Organizing a Small Kitchen: The Best Ways to Organize a Small Kitchen

Interested in Organizing a Small Kitchen?

If you’re suffering from a kitchen that’s out of order or you simply want some good ideas on the best ways to keep your small kitchen in order, you’ll be very excited to hear that we’re going to have a chat on how you can do that.

There are plenty of reasons why a kitchen can be a mess.

In fact, there are countless reasons which make the task overwhelming and difficult to decipher the exact culprit of chaos.

On top of that it can make it difficult to figure out where you should start organizing a small kitchen in order to get things back on track.

But let’s attempt to talk about these problems anyway, because bringing them out in the open is just as important as the act of organization. When you’re aware of the underlying problems it makes them easy to avoid so they don’t work against you once you have your kitchen in order.

Why is Your Kitchen Disorganized?

Well, I can think of 3 reasons right now as to why your kitchen might be out of order.

What are they? Consider this…

Your supply exceeds your demand
Items can’t be easily accessed
You fail to re-evaluate the situation

Yeah, I know it all may sound so obvious at the moment but let’s dig a little deeper and keep talking about it. Because what might seem like common sense right now, you may find rather surprising. Or you might find yourself wondering why you never thought of it sooner.

Your Supply Exceeds Your Demand

Clutter essentially starts with mentality. That is, typically it’s the act of living above and beyond our means that starts the cluttering process. That means an overstock of things might be one of the simple factors which is contributing to why your kitchen is such a mess.

In order to fix that problem, one thing you can do is start…

Organizing a Small Kitchen By Assessing Your Average Experience

The first thing you might want to ask yourself is if you’re buying things beyond your average experience.

Do you even know what your average experiences are?

If not, then I’ll help you clear it up a bit by using my daily lifestyle as an example.

Let’s say I’m a single female living in a one-bedroom apartment. I’m interested in buying some dishware for myself. However, I don’t want to end up with an overstock of things. I’ve seen many kitchens full of plates, bowls, cups and silverware that filled up a large amount of space but went unused the majority of the time. And that’s turned me off from wanting my kitchen too cluttered.

In order to begin organizing a small kitchen, my first goal is to purchase just enough dishware to use and have a small quantity as back-up in case something gets broken.

I think about it for a brief time and come up with an answer. I decide to use simple math to keep the situation easy.

Clearly I need at least one..

plate
fork
knife
spoon
cup
bowl

…in which to eat from during meal time.

That takes care of me, providing me with the barebone necessities.

However, I realize there are times in which I do have the occasional dinner guest over. But it’s rare that I have any more than that. Thinking of that I realize they’ll need something to eat with too. So I add them into the equation. And that is considered part of my average daily living experience.

Once I’ve got that down, I realize that the minimum amount of dishware that I can live a comfortable lifestyle with is…

2 spoons
2 forks
2 cutting knives
2 butter knives
2 bowls
2 drinking cups
2 mugs
2 plates

As implied above, accomodating for an extra guest also benefits me in case something gets broken. I then have a back-up plate, bowl or cup, etc. to use when accidents happen.

This barebone living also results in doing less dishes in the end (and possibly saving more water). Specifically because I have a bad habit of not washing the dishes as I use them. Instead I go through multiple plates, bowls, cups and silverware if I have too many in my possession.

To a stranger this may seem very strict, but for me this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Because personally I believe the wonderful thing about living under pressure is that we as humans naturally rebel. If at any point that lifestyle was too strict for me I would’ve altered it by purchasing more dishware when I became uncomfortable.

But it has been such a comfortable experience for me that I have lived the better part of 3 years with that small amount of dishware and silverware. In fact, once I began I found myself often wondering how I ever lived any other way.

How to Live Based on Your Own Average Experience

Keep in mind my average experience might not be your average experience. And if it is, remember I said comfortable lifestyle. If at any point it became uncomfortable for you, you’re going to naturally adjust it to your comfort zone by purchasing more dishware.

But before I move on, if you’re still confused about what your average living experience would be, in layman’s terms it’s simply this…

The amount of household occupants + the highest amount of dinner guests you have over.

That will give you the amount of dishware you’ll need for your household in order to live comfortably.

So if you were a family of 3 and you often received 2 guests over for dinner, the equation would go like this…

Your Average Experience

3 (houshold occupants) + 2 (highest amount of dinner guests you frequently have over)
——
= 5

That would then translate to your needed allotment of dishware and silverware in your kitchen.

