How to Organize Corner Cabinets

Organizing corner cabinets can be REALLY hard.  They are often awkward but do have good storage space.  In this post, I share some of the ways I organized mine an how a simple $15 changed how much easier it was to use!

I actually originally wrote this post in 2013 — when the ideas in this course changed my life.

If you are looking to really use the tools at your disposal (and not spend a ton to organize the things you already have) this course is it! No more worry about where stuff is, how I’m going to fit the things I NEED into small spaces, and I spend LESS time cleaning.   You can even save 10% with code PC10.

So, back to 2013 and my awkward kitchen cabinet….

You know you all wanted to see it.

Admit it.

Hilary, with a cluttered cabinet?  The outrage.

SO, yesterday I decided to tackle this wonky cabinet we have by our oven (wonky bing a very technical term).  Here’s a “zoomed-out” picture to show you it’s in a “wonky” spot. I know you know what I mean.

Ok, so here’s our kitchen.  TO the left is our fridge, and to the right is the entry into the dining area (which we use as my blogging shrine…).  The cabinet in question is the one there on the right at the bottom.  Its door is open, it’s a tiny door and a big cabinet that extends back behind the stove.

Anyone else have a cabinet like this?

Also, it’s just half a shelf on the top.  I decided to keep my pans in here (keeping things by where you use them, aka, the stove).  I also have some extra #10 cans of wheat back there.  Is by your stove the best place to store wheat?

Maybe not, but honestly is Arizona the best place to store food?  Maybe not.

Gotta do what you can, right? 🙂

So, my problem was pans.  I was piling all my frying pans of random sizes all together.  You know, stacking them.   This was problematic in a few ways:

1.  It could scratch the non-stick coating, which is no bueno

2.  It was a PAIN in the pa-tootie when I wanted to get out any frying pan (and the largest is not the one I reach for most frequently).  I also had lids rolling all around in that place.

My slaves I mean, kids empty the dishwasher and sometimes just toss stuff in there. Because there wasn’t particularly a “system” it made it hard to be upset about things like that.

So, I took some organizing stuff I’d gleaned from the internets and came up with this:

First off, let me say that if I’d had this cabinet in California it would have be PACKED TOP to BOTTOM with stuff.  I would have been so grateful for this cabinet I would have worshipped it in a sad and pathetic way,

BUT this is Arizona and my kitchen is a lot bigger, and the sad truth is that in order to really organize this cabinet I couldn’t pack it top to bottom (and I have more convenient ways to store items now, like on the top of my cabinets.  I’m classy).

There’s definitely more room to put stuff in here, but it’s so awkward it’s difficult.  I certainly could add a few more food storage cans.

Oh, and don’t judge my cabinet paper or lack thereof.  I already spent 20 minutes explaining cabinet paper to my oldest.  It wasn’t pretty {btw, he was my partner in crime on this one.  I really like passing on my OCD, I mean showing my kids how to organize effectively}

So, back to the cabinet.  In it, we have:

1. 5 #10 cans (don’t have to be here, but it’s a good place to store cans, I may add a few more in the coming weeks)
2. 5 frying pans
3. 2 smaller pots, one larger pot.
4. Lids (one of our lids fell victim to our tile floor, so I got a giant multi-purpose lid that is extra annoying, but also super handy)
5. An extra set of stainless steel bowls that I rarely use, but I can’t part with for some sad reason.
6. A cast iron pot (my mom gave me this, it was theirs when I was growing up, I love it!)
7. A smaller grill pan.
8. A splatter screen (one of my favorite things to help keep my stove clean when I’m making a tomato-y sauce)

Again, there is PLENTY of room for all this stuff but with the whole small door and the wonky space behind the stove I grumbled each and EVERY time I got something out of it.
What I did:

1.  Removed everything from the cabinet.

2.  Cleaned out the whole cabinet with an antibacterial wipe (actually, Conner did this).  If you’re cleaning out, you might as well CLEAN out.

