:

1. Condiments, Sauces

2. Asian Cuisine

3. Canned Goods: Soups, Veggies

4. Canned Goods: Mexican

5. Baking / Entertaining Zone

6. Rice/Pastas

7. Teas / Beverages

8. Snack Zone

9. Breakfast Zone

These are the zones created specifically for foods. After that we created storage for appliances and other items to include:

1. Entertaining  2. Baking  3. Cooking  4. Paper Goods

Click here to see more specific solutions for storage and zone organizing for pantries. I use these solutions frequently when I work in with clients and you might end up with some new ideas for your own pantry!

PS Please post any good solutions you have developed on your own in the comment form below so that others can benefit from your clever tips and tricks!

As a Professional Organizer, over the years I have tested and used many pantry organizing products. I have found several that I seem to use over and over again. I decided to post eight of my favorites to help you keep order in your pantry.

Stepper Shelves: These steps really take the Read the rest of this entry »

Situation: An oven that had turned into a cabinet. A pantry that held almost everything but food and food storage supplies.

Challenge: This was a very dangerous choice. When space seems to be at a premium, folks will often default into using areas for storage that are really meant for other things. The real pantry was used to store games, wrapping paper, office supplies, almost everything but paper goods.

Solution: Get rid of excess grocery inventory, clear the pantry and make room for what supplies and food needed to be kept on hand.