How to Organize Your Kitchen & Pantry in a Weekend

The kitchen and pantry are two of the most commonly visited places in the house. Both are high-traffic areas that hold loads of items, making it easy for things to get cluttered up and disorganized. Putting the kitchen and pantry in order may seem like an overwhelming task, but organization can simplify your daily activities, making things easier to find while ridding the area of unnecessary items. Additionally, an organized kitchen and pantry helps the whole house look neat and tidy.

Organizing the Kitchen and Pantry

• 1

  Clear your schedule to allow yourself unencumbered time for the task at hand. Even with interruptions, the entire project can be done in less than two days.

• 2

  Remove everything from the kitchen cupboards and pantry shelves. Place each item on the counter or in a box. This part, unfortunately, make your kitchen look like a disaster area. Fortunately, the situation is temporary.

• 3

  Go through the boxes and evaluate each item. Begin with kitchen items, throwing away anything that is broken or damaged beyond repair. Additionally, if you cannot remember the last time you used an item, appliance or gadget, place it in a box to be donated to charity. If you find duplicate items, such as can openers and ice cream scoops, determine whether it is truly necessary to have more than one. Then move on to the pantry items, checking each label and discarding any food that is out of date.

• 4

  Sort what remains, putting similar items together. For example, knives can be grouped with cutting boards and tableware can be put with serving dishes. For the pantry, place all canned goods in one pile, rice and pasta in another, cookies and crackers in another, and so on.

• 5

  Determine what you use most often before returning items to the shelves and cupboards. Things that are rarely used should be placed on the top shelves, while items that get used regularly should be located at eye level. Tall items, heavy appliances or items that get used, but not daily, should be placed on lower shelves.

• 6

  Remove unnecessary items if you find you're running short on shelf space. For example, paper plates, napkins and rolls of paper towels can be stored in the garage, hall closet or basement and brought into the kitchen as needed.

• 7

  Remove all food items that are in bags -- popcorn, flour, sugar, pasta -- and place them in plastic storage containers. This makes stacking them in the pantry easier, keeps the food fresher and helps to prevent insect infestation.

• 8

  Remove any unnecessary items from the counter, leaving ample space for the appliances you use every day such as the coffeemaker or those item that are too large to store beneath a counter, such as a microwave oven. Reducing the number of items permanently stored on the countertop helps give the kitchen a streamlined look, while giving you plenty of room to comfortably prepare meals.