After we completed our kitchen renovation this summer, I really took the time to edit, purge, clean, and organize what’s inside our kitchen cabinets. I wanted everything to have a purpose, keep only what we/I use, and wanted everything to have a place. Of course, every family’s needs are different, kitchen sizes vary, family sizes vary, storage sizes vary, etc. This is how to organize the inside of kitchen cabinets to keep them functional and uncluttered.
You can find several items we have in our kitchen linked here!
Open Shelving
We lots several cabinets when we renovated our kitchen. Notably, a larger corner cabinet, a large cabinet above the stove, and a double door cabinet that stored all of our cups and bowls. We replaced the corner cabinet and the double door cabinet with open shelves, which I absolutely LOVE! These small shelves hold everyday glassware and coffee mugs. I decided we needed only what could fit on this shelf for everyday glassware. There are only four of us in our family, so this is doable. The glasses on the left are plastic! I’m the only coffee drinker so having a few stoneware mugs that appeal to the eye work perfectly.
We replaced the cover cabinet with open shelves too. This holds everyday cups and bowls. I lie the convenience of grabbing these and replacing out of the dishwasher. So easy! These shelves do a lot of heavy lifting!
Organizing Under the Kitchen Sink
We keep cleaning supplies, dishwasher pods, trash bags, extra sponges/magic erasers, and anything else that fits that I need to access often. Extra supplies get stored on a shelf inside our mudroom closet. I don’t buy in bulk, so I really don’t have a lot of extra “stuff” to store. One thing to note here is that I didn’t spend a lot of money on organizational tools. I simply grabbed whatever extra containers we weren’t using and put them to use here. It’s still organized and uncluttered, but it doesn’t have to be perfect!
Above the Refrigerator
We have a large double cabinet above our fridge where I store items I don’t need everyday. I have to get on a stool to access these items. I keep extra plates, glass vases, ice bucket, wine chiller, and glass drink dispenser. This is also where I store a coffee pot my parents like to use when they come to visit. It’s pretty much a catch-all space for all the “extras” in our kitchen.
Organizing Inside the Island
We have a large island with three large drawers. This is also where the trash can pulls out. Love that the island has storage and love having the trash can accessible and hidden.
The drawers in the island are directly across from the stove and prep area. Most homes have a “junk drawer” and we are no exception! Here, we store tape, scissors, pens, sharpies, etc! Again, this isn’t perfect, but literally everything has a place! When this happens, you (and everyone else in your family) knows exactly where to put things back! We don’t do a lot of searching for things in our home because everyone knows where everything goes!
The second drawer gets used many times a day. It holds ziplock bags, foil, cupcake liners, plastic grocery store bags, napkins, etc.
And the bottom drawer in the island holds dust cloths, wash rags, seasonal towels, hand towels, etc. Love having all this room for towels because I love textiles! I did purge several of my towels to get to this point. They get used and washed often and I like having a lot on hand.
Two Large Upper Cabinets
On either side of the stove, we decided to keep two large upper cabinets. I like when items in a kitchen don’t feel jam packed. I like that I can see everything and grab what I need without fumbling around with many other items.
Yep, one large colander and one small colander. Only a few mixing bowls. I’m usually only cooking for four people so I just don’t need that much stuff!
This top shelf just holds a few extras and my compost bin in the winter when we don’t use it. As you can see, I actually have a lot of extra space after doing a huge edit.
Two Large Lower Cabinets
Directly below the two large upper cabinets, we have two large lower cabinets. These store pots & pans, crock pots, decorative serving dishes, etc. I have enough room here that I don’t use lid or pot holders. I found that using them was giving me more of a headache than just placing them in a spot. Again, we have a larger kitchen so this works for us! You might need to stack and use holders!
Two Large Kitchen Cabinet Drawers
We have two large drawers on either side of the stove, which is perfect for my prep area. Directly below where I chop is our knife drawer. The storage container here is from Ikea. The two smaller acrylic bins are from Target, which hold cheese knives and tea supplies.
This other large drawer holds every other cooking utensil I use. I realized I didn’t need so many of each item. Keeping what I actually use has been the catalyst for getting rid of things. I’ve never regretted getting rid of anything. Not one thing in my whole house! It’s worth it to purge. You mind and your home feel clutter free and fresh.
I do keep wooden spoons, egg beaters, and silicone spatulas in a container next to the stove. I use these items daily so they are handy to grab. You can read all about the three mini lamps I keep in my kitchen here.
Smaller Drawers + Cabinets
This drawer is right below my Keurig coffee machine. I love having these pods at my fingertips in the morning.
Right below the coffee drawer is a cabinet that we keep water bottles, travel mugs, water jugs for sports. It’s right next to the fridge for easy fill up!
This series of drawers holds silverware, straws, bottle openers, toothpicks, and a bunch of random stuff. I have extra space in these!
I love having this narrow cabinet space for cutting boards, cookie sheets, cupcake pans, etc.
One tiny kitchen cabinet drawer holds silicone trivets and one set of oven mitts. I realized I just don’t need a lot of these and I’ve had this minimal amount for a few years and have never needed more.
We have three small drawers that we use for non-kitchen items. We have another catch all space for keys, notes, chapstick, all the random things. It’s nice to have a place to “shove things” and just shut the door!
The drawer below the catch-all is for medicine/vitamins/thermometer/Band-aids. Having a small drawer for these items is so handy for us!
And the drawer below this one holds more random stuff! Batteries, measuring tape, command hooks, etc. This has also been helpful to have at our fingertips!
We do have a small drawer for storage under our new stove which I didn’t have before.
Miscellaneous Thoughts on What We Keep Inside our Kitchen Cabinets
Of course everyone’s circumstances are different – you might have little kids, bottles, plastic, seasonal items. You might make cookies out of your home so you need extra baking supplies. You might have a tiny kitchen and need a whole lot less to function in your kitchen!
As mentioned before, I’ve never missed anything I’ve ever gotten rid of.
Not pictured here, but we do store a few more items on the top shelf of our pantry. Because we have a small walk-in pantry, I don’t buy a lot of extras (only what we need at the time). I have a stand mixer, George Foreman grill and a few other items stored on the top shelf in the pantry.
I don’t keep a lot of holiday items around the house now that the kids are older which helps with space.
Seeing how other people live is so fascinating to me so I hope you enjoyed seeing what’s inside our kitchen cabinets! XO