Kitchen Organizing

As professional home organizers, the space that our Vancouver and Victoria clients most often ask us to help with is their kitchen. 

The kitchen is the center of a home. It’s where your family comes together, where you create nourishing, delicious meals, and where guests gather for the holidays.

It’s so easy for our homes (and especially kitchens) to become disorganized with the newest gadgets, tools, and must-have appliances. While these should make your life easier, the excess clutter of these gadgets just creates chaos.

Living with a cluttered, disorganized kitchen can cause stress and anxiety. But what if we told you you’re just 2 STEPS away from having the warm, inviting, cozy kitchen sanctuary you dream of?

STEP 1 – Declutter

To get organized, we’ve got to get messy. We start by emptying your cupboards so you can see exactly what you have. It can often feel overwhelming to have it all out, so we break it into more manageable sections. 

Here is an example of how we break your kitchen organizing process into sections:

Food items: dried, canned, packaged goods, and spices

Toss out expired or stale food and combine bagged items (like dried pasta), into reusable containers or jars. Consider donating unopened and unexpired foods you know you won’t use in the next three months. Take stock of what you have and plan to make dishes that will use what before purchasing more. 

Cooking and Baking items: pots, pans, baking dishes, mixing bowls, measuring cups and spoons, large utensils

Remove duplicate items and donate them. Do you have four muffin tins? When was the last time you made 4 dozen muffins? If this is not something you do regularly, then these items are just cluttering your space. (Plus, if you ever need to make 4 dozen muffins at once, you can always borrow a tin from a neighbour or family member.)

Serving dishes: plates, bowls, glasses, mugs, platters, and small utensils

If you must open your cupboard slowly for fear that one of your 15 collectible Starbucks mugs may come tumbling out, that’s a good sign your collection needs to be decluttered. 

If you’ve tried organizing your kitchen in the past, and haven’t been successful because you’re unsure how many dishes to keep, we can help. If you have mugs, glasses, and plates at the bottom of your cupboard never being used, then it’s time to let go! People often hang on to too many dishes for the one or two times a year when they host family dinners. And we get it. But, a great way to tackle this is to consider storing the items you don’t use daily in a bin elsewhere in your home (storage room, closet, basement). You can take them out when needed, but they will not clutter your daily life.