1. CONDUCT AN AUDIT
First thing first when attempting to organize your kitchen cabinets - take everything out of the cabinets and conduct an audit of what you already have. Throw away any expired foods, give your cabinets interiors a real thorough clean, and any food that you have in date, question whether you really need or use it, and if not, give it away to a worthy organization like a food bank.
2. USE HIGHER CABINETS FOR FOOD
Make sure you keep your food in the upper hung kitchen cabinets. Things like canned goods, snacks, boxed dry food, and cereals can sit in an upper cabinet without going out of date quickly, and typically have unsightly packaging that you might not want on display. Put your high-use ingredients in easy-to-reach places and group them together in categories - one for baking, one for canned goods.
3. KEEP HEAVY OBJECTS IN LOW CABINETS
Reserve space in your lower cabinets for appliances, plates and cookware. A separate space for heavier appliances closer to the ground makes things easier to find when you're cooking and means you don't have to bend down every time you're looking for ingredients.
4. THINK TACTICALLY ABOUT YOUR KITCHEN ORGANIZATION
You also might want heavier items on a lower shelf of an upper cabinet - closer to the ground so you don't have to do heavy lifting to reach for the bottle of oil. If you don't use it, keep it in a harder-to-reach place - it doesn't deserve prime real estate.
5. DON'T OVERSTUFF YOUR CUPBOARDS
Overstuffing is a recipe for disaster - and one of the cardinal sins of pantry organization. Not only will this lead to more chaos in the cupboards but an overstuffed cupboard can be visually and aesthetically stressful. You don't want to come back from a day at the office to have all your jars falling on you, so keep things simple and be realistic and ruthless about what you need and don't need.
6. USE CABINET ORGANIZERS
Use cabinet organizers to maximize the space - a helpful tip for small kitchens. Keep things tidy with drawer dividers, labels, and food storage containers. These don't have to be unsightly either, Kilner jars can look neat and give a rustic kitchen vibe when filled with grains, rice, and cereals. Shelf risers are another good addition to your kitchen cabinet - keeping the item higher at the back so you can see clearly what you have and don't have.
7. CONSIDER WHAT TO KEEP NEAR THE DISHWASHER
Another kitchen idea is to really think about what is kept near the dishwasher or kitchen sink. Place your cabinets filled with plates and bowls so that they are easy to reach and easy to put away after washing up. Glasses should be kept at eye level and are close enough to the tap so you can quickly grab a glass of cold water from the tap.
8. KEEP OPEN SHELVING LOOKING BEAUTIFUL
More and more kitchens are getting rid of upper cabinets - giving a cleaner aesthetic and helping a small kitchen look bigger. Instead, people are opting for open kitchen shelving, giving you an opportunity to display wall art, beautiful pots or an array chopping boards - shelving provides an opportunity to be decorative in the kitchen.
9. ADD LABELING TO A PANTRY
Consider doing away with mix-and-match lower and upper cabinets and invest in a full pantry instead. 'People get so much pleasure from seeing a well-kept pantry,' says Helen Parker of deVOL. 'The joy of opening up a tall cupboard and seeing rows of neatly arranged spices and expertly labeled well-stocked jars in beautifully made racks and trays is a pleasure.