How do you sort your Kitchen Cupboards

Manxcottageonthehill

Hello,

Well I am slightly confused. This is my first house/my first kitchen and I have tried everything that I can think off, shelfs non shelfs, those plastic shelfs for cans, glass jars, sorting cupboards into sections. I also think my kitchen is quite big, I have 7 upper and 5 lower with 2 sets of lower draw cupboards, so I shouldn't have any trouble. I just cannot get my kitchen cupboards to work. I never have enough space and then when I do the cupboards always get cluttered with non kitchen stuff.

I've tried to do a google/pinterest search but cannot find anything to help.

How does everyone sort out their cupboards? Any help would be great!!!

Thanks

Nessy

flubberyzing

Hmmm... It's personal preference really.

I've just had to go to my kitchen for a look!
Cupboard 1 - food stuff. Mostly canned on the top shelf, packets and boxes on the bottom shelf.
Cupboard 2 - Plates, bowls, frying pans, baking sheets.
Cupboard 3 - Under the sink, cleaning products mostly.
Cupboard 4 - Saucepans, colander, grater, some plastic picnic cups.
Cupboard 5 - Baking stuff, scales, sieves, measuring items etc.
Cupboard 6 - Odds and sods. Some ceramic baking dishes, tins for storing cakes etc.

Drawer 1 - Cutlery
Drawer 2 - Food wrapping, foil, clingfilm, sandwich bags, some implements like rolling pins and potato masher.
Drawer 3 - Medicine drawer.
Drawer 4 - Junk drawer, batteries, lightbulbs, instruction manuals.

Works for me! But everyone's kitchen is organised differently.

westcoastscot

Manx cottage, as flubbery says you'll probably get as many different answers as people, however what about thinking in terms of "work stations" - think about the tasks you do in the kitchen and try and place the things you need nearby - so all your baking stuff near to where you bake, kitchen knifes and utensils near the cooker etc. Then with the remaining cupboards try and theme them, to make it easier to keep track of what you have in stock foodwise.

I went from a large kitchen to quite a small one, I only have one bit of work surface, about a metre long, and so have to be very methodical. I have a cupboard under the sink with cleaning stuff and vases in, and one wall was old-fashioned floor to ceiling cupboards which I took the doors off (when all the kids were younger they used to smack each other everytime one went into one!) Its in 3 sections, so one for tinned and jarred food we're eating now, with a bottom shelf to "shop from", middle section for dried goods stored in jars and tins with a shelf taken out below for veggies, and the right side for crockery, baking tins on top and two blue boxes in the bottom section with dried goods "to shop from". When I use something from the "shop from" section I write it on my list.
WCS

maman

I agree with arranging things to fit with how you use the kitchen. I have almost all my pots, pans and crockery stored so I can unload the dishwasher standing in one place.

Similarly I use a small cupboard just above the cooker for sauces and condiments I add when cooking.

As for inside the cupboards. I use those stands (from Ikea) in the ones for mugs and glasses.

For dry goods I've used empty mushroom cartons to keep things tidy. And I've got one in the fridge for small jars and bottles.

rosie383

I have a new kitchen and had everything where I thought it would work. Just spent a happy couple of hours the other day rearranging everything as nothing was quite right.
I have some very high cupboards so I put all of the non-everyday stuff up there. I'm talking big casserole dishes that I use but only maybe once a month. Also food stuff like extra packets of Cous Cous which will perhaps be needed in a couple of months.
I have a small cupboard above the kettle and toaster so my coffee, tea, sugar etc go on the bottom shelf of that with less-used hot drink things on the higher shelves, such as extra teabags.
The drawer under the job has everyday cutlery and utensils with larger ones under that and pans in the bottom one.

Everyday crockery is in the cupboard above the dishwasher and the dish drainer which means it is easy to put the washed up stuff away. This is a job which I hate doing for some reason.

Packets and tins are in a corner cupboard with carousel. Ones used more often are at the front of the carousel so I do t have to turn it every time.

