With the advent of social media comes the idea of perfection and the striving to attain it in our daily lives. Open any popular app and you'll be inundated with sleek images and videos of tidy, glamorous kitchens and streamlined homes. It might seem like a big leap from your house to those of celebrities and influencers who have all the money in the world to create their dream living spaces and professional organizers at their disposal.
Luckily, it doesn't actually take a big budget—or a ton of time—to achieve the kitchen you desire. You can very easily consolidate your kitchen on the cheap with helpful tricks of the trade, thanks to a handful of professional organizers who share their tips for an orderly pantry and kitchen space.
Professional organizer and founder of B. Organized, Nicole Gabai, says that all of the aesthetic hacks on social media can be intimidating because they’re not exactly affordable. However, the overall secret to an organized kitchen comes down to a simple system that's easily achievable: zones.
Often, she says, we make the mistake of assigning equal importance to all objects in a room, but it’s best to prioritize the things you use the most. Your “zone one” items—the utensils or cookware you use most—should be pretty much at your fingertips, while the things you use less often can be in zones two or three, she explains. Zone three might be something like a sous vide machine you only use a couple of times a year that’s stashed in an upper cupboard requiring a step-ladder to reach.
With that in mind, professional organizers share their most helpful (and affordable) tips that will help you get your kitchen in tip-top shape this spring—and beyond.
1. Create ‘Zones’ In Your Fridge
The idea of zones helps you keep a consistently organized kitchen. Meredith Goforth, the founder of House of Prim, a style-focused organization company, recommends having zones in your fridge, too—a dairy section, an area for drinks, a leftover zone, and so on. Zoning your pantry will also help everyone in your household know what goes where, she shares.
2. ‘Everything Should Have A Home’
Whether your kitchen is tiny or a massive enough for a walk-in pantry, the same rule applies: Everything should have a home, Goforth says. Take inventory of any duplicates—if you’ve somehow accumulated five whisks, but only need the extras for an annual baking party, go ahead and put the remaining ones in storage. Clutter, she says, takes up mental space.
3. Decant As Soon As You Haul Your Groceries Inside
Bulky boxes can take up a ton of space in your pantry, and you can’t easily see how many granola bars you have left when you’re taking inventory before a grocery run. Goforth recommends decanting when you get home from the store. Take a couple of extra minutes to pull items out of the box and store them in existing bins. That way, you always know when you’re running low on a pantry staple.
4. Use Mason Jars for Dried Goods
“The best budget-friendly way to organize your kitchen is simply to use what you have,” says Shantae Duckworth, a professional organizer and the founder of Shantaeize Your Space. For example, use mason jars or existing glass containers to store dry goods like rice, pasta, and beans, she says. You don’t need an expensive labeling system either—something like washi tape will do the trick!
5. Repurpose Egg Cartons
Similarly, you can turn egg cartons into storage, Duckworth says. They’re great for stashing small items like little bags of spice-seasoning mixes or tea bags, she says. Bonus: They’re easily stackable.
6. DIY A Storage Bin
You can also use cardboard boxes or shoe boxes as bins to hold snacks or group dry goods, Duckworth says. Her pro tip: Cover them in decorative paper or fabric to create DIY drawer dividers for organizing kitchen utensils, gadgets, or small pantry items.
7. Make Smart Use of Vertical Space
You can also use household items to help maximize the vertical space in your kitchen, Duckworth says. She recommends installing shelves, hooks, or racks on the walls or inside cabinets. Tiered shelves in your pantry will help you see your canned goods and risers can help you stack plates more efficiently in a cabinet.
8. Use Turntables
Turntables are definitely a smart investment for an organized kitchen, says Heather Aiello, founder of The Organized You. They are very helpful to use in tough-to-reach corner areas, and you can use them in pantries, cabinets, or under the sink. They can hold anything from condiments to spices, or even cleaning supplies, she says.
9. Invest In A Tiered Spice Rack
“Label the tops of spice jars for easy identification, and periodically declutter by discarding expired or unused spices,” she says. You can also use turntables in cabinets to hold spices or oils. Or, use a drawer insert to organize spices in a drawer, Aiello says.
10. Install A Tension Rod to Hang Spray Bottles
The area under the kitchen sink often becomes cluttered with cleaning supplies, trash bags, and other miscellaneous items, Aiello says. A tension rod can make use of vertical space to hang cleaning supplies, she cleverly suggests.
11. Do A 5-Minute Nightly Tidy
Once you’ve organized your kitchen, how do you keep it in tip-top shape? Spend five minutes at the end of every day on a closing shift. Use this nightly routine to clear counters, put items away in their established zones, and wipe down surfaces, says Melanie Summers, founder of I Speak Organized. “This small habit keeps the kitchen orderly day after day,” she tells Delish.
12. Take Inventory
Keeping a clutter-free kitchen helps reduce food waste because you’ll be able to easily see what ingredients you have. Before grocery shopping, a quick inventory of the pantry and fridge will help you to use up existing items, avoid duplicates, and plan meals around ingredients that need to be used, reducing waste and keeping the kitchen organized, Summers says.
