Do You Know Where is the Best Place to Store Everything in Your Kitchen?

Have you ever stood in the middle of your kitchen and wondered “Where should I put everything in my kitchen?”

If so, you are certainly not alone. In many homes, the kitchen often easily becomes cluttered with all of the small appliances, pots, pans, utensils, and food items that need to be stowed away somewhere. Many people feel overwhelmed and wonder if there’s a better way to keep the kitchen organized in order to maximize efficiency.

If you’re curious as to where you should store everything in your kitchen, here are some expert tips to help you maximize your kitchen organization:

1. Divide Your Kitchen into Different Zones

In order to organize your kitchen for efficiency, one expert recommendation is to divide your kitchen into multiple zones.

Specifically, the five suggested zones are:

• Cooking Zone – the area that contains your oven, stovetop, and perhaps your microwave.
• Prep Zone – the area where you do most of your kitchen prep work, probably a section of your countertop and/or kitchen island
• Cleaning Zone – the area where you have your sink and/or dishwasher
• Food Zone – sometimes this is split between the refrigerator (where you keep fresh food) and a pantry / food cabinet (where you keep dry or packaged goods).
• Non-Consumables Zone – this is a catch-all area where you keep your everyday, non-edible kitchen items such as plates, bowls, glasses, utensils, etc.

Once you have these different zones mapped out in your kitchen, your goal is to try to store your various kitchen items as close as possible to their corresponding zone. For example, bowls, knives, and cutting boards should be stored close to your prep zone. Pots, pans, and baking ware should be stored close to the cooking zone.

Though you probably won’t be able to create a perfect correspondence of zones and storage, the closer you can keep most items to their related zone, the more efficient your kitchen will be.

2. Keep Your Everyday Dishes Close to Where You Clean Them 

Another expert tip is to keep your everyday dishes (from the Non-Consumables Zone) close to where you would wash them (the Cleaning Zone).

Your everyday dishes will make up the bulk of what’s coming out of your dishwasher or dry dish rack, and when it’s time to put then away, you don’t want to have to be walking all across the kitchen if you don’t have to.

3. Make Sure You Have Prep Space Close to the Stove

An additional expert layout tip is to try to keep your Prep Zone close to your Cooking Zone.

Ideally, you want to make sure you have adequate counterspace for your kitchen prep tasks as close as possible to the stove. This way, you won’t need to take more than a few steps to put your prepared dishes in the oven or on the stove top, and you’ll have space to set them to rest once they’re done cooking.

4. When in Doubt, Try a Small Change

Keeping your kitchen items in or near their appropriate zone isn’t always feasible, especially if you have a small or oddly-shaped kitchen. So, just try to do your best to make things as easy as possible on yourself.

Sometimes, your daily habits matter most as to what will actually maximize your efficiency. For example, if you bake frequently, it will be more important to have your favorite pans close by than for someone who only bakes a few times a year.

If you have any doubt, try making a just a small change and see if it makes a difference. Oftentimes, life requires experimentation to get things right, and your kitchen layout is no exception.

Sometimes when you try to organize your kitchen, you realize that in order to make the best use of your available space, you really ought to add more storage. If that’s the case with your kitchen, our team here at RTA Wood Cabinets can be of help.