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When I revealed the kitchen last month, I received a lot of inquiries about how we organized all of our kitchen stuff in the cabinets and drawers. I kinda thought it would be a boring topic to show you where we keep things – “Here are our oven mitts. Here are our spatulas…” – but as I started putting this post together, I realized that there is actually a lot to share on the topic. Who knew?!
Our new kitchen comes with a hell of a lot more space. Not that our old kitchen was small – it was the biggest kitchen we’ve ever had – but this new one has so much storage with the addition of the bar area and built-in dining bench. Plus, because we designed the entire space with all of our kitchen gear in mind, we’re able to utilize every nook and cranny so much better.
Before I show you inside each cabinet and drawer, let’s discuss my best tips to organize kitchen cabinets and drawers.
Tips to Organize Kitchen Cabinets & Drawers
- Purge: When we packed up our kitchen before demo began, we got rid of a lot of stuff like old kitchen towels, chipped plates, random gadgets that we never ever use. I thought to myself, ” If we have no intention of using this thing in the new kitchen, why should we store it?” We probably got rid of three to four boxes of stuff and it felt amazing.
- Replace: As we got rid of items that were damaged or broken, we made a list of new items to buy that we would eventually need.
- Think Through Your Daily Routine: When it came time to move back into the kitchen, we talked through every single drawer and cabinet and really thought through our daily routine. (Here are a couple examples…. “If we have our coffee maker here, then we want the cups nearby. Let’s put the spatulas to the right of the stove so we can easily grab them when cooking.” I was so incredibly eager to just put everything away and have a functioning kitchen again, but I’m grateful that Finn forced us to stop and think before we just placed items willy nilly.
- Consider Dishwasher Placement: Another thing to consider is how you’ll unload the dishwasher. I wanted the silverware, cups, and dishes to be close to the dishwasher so emptying it would be a breeze.
- Purge More: Once it was time to move into the kitchen, we purged even more as we put items away. Nothing was gaining entry to our fabulous new space unless it was something we really used and loved.
- Round Out Sets: All of our dishes and glassware are from our wedding shower, eight years ago, and we still love them all. However, we’ve broken a plate or glass here and there, and it was time for us to round out our sets of items. We like to have eight place settings on hand, so we purchased enough to make complete sets again.
- Use Bins/Baskets When Necessary: As you’ll soon see, we don’t use tons of “organizational tools” throughout the kitchen unless they are really necessary. Sometimes people go out and buy cute baskets and bins, immediately, before really making a plan. We like to use them to corral smaller items but we didn’t buy something unless it was really needed. By waiting until we were ready to put things away, we were able to measure and buy the exact item for our particular space.
A Look Inside Every Spot in Our Kitchen
Okay, so let’s get to it because there are a lot of spaces to share. You’ll notice that we have quite a few empty spaces and empty shelves. I love it! Just because you have room doesn’t mean you need to fill it. It’s nice knowing that we have room to grow if we need it, but I don’t foresee that happening any time soon. We have everything we need, and more, already here.
Fridge Wall
Let’s start with all of the cabinets and drawers on the fridge wall. 
Above the fridge, we have our KitchenAid Mixer and vases. 
I’ve already gone on and on about our love for our new appliance garage. We can easily hide our coffeemaker and Rory’s bottle maker. I love having these bulky appliances hidden away. We originally had our Alexa in here but had some trouble hearing her. We still plug the device into the back of the appliance garage, but we took the cord under the cabinet so the Alexa can sit on the countertop. 
Above the appliance garage, we have all of our mugs, to-go coffee cups, coffee, hot chocolate, marshmallows, etc. It’s our little beverage station. 
I keep our Nespresso pods in this clear box with a hinge for easy access.
Below the countertop, we have four small drawers. The top holds foil, parchment paper, and plastic wrap.
The next drawer holds plastic baggies of various sizes. Then, we have these small glass jars for Rory’s baby food. We originally had these with our Tupperware, but it got a little chaotic. Having these in their own spot makes sense, plus they even come with a marker so you can write the date on the top of the jar. 
The bottom drawer holds kitchen towels and washcloths.
The Corner Cabinets
Corner cabinets are difficult to keep organized, but they do offer a lot of room. We decided to place three shelves in the top corner cabinet where we could fit large items that we don’t use regularly. In here we have baking dishes, strainers, and other large items. 
Below, we have a lazy Susan in the corner. This holds our mixing bowls, bread basket, salad bowl, and more. 
We can easily turn the lazy Susan to access everything in this deep corner cabinet.
The Wall Left of the Hood
Okay, onto the main wall in the kitchen where a majority of our items are kept. 
This slim cabinet holds all of Rory’s bottle supplies. This is close to her bottle maker machine, so it’s nice to have everything within arm’s reach. 
