How To Organise Your Kitchen Cabinets

Well-organised kitchen cabinets are an essential part of a modern home. They make you feel like you’re on top of things, even if you’re not! They bring you immense satisfaction in addition to making your life easier.

We asked FCI senior designer, Ricardo Jarjoura, for his top tips on how to organise your kitchen cabinets.

1. Sort items by task

Ricardo is emphatic about the first step to a kitchen cabinet holy grail.

“You should always organise all the contents of your kitchen cabinets according to what you use them for,” he explains. “Group items together that you use for making dinners, such as frying pans, pots, roasting trays and tongs. Food prep items like cutting boards, knives and salad bowls go together. Organising your kitchen items by what they do instead of what they are means you won’t have to look in multiple kitchen cabinets when you start a particular task.”

2. Map out where your items will go

Ricardo suggests creating zones in your kitchen and mapping out where your items should go within them.

“Zoning is an efficient way to manage your kitchen, so this should extend to your kitchen cabinets. A zoned kitchen basically means that each area has a designated function. So when applying this to kitchen cabinets, you’d keep your cooking products near the stove and your mugs above the kettle. You can put food prep items such as cutting boards and knives on top of counters.

3. Maximise your space

“A really good trick, especially if you have a smaller kitchen, is to use your vertical space,” says Ricardo.

“You’ll likely have kitchen cabinets or tall shelves that you can’t easily reach. Use this space for items that you use occasionally – vases, jugs, baking things if you’re not a baker. You can even place things on top of cabinets if they don’t really the ceiling. Just ensure you do it in a way that doesn’t look messy.”

But that’s not all you can do to maximise your space. “Think outside the box – add hooks to hang up your pans or cooking utensils,” Ricardo explains. “Or put a magnetic strip on the wall and stick your knives to it. Another good idea is to add a pegboard to a kitchen wall for detachable wire baskets. The detachable element allows you to select only the basket of items that you need for a task.”

4. Use labels

When it comes to storing food, Ricardo has one key tip.

“Labels! Buy a bunch of elegant jars and pour your dry goods into them. Then label everything neatly and, if possible, store them in an open-fronted kitchen cabinet or shelf so you can see them. There’s;s something very pleasing about an orderly row of containers with perfect labels. If you’re really dedicated, you can add a best-before date as well. I promise this is a game changing life hack.”

5. Put dividers in your drawers

Ricardo’s final tip for organising your kitchen cabinets is to add dividers.

“Dividers in drawers make a world of difference to the clutter that naturally collects in your kitchen. Try creating custom-fit dividers for each drawer in order to store big and small utensils in their proper place. You can even place your dividers diagonally if you’re having issues with some items that are too long for the drawer space.”

In conclusion

Our designers have been designing kitchens for nearly 40 years and are adept at helping you find the perfect kitchen cabinet solution for your home. Get in touch with us today or view some of our contemporary kitchen designs to get an idea of what we can do.