When you have a small kitchen, it can be challenging to maneuver your way around it. It can also be tough to keep things neat because there are many food items and tools you need to use in the kitchen.
The problem is that your small kitchen will only look smaller if you leave things disorganized.
If you're looking for organizing tips for your small kitchen, this article is for you. Read on to find ten helpful space-saving tips that can help make your kitchen pantry look spic and span.
Sort by category
You should organize or sort items together that fall under the same category so that you won't have a hard time looking for them when you need them. Grouping them also makes it a lot easier to know how you're supposed to organize your small kitchen and which cabinet should have which items.
To begin your kitchen organization journey, here are a few pantry organization categories that you can use to group your food items:
Canned Goods
Baking Items
Condiments
Spices
Pasta/Noodles
Breakfast Food
Chips and Snacks
Label everything
It would help if you got into the habit of labeling everything in the kitchen. There's nothing more confusing than having unlabeled containers filled with white powders in them.
It could be flour or baking soda, but what kind of flour could it be? Almond Flour? Bread? Cake?
With a simple label, you could avoid all the confusion.
Aside from the name of whatever you're storing, don't forget to add a few more critical details. For example, if you are reusing leftover bread and have kept it in the freezer, don't forget to add a label to it to know what is in there.
It's also best that you add a date of when you stored them and an expiry date for these opened or used food items to know the viability of these products.
Stack it in style
The inside of pantry cabinets usually has plenty of vertical space that you aren't using as much as you could have. In this case, it would be ideal if you will learn how to get storage solutions and stack them inside.
You don't have to purchase plastic storage solutions that can increase your carbon footprint.
A great alternative would be dim sum steamer baskets which are excellent for storing smaller pantry items, like spices and the like. They're also lovely to look at and neat when you see them in your pantry cabinets.
If you don't have a spare dim sum steamer basket, a bamboo basket is acceptable and does the job well.
Make a built-in pantry
Instead of adding outside storage solutions to your kitchen shelves, why not get a built-in pantry with pre-made shelves. Instead of just being the standard shelves you would expect, you can get creative with it based on your kitchen needs. It's much more convenient, and it's an exciting way to build the inside of your pantry.
Install pull-out shelves and drawers
When you have a small kitchen, it can be much harder to move freely around it. You're likely to cause a mess or get injured when trying to reach items further back from your shelves or cupboard.
If this is an issue that you don't want to have, consider getting and installing pull-out shelves or drawers. Installing pull-out shelves and drawers is undeniably pricey.
However, if you use the kitchen often and use your kitchen shelves all the time, it will be a good idea to invest in these once you have the budget for them.
Hang a pegboard
Another creative way to organize tools and other things in your pantry if you have a small area to work with is to hang a pegboard somewhere. You can use a pegboard to hang all sorts of things.
For example, you can hang any kitchen tools you have. Even spices and nonperishables can stay on the pegboard.
A pegboard pantry can be a great way to store some of the kitchen items that you want to show off. Unlike when they're hidden away inside the pantry shelves and drawers, hanging them on the pegboard gets them the attention they deserve.
Install canned food dispenser
If you have many canned foods in the pantry, you might want to get can-dispensing storage in your pantry. It's a lot fancy, but it simply uses gravity so you can conveniently grab the canned food you need.
Aside from canned goods, you can also use them for canned drinks, and you can use them in the fridge.
Make use of a turntable
A turntable pantry tray is one of the most convenient things to install or add to your pantry. It's a great way of ensuring that you get any stored items and have easy access to them.
Lazy susans and turntables are two good items for having a variety of things. You can even get turntables that have multiple layers so that you make use of that vertical space.
Add some glass canisters
Glass canisters or mason jars are an attractive way of storing food. They're also excellent for storing all sorts of things, especially ones you want to show off. If you have a pantry with no doors on them, glass canisters are excellent. What's even better is that they're reusable, so you can use them wherever and whenever.
Stack plastic containers
If you are using plastic containers, try and take advantage of their durability by stacking them on top of one another.
Again, many concerns about storage issues can be solved by using the available vertical space. So, stacking plastic containers can help keep things organized.
With these ten space-saving tips, you should be able to keep your pantry organized even if you don't have a vast space to work with. From working with vertical space to using clever storage solutions, there is a bevy of kitchen organization tips that you can apply. So, try them in your kitchen today to get an organized kitchen.
