Kitchen
How to Organize Kitchen Cabinets (Step by Step)
A practical, cabinet-by-cabinet system — risers, pull-outs, lazy Susans, and dividers that make everything in your kitchen reachable.
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1. Empty one cabinet at a time
Don’t tear the whole kitchen apart at once. Work one cabinet at a time: pull everything out, wipe the shelf, and toss anything expired, chipped, or duplicated. Seeing a single cabinet empty tells you how much you actually need to store — and keeps the project from stalling halfway.
2. Group by how you cook
Store things where you use them: pots near the stove, baking gear near the counter you bake on, everyday dishes near the dishwasher. Group like with like — all the food storage containers together, all the bakeware together — so you’re never hunting across three cabinets for a lid.
3. Reclaim the vertical space
Most cabinets waste the air between shelves. A shelf riser doubles a shelf for plates and cans, and a pot-lid rack stands lids upright instead of letting them slide into a clatter. For the cabinet of tangled food-storage lids, a dedicated lid organizer is a five-minute fix that pays off every day.
4. Make the back of the cabinet reachable
Deep base cabinets swallow whatever’s in the back. A lazy Susan spins oils and sauces right to your hand, and a pull-out under-sink organizer turns the awkward cabinet around the pipes into usable, slide-out storage. If you only buy two things for your cabinets, make it these.
5. Sort the drawers
Drawers descend into chaos faster than anything. Drop in drawer organizers — an expandable tray for cutlery, tension dividers for deep drawers, and a small grippy tray for the junk drawer — and suddenly every utensil has a lane. It’s the single most satisfying part of the whole job.
6. Keep counters clear and label what hides
A clear counter makes the whole kitchen feel organized. Move daily-use items into easy cabinets and stash the rest with a quick label so everyone puts things back. A two-minute weekly reset keeps your newly organized cabinets that way for good.
Ready to shop the pieces? Start with my guides to the best drawer organizers, the best lazy Susans, and the best under-sink organizers — all real Amazon best-sellers.