As per request by a friend, here is a post about how to organize your kitchen! Cleaning out your kitchen is the perfect activity for cold winter weekend afternoons when going outside seems like the worst idea in the world and you’ve already watched 15 episodes of your favorite reality show on Hulu. I love to keep mine neat and organized which I think I got from my mother who literally has every drawer and shelf in her house labeled. No joke! Here are my tips. Let me know if you have any other ideas that I can borrow for my kitchen. Sorry for my lack of photos, I will post some soon so stay tuned!

Start by taking everything out of it’s place, one cabinet or shelf at a time and wipe down the surface with a damp rag. Once everything is out, organize it in three piles, by frequency of use: Items that you use daily, put in pile number one. That serving dish from your Grandmother that you haven’t used in three years can go with the antique candelabras and extra set of salt and pepper shakers in pile number two. Pile number three is for items that you absolutely hate but someone else might love. This pile will be taken to Goodwill or given to a friend with more…eccentric taste. If anything in pile one or two is at all dirty, stained, or dusty, wash it immediately and place back in it’s pile.

Once your shelves and drawers are all empty, place the rarely used pieces in first, towards the back. They might look pretty but if you have to reach around them to get a salad bowl every day, then what’s the point! Once they are all set, put your everyday china, glasses, mugs, and silverware away in straight, neat piles that group together. Mugs and glasses can be grouped together as can plates and bowls.

When organizing any room of the house, my number one rule is to have a junk drawer. In my kitchen I have a drawer where I keep pens, batteries, twine, scissors, food labels, rubber bands, and any other miscellaneous items that I might need but wouldn’t know where to find when the time came. Make a junk drawer and anytime you’re not sure where to put something small, voila!

I also like to make groups of items like serving utensils or bake ware so I never have to search too long or hard for what I’m looking for. For example, it’s important to have all of the utensils, pots, pans, and spices that I need to cook with on a daily basis so I have a station next to the stove so I don’t even have to move if I realize I need a whisk to stir the sauce or an extra pan to heat some garlic!

Lastly, remember that you can use household items as art! My friend Hilary hangs her teacups in neat rows on her wall and I display my cookbooks to add some color to the room.

Start with these easy tips and next time we’ll move on to cleaning out your pantry and refrigerator!