Photo credit: Jason Leung

Spring is almost here. This is when we open the windows to let in the warm, fresh air and begin to de-winterize our homes. This is also when we discover that our home is cluttered and dusty and very inefficient. Before you start throwing things from your pantry or cabinets in the dumpster, let’s see if we can find ways to declutter and ensure that this bad habit will not repeat itself.

What the pros say

We didn’t just come up with these great ideas on our own. We spoke to professional organizers. We spoke to professional cabinet builders to see if it is possible to get the desired kitchen and bathroom cabinets we want in our homes. We were told that quality cabinets are available in many organized designs. There are accessories available to help you get your cabinets in order.  Our pro-organizers gave us some tips that will help you.

Kitchen cabinets and pantry

The first thing you should add to your lower cabinets is corkboard or hooks on the inside door of the cabinet. This gives you a handy place to hang serving spoons, dish clothes, measuring cups, pizza cutters, and hundreds of other things that we are always searching for.

Tip: place a hook inside the cabinet on the side to hang your cloth grocery bags. Use one to hold them and fill it up with the others.

Use wire racks to give you more space in your kitchen cabinets. 12-inch wire shelves give you twice the space for things like cups and dinner plates. Wire bins are another good idea. Instead of stacking your cans, place them horizontally in your cabinet or pantry. These bins look very much like the soda can holders in your refrigerator. You can see where everything is, and there is no need to dig around or move things to get to them, just slide the bin forward and remove the can, then slide it back.

Inside the door of your pantry, hang a wire wrap holder. This allows you to place your foil, wax paper, plastic wrap and sandwich bags within easy access and out of the kitchen drawers.

Clear jars

Stock up on tall, clear, (plastic) jars, with lids. Empty chips, pretzels, cookies, crackers, and other snacks in them. You can throw away the oversized bags and boxes. The opened snacks stay fresh and you can fit all of the snacks in a small area of a cabinet.

Photo credit: Jodie Morgan

Spices

You can add a wire spice holder on the inside of the pantry door, or you can place them on a Lazy Susan so you can find them quickly. But before you do, go through them. Check the dates on the spices, how many spices have you duplicated? Throw out the expired spices and give away the extras. This means you begin with fresh spices that you can find.

Lids, Cookie Sheets, Skillets

Hang an adjustable cookware rack inside a lower cabinet. This will hold lids, cookie sheets, skillets, and cutting boards easily and vertically. It gets them out of your way and allows more space for larger pots and cookware.

Photo credit: Jerek Ceborski

Drawer dividers

You should have adjustable drawer dividers in every drawer in the kitchen and bathroom to keeps things organized. In the kitchen, create one square large enough for the largest plastic lid. Stack the lids in that square from the largest to the smallest.

Organize a few shelves in the pantry with easy to pull out baskets. Put a label on the front of each one and organize by what they are for. For example, one can read “Barbeque” this is where you will find your BBQ spatula, brush, tongs, and thermometer. Tag another “Christmas Baking” where you will place cookie cutters, candy molds, and icing tools.

Final thoughts

By now you have the idea. Whether you’re renting a condo in affordable Athens, Georgia or remodeling your first home, you can use these principles to organize any cabinet, closet, and storage area in your home. When you are ready to replace the cabinets, speak to your cabinet professional about having these things built into the cabinet design. Until then, use your imagination and you will be surprised at how much room you can discover.