Let’s face it — figuring out the best way to organize your kitchen is extremely intimidating. That loose drawer of jingling silverware, towering stacks of plates and bowls, and cabinets full of pots and pans all make cooking, or even just using the kitchen, a much harder task. And let’s not even talk about the inside of the fridge and pantry.
The first thing to remember when starting any job is to start by taking baby steps. Don’t overwhelm yourself by taking on too much. It will only make you less productive. Each time you decide to work on organizing your kitchen, have a small goal in mind and focus only on that for the time being. Keep goals maintainable, and work a little every day until you reach your dream organized kitchen. Trust me, if you try to jam-pack it all in one or two days, you probably end up in tears when you can’t find a way to shove all those forks in the drawer.
It is hard to know where to start when organizing a new kitchen or reorganizing an existing kitchen, but we got you. We talked to kitchen organizer Georgia Takacsy, who shared her tips and tricks on transforming a messy cooking space into your Pinterest dreams just with some simple organization.
How to organize the fridge
The first thing to tackle in the kitchen is the fridge. If you are like me, your fridge probably has no rhyme or reason. The first thing to do is split everything into groups. “Keep similar things together,” Georgia said. “It makes things easier to find when I’m cooking, and simplifies grocery planning because I can quickly see what I already have.” Her hack is to use turntables for drinks and condiments to get access to them all easily.
When it comes to storing fruits and vegetables, Georgia rinses them as soon as she gets home from the grocery store and then transfers them to glass containers. “This makes them quick to pull in and out of the fridge and to snack on and cook with.” Storing them in containers in the fridge motivates her to eat them, preventing waste.
How to organize the pantry
Next up is the pantry. This one, in my opinion, is the scariest part of the kitchen to organize. It can feel overwhelming since there is a lot to be stored here and often so little space. “I like to unbox things as much as possible to save space and make my pantry more aesthetic,” Georgia said. Cardboard and plastic packaging can be “so bulky and an eyesore.” If, for example, you have granola bars, rather than placing the box in your pantry, unbox them and place in a bin to be more organized, save space, and create a more pleasing aesthetic to your cabinet. To preserve freshness, Georgia will open grains like pasta, rice, and oats and pour them into an airtight container.
Within a pantry, Georgia suggests looking for stackable containers to leverage vertical space. When it comes to organizing spices within your pantry, she uses matching glass jars from the dollar store and a label maker to save time and create a consistent look. “Since the jars are transparent, I always know how much I have left of each spice,” she said.
How to store and organize pots and pans, dishware, and silverware
The easiest and first thing to do when organizing silverware is to have drawer organizers. “I personally wouldn’t want to open a drawer to a pile of loose mixed-up silverware so I definitely recommend having a drawer organizer and organizing by type — forks, spoons, knives,” Georgia said. “It’s an easy system, keeps everything contained, and looks cleaner.” The Dollar Store, The Container Store, IKEA, and thrift stores have some of her favorite finds as far as organization goes.
When organizing pots and pans, Georgia has a specific way to keep them stored best. She doesn’t suggest stacking them because it makes it hard to grab a bottom one. She, instead, stores them on their side to make them easy to access. “I found a file sorter at a thrift store that I use for my pots and pans,” she said. “I added expandable stackable drawer dividers to my deep drawers, which allows my pots to sit sideways. It’s a space saver and makes each one easier to grab.”
Her tips for storing dishware? Cabinet shelves. “You don’t want to have to lift up all your small plates to access a big plate, so stack all your big plates together, then add a cabinet shelf over them, then place your small plates on top of the cabinet shelf,” Takacsy said.
For more organization tips and tricks, follow Georgia Takacsy on TikTok.