The kitchen is one of the most used areas in your home. And because of this, it tends to accumulate tons of clutter. Do you find yourself opening cutlery drawers to find everything from tools to glitter pens? Do you spend more time looking for kitchen items than actually cooking? If so, it’s time to get serious about your kitchen organization.
If you are planning a kitchen renovation, there are many innovative ways Florkowskys’ skilled team of woodworkers can help make kitchen organization easy. Why opt for standard cabinets and layouts when personalized designs make storing all of your daily and specialty kitchen items simple?
Not sure where to start? Here are a few of our favourite ideas:
Store pots and pans in a corner swivel cabinet
Pots and pans can be some of the most challenging everyday kitchen tools to store. They’re bulky, loud, and come with large lids and handles. Shoving them into basic rectangular cabinets is an exercise in frustration, leaving you with a tower of teetering metal.
If you want to keep your kitchen tidy, and make your pots more accessible, we recommend installing a corner cabinet. As the name would suggest, these cabinets go in the corner and allow you to have a large cabinet that is more conducive to pots and pans. Adding swivel shelves means you won’t even need to root around in the back of the cabinet. Simply turn the cabinet and select the item you need, similar to a Lazy Susan.
Add a pullout pantry
Things like pasta, rice, and cans can take up a lot of space and get disorganized quickly. A pullout pantry can fit in any kitchen and lets you have easy access to your dry staples. If you are a fan of leftovers and pre-made meals, a pullout pantry is also a great place to store plastic containers, thermoses, water bottles, and other storage containers so that they don’t get lost at the back of the cabinet.
Make your island a storage paradise
Kitchen islands are a popular trend in kitchen design. They’re a great place to prepare food, eat, and entertain. Often, islands are built on a plain stand, but you can actually turn them into an excellent place for storage. Adding drawers, cupboards, and compartments to the base of your island will allow you to store more food and tools out of the way, but where it’s still easily accessible. Consider building in anything from garbage disposals to microwaves. This is a great way to add tons of extra storage space to a kitchen of any size.
Build a tray organizer
Serving platters and baking sheets are one of the most frustrating kitchen items to store and organize. They often end up stacked and stuck to each other, lost in bottom drawers, or eternally stored inside the oven (which, we must say, is dangerous). It can also be easy to lose track of them and forget about your favourite serving pieces. Building a slotted tray organizer will let you keep your trays in sight and well-organized, so you can see and access the ones you want. Plus, when they aren’t stacked, there is less of a chance of damage.
Once you’ve designed your dream kitchen, you’ll probably feel extra motivated to keep it organized. Here are some ways you can perfectly utilise your new cabinets to ensure that your kitchen stays beautifully organised.
Start by getting rid of the stuff you don’t need - and be ruthless!
Because the kitchen is so well-used, it tends to turn into a catch-all for random items. Maybe you jumped on the sourdough trend during the pandemic, only to have those items collecting dust in a corner. Don’t feel bad – kitchens are notorious for accumulating interesting items that might not be of use to you anymore. Go through each drawer and cabinet, and create keep, store, donate, and sell piles.
Invest in storage containers
Spices, baking supplies, coffee, tea, rice, you name it: the kitchen is full of little items that can create a big mess. If spilled, these can end up in cracks and corners. Not only will these be a burden to clean up, but they could potentially end up attracting pests and damaging your brand new cabinets. Buy clear storage containers so you can see what you have and grab it easily.
Attach a spice rack to the wall or cabinets
Spices come in small containers and can be prone to spilling if knocked on their side. To combat this, consider a spice rack that will keep all of your spices organized and upright. You also won’t accidentally forget about spices you already have and end up spending more at the store.
Use labels
When food has been stored in your pantry, fridge, or freezer for a while, it can be hard to identify what is in certain containers. You might not be able to tell what’s fresh based just on sight and smell. Instead, clearly label your storage containers, using a label maker or masking tape and a marker to write a food’s name and date. This will help you keep track of ingredients and throw things out that have gone bad.
Design drawers with built-in dividers
There are lots of inserts on the market designed to help you organize your utensils, cutlery, and other kitchen items. These are useful if you’re on a tight budget, but if you want to kick your kitchen game up a notch, ask your kitchen designer about custom drawers and inserts to create a more uniform look that is easier on cabinets.
Kitchen cabinets get messy and disorganized; it’s unavoidable. But thankfully, there are tons of cabinet designs and hacks that help to keep your kitchen tidy. If you are ready for custom cabinetry, Florkowskys’ Woodworking and Cabinets has decades of experience and can help to design a kitchen that functions well and stays tidier – so you can spend more time enjoying your space and less time cleaning it.