I have a plate stacker rack thingy so that I don't have to lift all the plates every time I want a dinner that's at the bottom

C_J

I keep cooking ingredients (packets, jars, tins) in the two wall cabinets nearest the hob and oven, and spice jars are in two slide out spice racks which fit into the base unit either side of the built under oven.

The corner base unit next to the oven and hob has one of those 'magic corner' pull out shelving things, and on that I keep the most used saucepans/frying pans/mixing bowls.

The small cupboard under the belfast sink houses cleaning products, and one of those cream enamel housekeepers boxes.

The base unit next to this has the food processor, hand held food mixer, and other small electricals in it. The big food mixer stays on the worktop all the time.

Teas, coffees, cordials etc are in the wall cupboard near the kettle, and the glass-fronted wall cabinet beside that has glasses, wine glasses and odd breakfasty things such as the toast rack, milk jugs, crystal preserve pots for whenever the occasion calls for them

Next to this is a wall cupboard with breakfast cereals and baking ingredients, plus weird stuff such as vitamin tablets for some reason.

All the plates, mugs, cups bowls, pasta bowls etc are on a Welsh dresser (it has a very long plate rack on it which is very useful) to the left of the chimney breast which houses the Rayburn. The dresser base has various casserole and serving dishes in it, and the drawers are full to bursting with all the things I don't know where else to put, such as spare fuses, plasters, batteries.

Other base units have pull out racks with baking tins, or pull out vegetable baskets, or there's also the special base cupboard which has a basket inside containing treats such as crisps or the occasional bar of chocolate.

I have two base units each with three drawers (but sadly not deep pan drawers, I wish I had those) containing cutlery, kitchen utensils, foil, cling film, greaseproof paper, cake tin liners etc etc.

I also have a utility room with wall cupboards housing detergents/fabric softeners, the dog and cat food, and all those items which don't get used every day such as the slow cooker(s), ice cream maker, dehydrator, sandwich toaster, yogurt maker, large and small remoska etc.

I'm lucky enough to also have a walk-in larder which has five further wall units and plenty of shelving, and this is where I keep rows of kilner jars containing either home preserved produce or bought pulses, rice, pasta etc.

PasturesNew

I have few cupboards. What I've got are "almost unusable" for several reasons, some aren't even very wide. What I've got is:

1 Cupboard: Plates, bowls, assorted kitchenware/silicone bakeware all held in a plastic tub
2 Cupboard: Slow cooker on the bottom; top shelf has drainers, strainers, collanders, pyrex jugs, cutting sheets, plastic measuring jugs
3 Cupboard: A plastic storage box containing all my "plastic takeaway boxes", little sandwich filler style pots and packed lunch plasticware. Top shelf has to have minimal stuff in, leaving the top half free ... and contains an assortment of dishes for baking food in.
4 Cupboard: Bottom shelf is a plastic storage box containing tinned veggies. Top shelf has a plastic box containing pouches of cooking sauces, as well as 3-4 tins of "meals" like Fray Bentos pies and a tin of meatballs.

Wall cupboards (2 of them) are only used for the bottom shelf (can't reach higher). One has mugs and an assortment of things like soy sauce, worcestershire sauce and jam. The other one has all my pasta, rices, packets (custard, angel delight etc), stuffings, gravy powders.

Everything non-food I've not used for over a year goes onto a spare shelving unit upstairs. Today I took the box grater up there and a "pastry blender" (owned 4 years, never used).

Nomoonatall

A cupboard at head height is best for tins and things...so you can see what you have. I got rid of mine, to make way for a large fridge. I really miss it!

I have rack thingies for pots and pans...which means I have to keep them looking lovely and shiny, in case I have visitors!

The best way to plan out your kitchen is to use it a lot...then every so often think...it would be easier if my plates/jars/pans were in a different place...then move them!

