Organizing a Kitchen You Cannot Renovate

We hear "we need a bigger kitchen" on a lot of first calls, and in most of those houses the kitchen is a reasonable size. What has happened is that the contents were placed by whichever cabinet was open on moving day, and nothing has moved since.

You can fix a surprising amount of that in a single day, without a contractor.

Watch where the work happens

Stand in the kitchen and notice where you actually stand. There are usually three spots: the range, the sink and dishwasher, and wherever coffee gets made.

Those are your zones. Everything else is storage.

Move the tools to the zone

Cookware, cooking utensils, oils, salt and pepper belong within one step of the range. Not in the handsome cabinet across the room. If the prime cabinet beside the stove currently holds glassware, that is the swap that will change your day the most.

Everyday plates, bowls and glasses belong beside the dishwasher, so that unloading it is one turn rather than a lap of the room. Unloading the dishwasher happens every single day, and shaving thirty seconds off it is worth more than almost anything else you will do in there.

Coffee gets its own corner: machine, beans, filters, and mugs directly above. It is the first thing that happens in the morning and it should require no thought.

Counter space is earned, not given

An appliance stays on the counter if it is used several times a week. That is the whole rule.

The stand mixer that comes out at Thanksgiving does not qualify. Neither does the second blender. Both can live in the pantry or on a high shelf, and the counter you get back is the most valuable real estate in the room.

Buy dividers last

Drawer dividers are excellent, and they are the most commonly wasted purchase in kitchen organizing, because people buy them first.

Empty the drawer. Decide what is going back in. Then measure, then buy. A divider bought before the decision will define the contents, and you will end up keeping four spatulas because there are four slots.

Deep cabinets need pull-outs, not more stacking

The base cabinet problem is the same as the pantry problem: depth. Anything at the back of a deep base cabinet is gone.

Pull-out drawer inserts fix this properly and can be fitted to most existing cabinets without any structural work. Where that is not possible, a bin used as a drawer does most of the same job for a fraction of the cost.

Keep the junk drawer

Every kitchen has one and it is fine. It is a legitimate landing spot for the small unclassifiable things that would otherwise scatter across four rooms.

Give it a divider and a boundary, and empty it twice a year. What makes a junk drawer a problem is not that it exists, it is when it becomes three junk drawers.