Organizing your kitchen can be an exciting & overwhelming event. Figuring out the best place to put each item will end up saving you a ton of time and effort as you move forward.

My Story of Overwhelm:
In 2011 I moved from a 1,100 square foot house in California into a 2,300 square foot house in Arizona. I was in absolutely BLISS over my new kitchen.
However, in looking for kitchen organization, I mostly just found information on baskets and bins (which we couldn’t afford after the move).
I did find a few gems, and I have started to make my own list as we’ve been here. Anything I wish I had done differently (or things I later thought were super smart) I’m excited to share them with you! Having an organized kitchen makes meal prep about 10 thousand times easier! 🙂
I DID also talk about this whole topic in Episode 004 of my podcast, in case you’d like to listen-in:
Organize Your Kitchen
Define The Kitchen Territories
Now, this didn’t matter as much when we had such a tiny kitchen in California. There wasn’t much territory to split up, but now that I have a larger kitchen with a circular flow around an island I needed to sort of split the kitchen into specific areas.
A note on small kitchens: I think zoning can help in ANY room regardless of the size. While “zoning” happens somewhat naturally (we put all the silverware in the same drawer) sometimes being a little more intentional with your thoughts about what is going where can help a lot.
I knew I needed:
- a baking area (as I make bread & cookies a lot)
- an oven use area
- and a dishes area.
{btw, don’t worry if these “zones” don’t fit you — I’ve got an awesome tip coming to find out what YOUR zones should be}
I find that I often just need some IDEAS to get started.
If you’re looking for ideas, your first step is to join The Organized Home. It has ideas of systems that WORK for every room in your home, plus encouragement on how to best get started. For just a few dollars join thousands of other as they go through the basic steps to make any room more functional and easy to manage.
Step 1: Create a Baking Area
This is where you put your baking goods (obviously). I have a whole cupboard with flour, sugar, etc. Plus, all my baking powder, oil, chocolate chips are also around there. The majority of baking can happen in just that corner. Things that are great to keep in this area:
- Staples
- Your Mixer (both stand &/or hand)
- Measuring Cups/spoons.
Of course, things you don’t reach for often will be in another spot. This area should be available for the things accessed most frequently.
These are my favorite containers to keep staples in smaller areas (because you can buy them nice & tall — which helps with vertical organization).
Step 2: Create a Dishes Area
One thing that has saved me a world of hurt is putting the dishes cabinet close to the dishwasher. It is SO much easier to load.
In my mind, I think I would have used one of the larger cabinets for this, which would have been a BIG mistake. I felt like the tiny cabinet that we had wouldn’t hold them all, but with some creative plate racks, it has totally worked! Also, the silverware is just behind it. This was super smart of me! #momwin
Creative use of dish space is a TOTAL MUST. Check out my before & After….
A few things that helped me to use a small cabinet for our main dishes:
- Plate racks — make it SO much easier than stacking on top of each other — especially for kids, who have a hard time taking out a huge stack of dishes.
- Corelle dishes are so thin (also helps in the dishwasher)
- Paring down our vast mug collection (my husband was a teacher and he always got tons of mugs)
Decluttering is one of the MOST important things you can do, don’t worry — I have some GOOD decluttering tips for your whole house coming up!
Step 3: Organize Your Cooking Area
This is an area for larger dishes that you use in the oven, and then platters to put things fresh out of the oven on. All of our Pyrex bakeware is in there.
The cake pans and cookie sheets are below the oven (just because it’s a great place to store them).
My spices are also there — makes them easy to get when stirring stuff on the stove.
I have a little container (like this one) that keeps all my often-used spatulas and whisks close at hand, then the rest of those items are in a drawer just to the side of the stove. I think it’s super handy to have that as I cook.
I also have the most INSANE cupboard to the right of my stove. That’s right in a corner and SO deep (which I talk about in this post on awkward corner cupboards).
Oh man SO many kitchens have awkward (but useful) storage space — so HOW do you make it work, right? Don’t worry… I have the key.
A little organization in the kitchen goes a long way. It will save you steps when you’re cooking dinner as well as brainpower when things are just within arm’s reach.
>>Not sure where to start?
I know this feeling SO well!
A lot of people just have no idea where to start organizing. But, here’s my truth bomb.
TRUTH BOMB: It really doesn’t matter where you start (literally, like — there’s no WRONG place to get going) — that’s an excuse your brain is making to not get started.
The more I saw that people couldn’t get started, I knew I could help. I know I needed to support you (and your brain) on your road to organizing your home.
The Organized Home is here to help!