3.  Shoved the wheat to the back corner again.  I think nothing is actually in the MOST difficult corner to get to (the one right next to the stove).  I then was able to shove the bowls on top of the wheat before the 2nd shelf.  You can kind of see that here.

3.  I then looked at our stuff and thought about how often we use any of it.  The red pan probably gets used least (but still probably every other week).  SO I put it next.BTW, this whole system is from my 5-word Organization Challenge — it’s totally free, and it’s going to change how you see organizing:

My mind wandered.  I just hated all those lids and I knew the budget for my little cabinet remodel was tiny.  I was going to use my dish drainer as a lid organizer, but then I saw to replace it would be like 20 bucks (I have a small one in my sink that is crazy handy, but expensive).

So, I went to Walmart on my way home and found something like this (I love that one is adjustable).  My problem is that I needed it to be small enough to fit between the wall of the cabinet and before that 2nd shelf, so mine only has room for like 4 lids.  I wish it held more, but life goes on, right?

I brought it home and {angels singing} it worked!  No more rolling lids and I had a system that my kids could understand and follow (as well as kids follow a system).

BTW, looking to have kids help out more — this course is AMAZING!!!!

At this point, I had the pots on the bottom and all of my pans stacked on the shelf above and I still hated having to pull all those pans out to get my tiny little frying pan to do an egg in the morning.  So I dabbled in our friend the internet and found this little diddy.

It’s made by Rubbermaid, you can get it on Amazon.  It’s REALLY Sturdy and the “racks” are really well coated so the constant pulling and pushing in of pans aren’t going to wear it down to the metal, or at least I think so.

The sad news, is that our shelves are just under 12 inches so it just slides into the bottom part of the cabinet (good news is that it’s wedged in there, so I’m not worried about it tipping), and nothing can fit on top, but I am LOVING how easy it is to pull pans out.

The other sad news, is that the bottom rack isn’t large enough for our largest frying pan.  So I had to figure out a home for it elsewhere, but that gave us an extra spot for the griddle pan.  Horray!

Also, there’s room enough on that shelf that if I got one more smaller frying pan it could fit on top of that if need be, but that brings me back to the whole scratching your nonstick coating business.  Blech…

So I came up with the option of putting the larger frying an on top of the red one.  It literally fits nowhere in any other cabinet, I tried.  That sucker is BIG (but great for large stove-top meals, I really like it — I got it Costco).

Then, the small pots can stack next to it (with lids, that frees up some room in my lid organizer — think the kids will remember to keep them together) and my most-used pot next to them (its lid is the one that shattered, so I wish it had a lid to go with it, but it doesn’t).  If anyone has a brighter idea for this large pan, please share.  I’m mulling over putting it under the stove, but that brings me back to the whole “no stacking” thing, and this way is probably more convenient, but time will tell.

Ta-da! 

via GIPHY

It’s my useable cabinet.  I’m hoping it stays as useable.  I’m on the lookout for other stuff that could go at the back.  I actually also bought some new Melamine bowls at Costco (they’re on the coupon and super cute and they seem sturdy, I think my tile as eaten 3 bowls since we moved here) so I re-arranged my top shelves to fit those in too.

There are a lot of really great pull-out lid and pan organizers out there.  I lusted after those, but I knew in buying one of those I was relegating the rest of the cabinet to things I would NEVER use, and that’s just not how I roll.  I think this is doable.

Total Budget about 15 bucks with tax.

So, do you have a wonky cabinet?  How do you organize it?  Inquiring minds….

If you’re interested in smart ideas on how to organize stuff that stumps you, you’ll love the Organized Home.

• Spend less time cleaning
• No more dagger to the heart when you have unexpected guests
• No more lost important stuff — you’ll know right where the important stuff is!

You can even get 10% off with code PC10.  You can even get it bundled with Family Routines for a dynamic duo to get your whole house (including the people) in order.

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