If you’re familiar with Dr. Brown’s bottles then you know they come with 5 million parts. We use these little bins to keep them all organized so we can make bottles quickly.
Next to that cabinet, we have our cups. 
We have all of our wine glasses, champagne flutes, and other drinking essentials in the bar area so this is just for regular ol’ glassware. 
Below, we have six drawers that hold lots of goodies. Here are the left three drawers. 
From top to bottom, they hold random utensils, our glass Tupperware, and then our Tupperware lids. I know Tupperware can get out of control quickly. We like separating lids and tops so you can easily stack the glass. 
The top drawer on the right holds our silverware in a built-in two-tiered tray. This was an upgrade to our kitchen cabinets and I’m so happy we went for it when we ordered our kitchen cabinets. On the top tray, we have all of our everyday silverware. 
Below, we have utensils that we don’t use quite as often like chopsticks, a cheese knife, and serving spoons. 
The next drawer has pots and the bottom drawer has extra lids.
Underneath the Hood
We added two slim pull-outs to the left and right of the stovetop when we ordered our kitchen cabinets. The one on the left holds our baking sheets and a cooling rack. The one on the right holds our utensils, oils, and a few more spices. 
I’m so happy we ended up going with the hidden utensil pull-out. It’s really easy to grab what we need and everything is hidden and not cluttering the countertops. 
Underneath the stovetop, we have a deep drawer with our pots and pans. 
The top drawer is u-shaped because it couldn’t be a full drawer due to the depth of the stovetop and gas lines on the back of the wall. There is room to store some items, but for now, it’s empty.
The Wall Right of the Hood
Up top, we have all of our dishes. As I mentioned, we got all of our dishes when we first got married (the Hue collection from Crate and Barrel) and they’re still going strong. 
Beneath, we have the crazy cabinet situation. If you remember from this blog post, we have a basement door behind this cabinet and we needed to have shallow cabinets to leave enough headroom in the doorway (I know, hard to visualize. Go to this blog post to see what I’m talking about.) We were pleasantly surprised to find that we have so much room here. We ended up with three nice shelves to hold all of our baking supplies.
The Oven Area
Over the oven, we keep large appliances like our toaster and blender. 
Underneath, we have a drawer with a pizza stone, muffin tin, and extra baking sheets. 
Above the pantry, we have really deep shelves. Right now this area holds Rory’s feeding essentials – bibs, snacks, bowls, etc.
And as you saw from this blog post, below is our our pantry! You can read all about organizing it here.
The Kitchen Island
Underneath our butcher block, we have two big drawers that hold lots of essentials. 
The top drawer mainly holds knives in this organized knife block. 
The second drawer has all of Finn’s spices. He ended up buying a few sets from The Spice House and they’re the most gorgeous little bottles that you ever did see! He keeps everything in place using this ten foot roll of drawer liner and it works really well to keep the bottles from moving all over. 
We ended up gifting a lot of spice sets to family and friends for the holidays and we have loved using these when cooking. And when I say “we”, I really mean Finn. 
Under the kitchen sink, we have sponges, countertop cleaner, dish pods, a fire extinguisher, and more. 
Finally, we have a small drawer with oven mitts, remote controls, and wine gadgets. Below that is our trash and recycling bins.
The Bar Area
Onto the other side of the room…
The glass cabinets hold all of our “pretty” stuff. We have wine glasses, champagne flutes, a punch bowl, and other pretty glassware on the left. Then, all of our white servingware and entertainment supplies live on the right side. 
Beneath that we have candles, serving platters, and extra entertaining supplies. 
This cabinet has Rory’s high chair that clips onto the kitchen island. We mainly use her floor high chair for eating, but if we’re cooking and want her to be a part of the action, we can clip this on and she can sit and see everything. The basket holds extra supplies for our robot vacuum in the living room. The cabinet to the left of this one is completely empty. 
As for the drawers, this one is our “junk drawer”. Honestly, it’s still looking pretty good! Not too much junk happening quite yet. 
Then we have our charging drawer. You can read all about it in this blog post.
The Dining Area
I’m so happy that we added four large drawers to the dining room area for extra storage. However, three of the four are completely empty! Perhaps someday we will need to fill them, but for now, it’s nice knowing we have extra space. 
Only one holds placemats, cloth napkins, and aprons.
Kitchen Resources – Fave Organizational Supplies
Wow, that was a lot of peeking inside our drawers. We have nothing left to hide in here! If you’re looking for sources for the kitchen, please head to this blog post. It has everything!
As for organizational supplies I showed today, here are some of my faves…
I hope you guys enjoyed this look into how we organize kitchen cabinets and drawers. I urge you to purge, come up with a system that works for you, and revitalize your space. I’m telling ya, nothing feels better than having a kitchen with a home for everything.
Casey
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