I know that feeling SO well. My brain often says “let’s just burn this down!” when I look at what I need to accomplish, but the class helps you stay on track by:
- Ideas on categorizing your rooms into “zones”
- Helpful tips on decluttering, to help you let go of unnecessary items
- Monthly and weekly challenges & printables, plus assignments to get you past the motivation bump and get going.
The good news is that organizing is addicting. Once you realize how much easier you’ve made one part of your house, it’s a lot easier to skip Netflix for an hour and do something productive (and then enjoy some Netflix).
Organizing your house won’t overwhelm you with this course. We’re going to take bite sizes together, and really make a difference in your home.
Don’t let that overwhelmed feeling stop you — let’s do it together.
Not sure you’re quite ready for the full course. Come join me in the totally free 5-word organization challenge!
Eugenia R says
As I read your tips for organizing the kitchen, I realized that my small galley type kitchen is also divided into zones too. Breakfast products are together, baking and cooking products combined in another cupboard, utensils in drawer close to stove, etc. I just reorganized the cupboards today and so feeling fairly pleased with myself for being so inspired by the Getting Organized HQ sessions I watched all last week. Baby steps as they say! Thanks for sharing your tips and suggestions for an organized kitchen.
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Hilary Erickson says
I think it’s actually, mentally, an easy way to do it — but sometimes our minds get cluttered with great organization ideas…. we get confused. 🙂
Asha Nikte says
If you don’t have organiser you can keep dishes one upon another by keeping either tissue paper of bubble plastic in between 2 dishes or bowls saucers
Gale says
Helpful article! I don’t Intend this to sound negative, because I recently looked this up as my drawer gets so hot. Did you know that the bottom drawer isn’t intended as storage in most stoves? You need to check your owners manual. In my gas oven it’s a broiler and gets super hot during baking. In many others it’s intended as a warming drawer. If you have a model that is a storage drawer, the heat still isn’t good for spices, and nothing flammable should be stored there. Fires have been started by storing stuff in drawers. All these years I thought it was just for pans, but no. Thanks for the organizational tools.
Hilary Erickson says
I store only baking pans in mine, mostly cookie sheets…. but I agree, totally not great for spices!
Joy says
Should glasses be stored upright or bottos up? I store mine bottoms up while my cousin stores her upright. It drives me crazy. Id really appreciate another opinion.
Pulling Curls says
I think this is a personal preference for everyone. I just recommend making sure cups are completely dry if you choose to store them top down so moisture isn’t trapped inside.
Mia says
I don’t like the smell that comes from the shelves (no matter HOW CLEAN the shelf is) when glasses are stored bottoms up. It TOTALLY turns me off to drink out of them..! When I grab a glass, I handle it around the outside, so no fingers in the glass..! .
Hilary Erickson says
Interesting!
Mary Aubuchon says
Would love to learn how to organize my home
Pulling Curls says
So glad you’re here!
Emily says
Would anyone be bold enough to post a photo of the inside of the cabinets? A picture of the kitchen with the cabinets open for a visual reference/idea? I moved from a smaller kitchen to a larger one and feel like a chicken running all the time from one end to the other with things.. Thanks for any help!
Hilary Erickson says
I have some real life pictures in here, but I also have a LOT more in my course The Organized Home: https://www.pullingcurls.com/organized-home-course/
Jane Teasly says
Great post! I think I do good in step 1. My baking area is usually tidy. But, I do not do good at steps 2 and 3. I am so cluttery in fact that my husband told me I am not allowed to start cabinet painting until I declutter. I am excited to try some plate racks. I will have to choose some mugs and large dishpans to give away or throw out. I know for sure I have 2 dish pans that are as old as my mother and I probably shouldn’t still have them. Thanks for the tips and tricks.
Pulling Curls says
Thanks so much. I do think getting rid of things and minimizing what we have really does help a lot. Best of luck on the cabinet painting.
Shelby says
These kitchen organization tips are super helpful, this will help a lot after our tile cleaning this week. I can’t thank you enough!
Pulling Curls says
I’m so glad you found it helpful!
Cheryle says
We recently had a cabinet refinishing job done for our kitchen cabinets, they look gorgeous now but I realized how badly organized they are! Thank you for sharing, I forgot about zones and I’m excited to put that into practice!
Pulling Curls says
I’m so glad that you’re excited to put zones into practice. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Ginger says
What works for one, doesn’t work for all. FYI. Don’t everyone get your hopes up.
Pulling Curls says
I definitely agree that what works for one person doesn’t work for everyone. I do believe the tips I share in this post are ones people can easily customize for what works for them 🙂