Kitchen Cabinet & Drawer Organization

Kitchen cabinet and drawer organization makes all the difference in functionality and peace of mind. It’s also nice when you know exactly where your kitchen gadgets are.

When everything has it’s place and the layout makes sense, you’ll find yourself stressing less and focusing your attention to more important things in life.

Keeping Cabinets & Drawers Clean

I always try to line my shelves with a plastic liner.

Before organizing your kitchen cabinets and drawers, take a moment to cover them with a plastic liner. This not only protects them from being damaged, but it also makes it easier for you to clean them later on!

I use the EasyLiner brand from Walmart because it’s thicker than normal contact paper and doesn’t have a sticky side. I’ve tried using sticky contact paper, but it’s really hard to position the paper correctly without bubbles.

Kitchen Cabinets & Vertical Space

organized kitchen cabinet — This bamboo tier allows me to see items stacked in the back of the shelf.

Kitchen cabinets waste a ton of vertical space. In my previous pantry organization post (click here), I touched on taking advantage of vertical space. The concept is very similar for cabinets.

In addition to using Lazy Susans and hanging baskets, I also LOVE using spice tiers. These nifty tiers aren’t just for spices. I use them for organizing other things like honey, vinegar, and oils. Click here for my favorite expandable bamboo spice tier from Walmart.

Another favorite item of mine is a stackable shelf insert. This is a great way to store bowls and plates on top of each other. I purchased this one from Walmart.

Organizing pots and pans

organized pots and pans in a kitchen cabinet

Since pots and pans can be heavy, I would advise you NOT to store them in an upper cabinet. It’s much safer to pull a heavy pan from a bottom cabinet.

Most people store pots and pans straight on top of each other. Consequently, this not only ruins their pots and pans, but it’s also extremely annoying to have to pull a pan from the bottom of the stack.

This issue can easily be solved with the help of a heavy duty pan organizer. I purchased my pan organizer at HomeGoods, but click here for a similar one I found on Amazon.

Along with a pan organizer, I also recommend purchasing a lid holder, which helps take advantage of your cabinet’s depth by neatly lining your lids in a row.

Baking Tray Organization

I purchased this baking tray holder from HomeGoods

Baking trays are awkward to store. If you stack them on top of each other, it’s difficult to get a tray that is in the middle of the stack. You also end up scratching your trays.

An easy solution is to purchase a baking tray holder, which keeps everything organized horizontally. You can slide the specific pan you need in and out without any hassle.

Under Sink Organization

organized under sink cleaning products — The slide out drawers and organizing caddy are from Aldi.

Everyone knows how tricky it is to organize your under sink area. The water pipes always seem to be smack dab in the middle.

My solution to this common problem is to purchase organizing drawers that slide out. This will allow you to take advantage of vertical space and the depth of your cabinet. I also found a pretty nifty cleaning supply caddy that fits perfectly underneath my pipes.

Organize Your Junk Drawer

organized kitchen junk drawer with dividers — These individual drawer organizers are from iDesign.

I’m pretty sure EVERYONE has a designated “junk drawer” in their home. It’s the place where everything you don’t know what to do with goes. Growing up, this drawer was always a disaster, so I made it a point for my junk drawer to be super organized.

I did this by first decluttering my drawer and tossing anything that wasn’t worth keeping. Next, I purchased different sized organizing containers to separate items by category. For example, one container might hold tea candles, while another holds emergency radios.

I randomly found these drawer organizers at my local hardware store, but I’ve also seen them at Walmart, Amazon, and HomeGoods. I suggest sticking to the same brand and collecting pieces over time so everything looks more cohesive.

The most Beautiful Spice Organizer

I LOVE cooking with different spices, but I HATE having to dig around my cabinets for the spices. I also hate buying spices, only to find out I already had a brand new one in the back of my dark cabinet.

When I moved into my new rental, I wanted to store my spices in a way that was practical, yet super pretty.

I ended up purchasing this expandable steel spice tray organizer from Amazon. I absolutely LOVE it! I can see all of my spices with a quick glance. There are also bamboo and plastic versions of these drawer organizers, just in case you don’t want to use steel.

Drawer Dividers are a must have

Without a solid drawer divider, everything inside your drawer ends up sliding all over the place. Drawer dividers are meant to keep everything where they’re supposed to be.

My favorite divider is this 2 pack from Walmart. It has a rubber piece at both ends, so it won’t scratch your drawers. Oh, and it’s expandable!

Organizing Cutlery and Utensils

drawer of utensils in an expandable organizer — Bamboo cutlery organizer from Walmart.

Along with using dividers to keep my kitchen drawers organized, I also use bamboo trays for my cutlery and utensils. These trays are specifically designed so the spacing between each section is perfect.

This expandable drawer organizer was from HomeGoods

If you don’t want to purchase a tray for your utensils and random kitchen gadgets, you can always use the drawer dividers mentioned in the previous section above.

I personally really like how these expandable bamboo organizing trays make my kitchen gadgets look. I think it’s so pretty and organized 😊.

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Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope this blog post on organizing kitchen cabinets and drawers gave you some ideas and inspiration for your own kitchen. If so, let me know in the comments below.