I'm still working on mine, since re-decorating. Ideally, I'd have a chef, butler and a maid..but it's not going to happen! x

GreyQueen

No two people are going to have the same kitchen layout/ kitchen contents/ habits and preferences, so the only way to sort this out is to put things somewhere, live with it a while, then re-arrange until you hit the sweet spot.

I have a tiny kitchen, only six feet square. One wall has 2 x double wall cabinets, pretty narrow, each with two shelves. The topmost shelf is above my head and I'm nearly six feet tall.

I reserve the upper shelf in those, and in the two single cupboards on other walls, for less commonly-needed things. The middle and lower shelf of one of the doubles is for canned and packet food. The same position on the other double unit is for non-food stuff like plastics, flasks etc.

All the contents of those cupboards are presently in the living room in one small crate and three shopping bags, due to a water leak affecting the party wall which hasn't had time to dry out completely yet.

Saucepans I keep in a single base cupboard beside the cooker, the shelf in there holds pyrex ovenware. One single wall cupboard holds crockery, pudding basins, measuring jugs and mixing bowls. The other holds mini pyrex casseroles (have 4 and they get used a lot) and some more plastics and some tins.

Utensils live in a pot by the cooker, tea kettle lives on the stove, all cutlery is in drawer under draining board and the other drawer contains clingfilm, foil, freezer bags and things of that ilk, segregated into those punnets you get bunches of grapes in, if they're fiddly.

Baking sheets and tins live in the pan compartment under the stove, as does the casserole dish.

ETa; oh, and the undersink cupboard holds cleaning materials and cloths. And there is a row of cup-hooks screwed onto the underside of one of the wall cupboards to hold the mugs out of the way. Cupboard space is a bit tight and there's so little countertop that there isn't a space for a mug tree.

chirpycheap

I have limited kitchen cupboard space so a lot of my lesser used kitchen items plus tinned and packet foods go into an Ikea Expedit cubed storage unit with doors that is next to the kitchen.
The under the sink Cupboard holds the usual cleaning stuff. I have bought cheap stacking baskets to hold scourers, bin bags etc.
Floor cupboard 2 - Saucepans, casserole dishes
Floor Cupboard 3- Baking stuff, scales, chopping boards and jugs
Wall cupboard 1 -glasses, salad spinner, bean sprouter and apple corer,
Wall cupboard 2 - Bowls and plates
Wall cupboard 3- Cups/mugs and drink related items (teabags, coffee, sugar etc)
Large Drawer unit 1 for vegetables
Large Drawer unit 2 for bread and snacks
Small drawer 1- Spices 2) medicines/first aid/ 3) Cutlery 4) Kitchen implements 5) Tea Towels 6) Serviettes and aprons 7) Cling film, silver foil , sandwich bags etc
It sounds as though you have some good cupboard space in your kitchen so perhaps look at some videos on YouTube of how people organise their kitchens or maybe think about clearing out items that aren't being used. As we all know a kitchen is an evolving project and it takes a lot of effort to stay on top of and not to drown in a sea of stuff. Let us know of any changes that you decide to make to help organise things!:D

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greenbee

My kitchen is a decent size, but has no real storage - there's a couple of shelves where I keep grains/pulses in glass jars (and tea and stuff on the top), another small shelf with oil/herbs/vinegar etc, and a tiny corner shelf with spices. I have a metal grid that I hang small pans and utensils from (the rest of the utensils are in jugs on the window sill. Floorstanding storage consists of a couple of ikea kitchen trolleys (the one next to the oven has pans in it, the other smaller one has pyrex/ceramic dishes), a 'rustic' island unit with very impractical drawers made from potato crates which holds mixing bowls, cast iron pans and lots of stuff I rarely use as the drawers are a PITA and an old cocktail cabinet that has three drawers and four shelves and holds mugs, glasses and a few bowls. Crockery and cutlery are in a rather rickety and very small dresser in the dining room. Everything else is stored either on or under (in crates or bags) one of the two long narrow tables that make up the rest of my kitchen surfaces.

I really must get round to doing the kitchen at some point... 3 years now and counting!