Making Your Kitchen Work for You {and our kitchen reveal}

Hey all! I know I told you I would reveal rooms in our new home as we "finished" them {understanding that some will be in the works for months, probably years}. However that wasn't 100% true. Our kitchen has basically been "finished" since about the 3rd day we moved in. It was one of the first rooms I unpacked. I was so eager to get things organized and spread out in the new space! 

It's kind of difficult to really show off a before and after photo here since we really didn't do anything but add our stuff. But here is the before photo anyway, just as a reminder. 

I have mentioned before how much I love organizing kitchens. It is seriously one of my favorite spaces to tackle when I help someone get organized. That's mainly because it's one of the only spaces where the room can totally work for you, instead of you trying to make the room work. 

Here are a few tips I want to share with you all to get your kitchen to it's optimal, space saving, quick moving, easy cooking, place. 

1. Categorize your pantry/food storage
Sometimes people ask me why I label so many things, don't I know where they go? Yes, yes of course I know where they go. However, labeling spaces and putting items into categories makes it so much easier when unloading groceries, cooking, or directing someone where the brown sugar might be.

In our food cabinet, each shelf is labeled and separated into a somewhat designated category. Sometimes things move around a tad. For example, our "snacks" section is pretty small so sometimes when we have a few too many treats in our cabinet, they overflow to another shelf. No biggie! Simply having the shelf designated for certain items can help prevent the entire cabinet or pantry from chaos.

2. Designated Areas
If you're a coffee drinker, or tea, or soda stream, or any other prepared beverage consumer, it's so convenient to have all of those items designated into one particular space. We are consumers of all of the above. So one corner of our kitchen is dedicated to everything. 

Everything we need to enjoy a beverage is within arms' reach. Our mugs are stationed right above the coffee and tea makers. 

We house all of our teas in the drawer just below. 

Soda stream syrups, hot cocoa, and lemonade mixers are all stationed just above, using lazy Susans to make these dreaded corner cabinets more manageable. 

3. Drawers
If your kitchen has more drawers than shelves just give your kitchen a little hug and some extra lovin' today. 

For some reason, this is a relatively new feature in most kitchens but it should have been incorporated ages ago. Storing items in drawers, or on glider shelves, is a game changer in a kitchen. It can seriously take you from the back breaking search for that one particular stock pot you only use around Thanksgiving, to the simple pull of a handle and bend at the knees. 

Also, the pull of the handle can be done with your feet when you're super pregnant and can't be bothered to bend that extra few inches to pull the drawer. 

This cabinet is by far my most favorite cabinet in the kitchen. It basically houses everything that was such a pain to get to in our apartment because we just didn't have space. 

I realize, not everyone has something like this in their home, but don't fret. You can still get the ease of drawers or gliders in your kitchen without having to replace your cabinetry. 
Here are some options from Home Depot for installing your own drawers. 

{via / via / via}

Or, an inexpensive alternative is to use plastic bins. I love this idea! People can be so brilliant sometimes. 

{via}

4. The Fridge
I get teased a lot for how organized I am, but one space that I definitely find silly to overly organize is the fridge. Don't get me wrong, I love the look of a nice, neat, orderly refrigerator, but I am just not that organized! 

{NOT my fridge}

Our shelves are somewhat divided up into categories, but Brit has no clue of this so he doesn't really follow it. And I'm not committed enough to label our fridge so I'll continue moving the cheese back into the cheese drawer without complaint {but hint, hint, sweetie, when you grab it from a drawer, chances are it goes back into that same drawer}. 

I follow the same kind of code as I do with our food storage in our cabinet. I try to separate things into shelves, sides, doors, drawers, etc., but I don't always buy the same foods and sometimes I need to make room for leftovers or large bottles. I feel like the refrigerator pictured above does not really allow for that flexibility. 

So instead, I recommend storing frequently used items in easily accessible locations. If milk fits in the door and you use it daily, put it in the door. I try to store leftovers towards the front and right in the line of sight. That way I don't forget about them and then start to wonder what that horrible stank is every time I open the door. 

5. Prep Space
I like to have this space somewhere near the sink and trashcan, this way I can rinse items easily and toss out scraps. 

I've mentioned this item before and I'll swear by it again. This is by far my favorite cutting board. I typically use the little basket piece for scraps as I cut, but it can also be used as a strainer. I pull this guy out for bigger cooking projects, like freezer meal days. It saves time and can be adjusted to sit over almost any sink, making clean up super simple as well. 

Here are some pictures of the overall layout of the kitchen now, with all of our items unpacked. 

{The glass pumpkin candy jar is not always there, but in it's place it typically some other type of candy dish to the image it still quite accurate. Mmm candy...} 

So, is it time for a change up in your kitchen? Do a quick walk through and consider your day to day life. Are the drink glasses near the drink source? Are your cooking spices and seasonings near your prep area and cook top? Do you have items that you dread going for because they're such a pain to get to? If so, would drawers help, or maybe just reorganizing how the items are stored? 

The next time you work in the kitchen, consider how far you have to venture to get something while prepping, cooking, or cleaning, and is there a way to minimize that movement. 

Thanks for visiting!