In many homes the kitchen seems to be a lost and found box for the rest of the home. Between the paperwork, school papers and appliances your busiest room could really be uncomfortable if you’re without a good organizational system. A lot of people think they need to renovate in order to find a better way to keep their clutter under control. There’s a lot of ways you can avoid this huge expense though, by simply utilizing a few tricks to make your home a whole lot neater. With these cheap and efficient tricks you’ll be able to easily keep your home’s clutter where it belongs which will make your home look more inviting and comfortable. So, put away the blue prints for that ridiculously expensive renovation and head to your local department store for some easy ways to fix up your beloved home.
1. Cleaning Supplies
If your home is like most then chances are you have a pretty wide assortment of cleaning supplies under your kitchen sink. Usually these supplies tend to get cluttered, knocked over and often forgotten, which can really make cleaning even more of a hassle. Instead of cramping up all of your supplies you may want to consider buying a tension rod that will hang above the bottom of the cabinet. You can easily hang your cleaning sprays from this so that you have ample of room on the bottom for all of your other supplies. To help keep matters even less cramped you may want to buy a few bins to keep your other supplies. These are perfect for scrubbing pads, dish accessories and smaller items like a roll of trash bags. With all of the small items in their own space you’ll have a little extra room for detergents and other cleaners that don’t have a spray bottle lid. You’ll be so surprised by the transformation and how little effort it takes you to find what you’re looking for when you need to clean up a spill.
2. Pots and Pans
We all love our pots and pan, but they sure can be a huge hassle to store away when we’re not using them. Fortunately, there’s a lot of ways to make your pots and pans just as convenient to store as your plates. One big tip is to utilize your kitchen drawers. If you happen to have a deeper drawer in the home this can be for pots and pans. Of course, many people don’t have these drawers, but there’s no need to fret. Pots and pans often make incredible décor items when placed on the wall. You may want to get a special rack to hang them on, or you could easily use decorative hooks. If you don’t care for either of those looks then grab a cork board and reliable hooks and use this to display your most used pots and pans. The kitchen will look amazing and you’ll be able to grab what you need to cook in seconds. A lot of people also like to hang their pots and pans from the ceiling. This could be a pricier item, but it is still much cheaper than working on a renovation. When it comes to all those stray lids you might want to consider a magazine rack. You can fasten it to the back of a cabinet door and you’ll be set for easy access to the lid you need.
3. Cooking Supplies
Most kitchens have that pesky drawer filled with those must have kitchen accessories. From tin foil and waxed paper to the run away box of sandwich bags, your kitchen drawer is probably a hazard to close and you might as well forget about looking for what you need. Instead of fretting over your kids squishing their fingers while packing a picnic you might want to consider another option. One of the best ways to get rid of this clutter is to buy a large file or magazine holder. These should be fairly cheap at your favorite department or office supply store. You should be able to fit just about everything in your accessory drawer into one of these holders, which will really save on space. Once you’ve put everything away then tuck it away in a cabinet or in the corner area of one of your counters. This will even free up a drawer for all of your other supplies.
4. Hang Things Up
When your kitchen’s cabinets and drawers simply aren’t cutting you might want to utilize a space that you didn’t think to use before. That space, of course, is your wall. Sure, you probably have a few decorative items already on the wall, but you can really do a whole lot decoration wise using the items you can’t find storage room for. For instance, you can easily find a metallic rack to hang up your knives or simple hooks for all of your favorite spatulas and cooking spoons. Pots and pans are another easy way to get things out of your cabinet space and onto the wall. So, if you have that common drawer of towels, cooking utensils or just a cabinet filled with mugs then you may want to try to figure out a way to display them on the wall. You can even go as far as to hang up shelves, which can easily hold cookbooks or glasses while still allowing you to hang other objects off of it.