Which is…

5 forks
5 spoons
5 cutting knives
5 butter knives
5 bowls
5 drinking cups
5 mugs
5 plates

Simple, right?

Just a matter of living neither above or below your means.

As I said, it shouldn’t be a painful circumstance at all. It should be comfortable. If it becomes a circumstance in which you’re living under pressure, something is wrong and you’ll know and naturally rebel by stocking up on more supplies if the time comes.

That’s the beauty of it.

Preparing For Special Occasions

When it comes to organizing a small kitchen be sure you’re not overstocking your home with dishware. Be on the lookout for the similar, yet different culprit of preparing for special occasions.

There’s nothing wrong with preparing for holidays throughout the year. However, be careful not to let a temporary circumstance make you permanently uncomfortable.

I’m sure it’s obvious what I mean but let’s go a little deeper so that it will be crystal clear once I’m done.

What I mean is that you might want to rethink your current situation if you’re living uncomfortably 365 days a year for the few occasional holidays that exist.

For instance, having too much china saved for special occasions might fall under that category. China taking up space that could otherwise be used with items that are more convenient to you.

If you think that might be the case, you might want to just check things out. If you have too many things, then just simply get rid of excess to make more room for day-to-day dinnerware. Or store them out of the way when they’re not in use.

Items Can’t Be Easily Accessed

When you’re organizing a small kitchen, the best way to keep order is to make it as simple as possible to get to everything you need. That is, most things should be easy to see on your first time around.

To make this possible you’re going to want to create At-a-Glance Centers. That’s right, it’s just like the calenders in which everything can be pretty much seen with no trouble. Once you’ve done that, your kitchen will then be well organized, clutter-free and easy to maintain on a continuous basis.

To begin organizing a small kitchen, first start by dividing your kitchen into 5 different sections.

You’ll want to assign certain parts of your kitchen to operate as 5 different types of At-a-Glance Centers.

The 5 At-a-Glance Centers can be your…

Serving Center
Pantry Center
Preparation Center
Cooking Center
Cleaning Center

Organizing a Small Kitchen with Your Serving Center

You can start by organizing a small kitchen with your Serving Center. Your Serving Center groups all of your dishes and eating supplies together so that everything is within easy reach when you’re not only setting the table, but when you’re dishwashing or doing dishes in the sink.

As implied, it might be best to create your Serving Center near your sink and/or dishwasher so that they’ll be within easy reaching distance to put away.

Your Serving Center will consist of items like…

plates
bowls
silverware
cups
napkins

Organizing a Small Kitchen with Your At-a-Glance Serving Center

Once you’ve decided on what you’d like to group together and you’ve defined a certain area as your Serving Center, your next step to organizing a small kitchen is to turn it into an At-a-Glance Serving Center.

When you open drawers or pantry doors you should be able to see things right then and there without too much trouble. There shouldn’t be much guesswork involved.

Your drawers and cupboards should be clean, neat and clutter-free—organized into mini stations within your center. Plates should be segregated from bowls, forks should be separated from spoons, coffee mugs independent from drinking cups.

To separate your plates and bowls so that you can see them at a glance, 3-tier dinnerware organizers are recommended to do the trick. And obviously a utensil organizer will take care of your silverware and place them in neat little piles in a drawer.

As for mugs, you may like a mug rack. And if you hate putting your napkins on a table, like me, you might find an under-the-counter napkin dispenser invaluable.

Organizing a Small Kitchen with Your Pantry Center

Secondly, begin organizing a small kitchen by choosing a Pantry Center. Your Pantry Center is where you store all of your foods. You may choose to use an actual pantry, storage closet, or simply certain cabinets in your kitchen for storing your food.

Since chances are good that you live in a small place, it’s likely that you’ll be using a portion of your kitchen cabinets to do the trick. If so, storing them near the refrigerator might be the best place for you.

Expandable Corner Shelf

If you’re in doubt about what you should be storing in your Pantry Center, it takes care of…

canned goods
boxed goods
snacks
bottled goods
soda cans and so forth.

Organizing a Small Kitchen with Your At-a-Glance Pantry Center

Once you’ve gathered where you’d like your Pantry Center to be, you’ve got one more thing to do to help you in organizing a small kitchen. And that’s turning it into an At-a-Glance Center so that canned goods won’t be difficult to identify and so forth.

To do that you will want to enlist the aid of organizers once again. In order to see canned goods at a glance, 3 tier shelves or racks will work wonders for you. Soda cans can be organized by soda can holders.

