DIY Kitchen Organization & Storage Tips

In September I was asked to share small kitchen storage solutions, and although I’m a month late here, you go.

As you’ve seen in my kitchen series, I like to use vintage canisters for my everyday dry goods such as porage, rice, coffee, sugar and the like.

Although I love my thrifted copper lid canisters, the seal on them is not that great, so, for now, I’ve put my dry goods in large zip lock bags before placing the contents in the canisters. This helps keep everything fresh. In the winter I’ll probably sew cloth dry good storage bags.

Upper Cabinet Storage

I did my best to organized the cabinets to suite our needs keeping everyday items to the right of the stove and close to the fridge with less frequently used supplies to the left of the stove.

Working from top left to the bottom, I’ve placed baking supplies and seldom-used dry goods closest to the window furthest from the stove.

We don’t eat dry cereal, so there’s no need to create room for big boxes or plastic containers.

The upper cupboard directly to the left of the stove houses our spices, vitamins, pharmacy needs in seagrass baskets while the top shelf stores an array of boxed and bagged dry goods. The seagrass baskets were a London Drugs purchase and work well for storing smaller items. They make it easy to keep things organized and retrieve when needed.

I store our everyday vintage casserole, lasagna pan, serving dishes and large salad bowl above the microwave. I have a small stepping stool handy to help us reach the top shelves. I use the pantry and china cabinet to store our special occasion serving dishes.

Feng Shui by Bridget Kitchen Cabinet Organization and Storage Solutions1c

As I noted last week, I keep our everyday dishes, glasses and coffee mugs in the upper cabinet beside the fridge.

Drawer Storage

I’ve followed the same method of organizing as I did with the uppers with seldom-used items furthest away from the fridge and stove.

To help keep the bits and bobs organized, I’ve purchased individual plastic trays from The Dollar Tree. I like these acrylic trays better than the standard popular multi-sectioned plastic trays most people use. I find these trays don’t meet the needs of most kitchens. The individual trays are much more user-friendly, and the variety of sizes makes it easy to mix and match based on one’s needs.

I’ve yet to find a good wood tray that will fit into my knife drawer. So when I find one I’ll share it.

My Honey likes to cook with plastic utensils while I love wood, so I’ve had to accommodate for his wants by keeping a drawer dedicated to his chosen cooking supplies?. He’s the chief cook, so I’m not going to complain! ?

I’ve used seagrass baskets in the draws to help organize pot lids and leftover containers and lids. We actually like to use Mason jars for leftovers as they work best in our small fridge.

I also keep our toaster and big rice cooker in the bottom drawer for ease of use. We seldom use either.

Under the Sink Storage

The storage space under the kitchen sink is notorious for being a cluster of chaos in most kitchens. I’ve really tried to keep this space as functional as possible. Here’s how I’ve used the space.

I’m not a fan of BIG garbage cans in a kitchen and here’s why. You truly don’t want to keep that much garbage in your home. Yuk! A small garbage can forces you to take the trash out daily as it should be.

The other reason why I’m not a fan of big garbage cans is they are unsightly and are often difficult to find a good place to store them.

Here’s my solution, from the Dollar Store I’ve purchased 2 white floor washing buckets and 2 slim plastic garbage cans.

The floor washing buckets are used for recycling (to the left) and trash (to the right). We empty them every day.

The small plastic garbage cans store (1) white kitchen trash bags and (2) kitchen cleaning supplies, I use Thieves for everything. A glass canister stores the dishwasher pods.

Yes, this us how our kitchen looks on the daily. Too me there is room for improvement with the knife drawer and a couple of the top shelves of the upper cabinets but all in all, the space works for us.

I hope I’ve inspired you to take a look at your kitchen and find creative budget-friendly ways to organize your space according to your needs.