5. Spices
If your family likes to spice things up then there’s a pretty good chance you have a cabinet filled with spices. This can be great as far as creating delicious foods, but it can also be a disaster during the cooking process. If you like to cook to taste and realize something your making needs a touch of garlic powder then chances are you’re going to go into your cabinet and there will be no garlic powder to be seen. You’ll panic just a little because the foods on the burner and you’ve pulled out every spice you own because you can’t see all of the labels. This problem is avoidable though. One way is to get an inexpensive spice rack that takes up little space. If you’re feeling more creative though then you may want to buy canister for each of your spices. Make sure to label them and then place a magnet on the back of each. Your spices will attach to refrigerator and you’ll be well on your way to cooking success. If you want to save even more money on this try using baby food jars instead of going out and buying canisters. You can also Velcro spices to a lazy susan to help you save space, just make sure you label the tops of the spices.
6. Silverware
Most people end up putting their silverware in a drawer. This can really be a huge hassle to sort through and often looks messy, especially when you have guests over for dinner. One easy remedy for the silverware dilemma is to find a deep drawer. You can easily separate the drawer into sections using plastic, decorative cardboard or anything else you can think of. Simply put the silverware in and you have a simple and elegant way to store your eating utensils. You can also use this method for knives, but make sure you place something under them so they won’t destroy your drawer. If you don’t have a deep drawer then you may want to consider putting the silverware in canisters. This can be displayed on the dining table as decoration or put on a shelf or counter for easy access.
7. Stacking
If you’re shy on cabinet and counter space then stacking is going to become your new best friend. There’s a lot of great supplies available to you that will allow you to stack up your items in order to save on space. You can even build your own stacking shelves to help save on time while ensuring your look will match the rest of the kitchen. This method can be used with anything including spices, cooking utensils and even some appliances. Cabinets are usually made to be pretty tall, but if you’re storing things like spices and other small items you end up with a lot of empty space. When you use a stacking shelf you can easily utilize that space to make your life a lot less cluttered. This process works especially well with items like smaller plates and bowls that can share space in the kitchen cabinets.
8. Utilize Canisters
If you love to bake then you know how much space your ingredients can take up. They also tend to spill due to rips in the packaging. One easy way to remedy your baking cabinet is to use some canisters to save on the space and mess. There’s a lot of great deals on these items so you won’t have to spend too much to find what you’re looking for. One simple tip when shopping for canisters is to find items that are taller rather than wider. These items make for an easy fit in taller cabinets and won’t take up as much room. You can even use these canisters for your pantry items, such as beans, rice, cereal, coffee and pastas. If you don’t have a lot of room in the pantry for these item then simply use them as display items on a shelf, counter or table. You’ll love how great they look as well as how much space they create in the kitchen.
9. Utilize Door Space
Most kitchens have at least one door that sort of just takes up space. Okay, sure, you use it to get in and out but you can really do so much more with it. Instead of just leaving the door to be a door try using it as a little extra storage. For instance, you can easily place a shoe rack on the back and place some of your favorite cooking utensils, spices or even jars of goods inside of it. If you’re not afraid to alter the door then try putting pegs in the back which will make it great storage for pots and pans, or some of your mugs. You should base what you store on the back of the door by how much use it gets, as you don’t want to put anything too fragile on a busy door.
10. Keep the Refrigerator Organized
One of the major problems with the kitchen is the refrigerator often gets so disorganized that its easy enough to let the rest of the room follow suit. One way to get rid of the cluttered fridge is to take out all of those pesky condiments that don’t need to be refrigerated. If you’re not sure what can stay and what can go then simply check the labels. Anything that can stay out can be put on a lazy susan and left on the table. When you’ve cleared out these items you’ll have a lot more room on the side of the refrigerator for those little items that take up so much space. You should also remove the milk from the side of the fridge as it will spoil faster this way. Instead put it in a corner so it won’t be in the way of other foods. You can also use small metal shelves that allow you to stack items on larger shelves. You should also always rotate your produce so you won’t have any bad produce taking up space. This will also ensure you save some money as your food won’t go bad as often.
There’s a lot of ways to keep your kitchen organized for less, so don’t stress about making a renovation budget. With these easy tips you’ll be well on your way to a kitchen than is incredible organized and ready for your master cooking skills.