Boxed goods can be put in neat rows or put in canisters. They can be organized by type: boxes or canisters of macaroni stacked together and so on.
And although possible but not necessary, all snacks may possibly be thrown together in a basket.

Organizing a Small Kitchen with Your Preparation Center

Next, to start organizing a small kitchen you’ll need to choose where you want your Preparation Center to be. The Preparation Center is for mixing, blending, slicing, and dicing your foods. It includes a vast amount of supplies from cutting knives to mixers and blenders.

Here’s a quick list of the supplies that make up your Preparation Center…

cutting boards
spices
mixing bowls
knives
measuring cups
spoons
blenders
mixers
tupperware
plastic wraps

Organizing a Small Kitchen with Your At-a-Glance Preparation Center

To turn your Preparation Center into an At-a-Glence Preparation Center consider getting a cutting board that can sit on your counter permanently like the acrylic cutting board. It won’t show knife marks or contain odors which will allow you to leave it in place all of the time if you so wish.

Or perhaps you’d like your cutting board out of the way but within easy reach? If so, then the under-cabinet cutting board by Dial Industries might be perfect for you.

As for spices, spice rack organizers will do the trick. Also consider when dealing with spices arranging them alphabetically or in the order of what you use the most (on the front row) to what you use the least (on the back row) might be the best way to see them at a glance.

Knives may be taken care of with knife organizers. Measuring cups may be hung on a hook inside your cabinet or along the wall.

Food storage containers (tupperware) can be seen at a glance by labeling each container and then stacked on a turntable so that you may turn the table to get to everything you need with no hassle. Lastly, plastic wraps can be easily organized with a
wrap organizer.

Organizing a Small Kitchen with Your Cooking Center

Next, choose a Cooking Center to start organizing a small kitchen. Your Cooking Center deals with all of your cooking items so that when you’re cooking meals everything can be prepared easily since everything is close together.

It includes…

cooking utensils
pot holders
(stirring) spoons
spatulas
pots and pans

Organizing a Small Kitchen with Your At-a-Glance Cooking Center

To continue organizing a small kitchen you need to turn your Cooking Center into an At-a-Glance Cooking Center. In order to do that consider putting all or some of your cooking utensils in a jar (near the stove). If all of them do not fit, you may just want to put the ones you frequently use in a jar and store the others elsewhere.

Pot holders can of course hang on hooks on a nearby wall or be put away in a drawer. Pots and pans may be organized and easily reached for with caddies or pot racks.

Organizing a Small Kitchen with Your Cleaning Center

Lastly, choose a Cleaning Center to finish organizing a small kitchen. Your Cleaning Center groups all of your cleaning supplies together so that you can effectively clean your dishes, countertops, stove, refrigerator and more.
Often a good location for your Cleaning Center is under your sink and/or near your Serving Center since your Serving Center includes your dishware and you’ll need some of your cleaning supplies to wash your dishes.

Your Cleaning Center includes…

cleaning supplies
dish towels
dish rack
gloves
trash can

Organizing a Small Kitchen with Your At-a-Glance Cleaning Center

After that in order to continue organizing a small kitchen, it’s time to turn your Cleaning Center into an At-a-Glance Cleaning Center. To do that you could use an organizer for your cleaning supplies.

Secondly, when considering your dish towel, if you don’t want to use the bar on your stove, you can use a bar mounted to your wall or a bar that mounts over a cabinet door preferrably near all of the other items that make up your Cleaning Center.

And lastly, you might want a discreet trash can. If that is the case you might want to use an under-the-cabinet trash can so that it will not be an eye sore.

You Fail to Reevaluate the Situation

Change is going to come. It always does. To make certain you’re aware of it when it’s happening, it’s a good idea to appoint at least one day out of the week to…

observe each center you’ve set up and straighten it up or remove items that you no longer need
observe if you’re beginning to take interest in new ways to cook, new foods, etc.

And on the flipside of things, it will also help you become aware of the things you aren’t using.

That is, you’ll start to gain a small insight into whether an upgrade or downgrade will eventually take place with your kitchen appliances, cookware or bakeware and if your taste buds have changed.

You’ll then be able to understand that it’s time to donate canned goods that won’t be the least bit of interest to you.

A good time to do this is when you’re making a list for your groceries since you’ll typically be replacing the things you’ve used.

It will help you (re)evaluate each situation without allowing change to sneak up on you.

In turn it will allow you to be well prepared for the fluctuations of your lifestyle as they come and go so that you can eliminate clutter before it has a chance to occur and continue to keep your small kitchen organized and up to par.

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