How to Keep a Busy Kitchen Organized

I am a firm believer that the kitchen is the heart of the home. It is where I cook up nourishment for my family, Brew herbal and medicinal teas, and have long meaningful chats with my children. I spend more time in my kitchen a day then I do in my bed.

As a large family, the kitchen can quickly get out of control. Cleaning it is another one of those many reasons that I spend so much time there. Our kitchen is also the main hub to get up and down stairs and even down to the basement. Talk about the heart of the home. Keeping my busy kitchen organized is a top priority for me.

We all love gadgets and appliances.

They make our lives easier. If you doubt me on that try an instant on a cold winter day. Chili in 20 minutes will convert anyone. Only the thing with appliances is that they can quickly take over a kitchen.

The popcorn maker alone can drive me to the brink of insanity some days. The best thing I ever did was reduce my kitchen appliances and simplify my home. Now we keep a blender, a popcorn maker for the kids, and instant pot, and an electric kettle. I even switched to a french press that is easy to store out of the way. To keep a busy kitchen organized reduce your appliances.

Most of us grew up with a junk drawer.

If you need scissors, a charger, batteries, or a screwdriver odds are you will find it in the junk drawer. Ideally, the best way to reduce this clutter in your kitchen is to get this drawer out of your kitchen. If you have drawers under your linen closet that is a great place to move it.

If you need to keep it in the kitchen organize it. Use twist ties are great for keeping cords from getting tangles, batteries and candles and all those other little things can be sorted and stored in small jars or pouches to reduce kitchen clutter. An organized junk drawer is easy to navigate without having to dump everything on the kitchen floor.

Ramp up the storage in your kitchen.

Often the reason our kitchens become so disorganized is we really don’t have a place for everything. One of my favorite thing I ever did in my kitchen was starting to adding storage. From large glass jars to baskets on the bakers rack to hold items we grab all day long little changes have made a big difference.

Label everything.

When meats go in the freezer label them with what is inside the package and the preferred use-by date. This will save you from having to figure it all out later and help to prevent freezer burn.

If you are stocking your pantry well be sure to mark expiration dates in large writing to make it quicker to find your way around and easier to use the items that will go bad first. When loading food into your pantry place the new stuff in the back.

Keep your kitchen clean and organized

Hide your dirty dishes.

Dishes in the sink or on the counter can make your kitchen look and feel disorganized but no one has time to be washing dishes all day long to keep the dishes out of the sink.

Instead, you can opt to keep a dishpan under your sink to toss dirty dishes into between washings. This helps me keep my sanity in a house with a large family. When I am ready to wash dishes they are all gathered in one place but out of view until I have the time and energy to deal with them a couple times a day.

Keep linens and towels at the ready.

I keep a basket of flour sack towels and dish clothes ready to wipe up messes. Messes are inevitable in the kitchen but these messes are much easier to clean if you get them up before they can dry.

I keep a bottle of properly diluted disinfectant with the linen to help kill off germs each day. In the summer I stick with a lemon and essential oil mix but during flu season when my husband is likely to bring germs home I swap that our for a stronger disinfectant.

Build habits that help keep your kitchen clean and organized.

So often we go through the work of organizing our kitchen then it all goes to waste when we don’t keep it that way. Work on teaching each member of your family to use the new organizational systems you have in place.

Do basic cleaning tasks like clearing counters each time you walk into the room and plan regular deep cleaning days to keep your kitchen clean and organized without the frustration of starting from scratch again. Systems and new habits are your biggest tool in having a clean and organized home.