How to Organize Your Kitchen Cupboards + Free Printable

Organizing your kitchen cupboards is key to keeping your kitchen clean and organized.  Learn how to organize kitchen cabinets in this post.

Clean and organized kitchen cupboards are something that can be hard to maintain.  Having organized kitchen cabinets can be achieved by setting up a system that works for you.  In this post, I’m sharing 5 simple tips that will help you organize your kitchen cabinets without feeling overwhelmed.

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Organizing kitchen cupboards don’t have to be a project that takes a weekend or more. You can get this done in a matter of an hour or two. I’ve created a free clean and organized kitchen cabinet checklist to help you with this project.  This checklist does give you a few other tips to help you keep and maintain a clean and organized kitchen.

Spring cleaning, deep cleaning, or cleaning, in general, can become a pain in the butt if everything is done at the last minute. The best place to start the cleaning and organizing is the kitchen. Organizing the kitchen cupboards do not have to be hard to do. Follow the steps below and get the most organized kitchen cupboards you have had in your life.

How to organize a small kitchen

The kitchen organizing cupboards tips I’m going to go through below are the same for any size kitchen you have.  I have a small kitchen with not a lot of extra storage so I’ve had to be creative with some of the organizing projects I’ve done.

Kitchen organization tips

To start the kitchen cupboard organizing process, take everything out of the cupboards completely. This is the easiest way to make sure that you have everything that you will be going through taken out of the cupboards. If you have kitchen cabinet organizers you’ll want to make sure you remove those too.

Make sure that you keep like items grouped together.  This will help you later on when you are putting things back.  For example, keeping all of the eating dishes together and the plastic containers together.  This will save you time later on.

How to organize kitchen cabinets and drawers?

Clean cabinets

This is an important step.  I like to use a food-safe all-purpose cleaner for this step.  You’ll be cleaning surfaces that you’ll be using to eat with. Clean the cabinet surfaces, drawers, and shelves removing dust, debris, and caked-on food.

If you have wood kitchen cabinets, they can sometimes hide some grease stains and fingerprints, make sure you clean the wood cabinets really well.  For some of the stubborn stains, I’ll use a damp cloth with some warm water and soap to help release those grease spots, pasta sauce, etc.

Cleaning all of the cupboards and drawers will help keep your kitchen smelling fresh and clean giving you a little bit of extra motivation to move on to the next step.

Go through all of the items

Now that you have wiped down the counters you are ready to start sorting your items. Take a look at the expiration and best-used-by dates on boxes, packages, and canned food items. These are important.

If you notice something is due to expire within a few months then make sure they make their way to the front of the pile so you can use this first.  Toss any food that has expired or is something that you and your family just won’t eat.

Go through all of the other items like utensils, mixing bowls, and cutting boards toss any items that might be broken or that just is never used.  Doing this step will help you help you control the clutter in your kitchen.

Take inventory

This is the perfect opportunity to take note of what you have.  Sometimes we don’t see what we are running out of when things are in the cupboards.  Make a list of pantry items that you’re running low on like vanilla extra, brown sugar, etc.

If you tossed items that were worn out or broken that you need to replace, add those items to the list.  There’s nothing worse than not having the tools on hand that you normally use to prepare meals.

How do I organize my kitchen storage?

Organizing your kitchen cupboard storage can be tricky however I have a few tips to help you with this process.  You’ll want to put things back in a cohesive way. What I mean by that is you want your kitchen to flow so you can easily find things and put things away.

Keep items close to where you’ll need them

Keeping the dishes close to the sink and dishwasher will help save time when you’re doing the dishes.  Keeping the cooking utensils next to the stove will cut down on prepping and cooking time. When your tools and items are close to where you need them you’ll stay organized and save time in the kitchen.

You’ll also want to store items together.  So storing your eating dishes together, serving pieces together, etc. will make your kitchen make sense when organizing it.

Create simple labels for your kitchen cabinets

I love having my selves labeled this help keep your kitchen cupboards organized.  The labels help as a guide for your family to keep your cabinets organized by showing them what belongs on each self and/or cabinet.

How can I organize my small kitchen without a pantry?

To organize a small kitchen without a pantry there are a few different things you can do.

• Purchase a pantry cabinet to store extra food in.
• Designate a cabinet in your kitchen as the pantry.
• Use a different area of the home like we do (the garage).

What should I keep on my kitchen counters?

The best things to keep on your kitchen counters are big appliances you and your family uses often. If you use your blender (like we do) each morning keep that out. It’s easier than putting it in a cupboard or cabinet after each use.

Other things you can store on your kitchen counters are:

• Fruit and veggies that should be stored at room temperature
• Hand/dish soap, scrubbers, etc in a nice holder (this is what we have on our counter).
• Knife block
• Stand Mixer
• Kitchen scraps bin

To take your kitchen cupboards organization to the next level you can download the free organized kitchen checklist to help you create the organized kitchen you’ve always wanted.

I want to thank you so much for stopping by.  I hope that this post has inspired you to get into your kitchen and start cleaning and organizing your kitchen cupboards.  I’d love to know in the comments below, what is something that you’re going to do today to help organize your kitchen?