If you’ve got a serious storage problem in your kitchen and can’t seem to find anything, then it may help you to think about kitchen cabinet reorganization. By organizing your cupboards in a certain way, you’ll not only see that you can easily lay your hands on equipment or utensils whenever you need them, but you’ll also free up some of that much-needed storage space. The trouble is, where do you start? Let’s take a look…

Take Everything Out

Before you can put everything in its place, you have to make a mess—that means taking everything out of your cabinets and laying it out, either on the kitchen table or floor. Try not to be overwhelmed by the vast amount of “stuff” you’ve collected, as it will all soon disappear again when we perform the next steps.

Get Ruthless

Now that you can see the full extent of your kitchen laid out before you, it pays at this stage to be ruthless. Many of us are guilty of keeping kitchen paraphernalia that we simply don’t need or is non-functioning or broken in the hope that we’ll repair it when we get around to it. Rusty pans, cracked pots and broken utensils are just some of the items you may want to liberate from the depths of your kitchen drawers and instead throw them out. Also, if you find anything  you no longer use, how about donating to a friend, family member or charity store? Remember: The more ruthless you are, the more space you’ll have in your kitchen cabinetry.

Arrange Into Type and Usage

Once you’re clear that everything you have left you both need and indeed use, then it’s time to start arranging these items into type and use. For instance, you may want to think about putting plates and dishes close to the dishwasher and glassware close to the kitchen sink so people can easily get a drink. Pots and pans can go in larger bottom cabinets and cups should be positioned near to the coffee pot. Items that you don’t use every day, such as crockery that’s only used for special occasions, should be put out of the way, normally in top cabinets.

Organize Your Drawers

If you have lots of little kitchen utensils, then it may pay to invest in drawer organizers. They’re relatively cheap and are a great way to organize your drawers. They can be found in any  department store and are great for keeping things like bottle openers, pizza cutters, ice cream scoops and much more organized. Dry food stuffs such as flour, sugar, pasta and cereals will benefit from being stored in canisters rather than in packets in your pantry cabinets, as this makes it easier to locate them. In addition, they will keep your food fresher for longer.

If you follow these steps, you’ll have a kitchen that’s not only well-organized and clutter-free, but easy to use. In fact, once you have your kitchen this way, you’ll never want to go back to how it was before.