How to Organize a Kitchen
Counters, drawers, the pantry and the expired-spice graveyard — a real kitchen, made workable.
A kitchen that is organized is not a showroom — it is a kitchen where the thing you need is where you reach for it. Here is the order that gets there.
Start with the counter
Clear every counter down to the appliances and one thing in use. The counter is a workspace, not a shelf. Everything else goes to a 'decide' pile. You can't organize a kitchen over a kitchen that's already full.
The pantry: past dates first
Open the pantry and take out everything expired. That is not a moral failing — it is how every pantry works. Then group what remains by how you cook: baking together, canned together, snacks at eye level, the things you use most at the front. Store the infrequent up high and the daily at hand height.
Drawers: one home per thing
The junk drawer exists because things have no home. Give every utensil a place and clear the drawer with no home. Drawer liners and dividers keep the work from undoing itself. A drawer that has a system stays a drawer with a system.
The cupboards
Keep every day dishes at waist height, heavy rarely-used stuff low, and the small appliances where they are plugged in. Group by use, not by category: the coffee stuff together, the baking stuff together. That is the difference between a tidy kitchen and a usable one.