How to Organize Your Kitchen

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If you’re anything like me, pre-pandemic you regarded your kitchen as the place for storing delivery and takeout; where you’d boil the occasional pasta, blend the occasional smoothie, and bake the occasional Toll-House cookie (if you live several blocks away from a Levain, there’s no need for any DIY). But to actually use one’s tiny NYC kitchen to prepare a genuine home-cooked meal, one that might involve marinating and oven-roasting and onion-chopping and garlic-peeling? Madness.

Cue the beginning of the pandemic, where I (along with everyone else) was forced into the kitchen. For starters, I realized that my reluctance to cook was largely due to its impractical setup. Sure the appliances looked neat and tidy, but my pots and pans were stashed in a cabinet across from the stove, the olive oil was hidden deep in the recesses of my spice cabinet, and my salt and pepper were nowhere in sight! Once I reorganized my pantry and cabinets so as to encourage even my laziest cooking-self to fry an egg, I felt an ease that I had never felt before in the kitchen.

All it takes is a little elbow grease, a couple of garbage bags, and some soul-searching about the kinds of food you will realistically make on any given night. Sure, you can hold onto that copper fish poacher, but if it’s crowding out the rice cooker you use every other day, maybe find a new place for it to live.

To get excited about cooking in your own kitchen, here are some tips that worked for me and my clients.

Declutter your gadgetry. The first order of business in any disorganized kitchen is to declutter. Cull any unused appliances, duplicate utensils, and expired food items that might be hiding in nooks and crannies of your pantry. Consider handing off any unused appliances to a friend before donating to the Goodwill or selling online on Facebook Marketplace.

Get in the zone. As soon as you’ve decluttered your kitchen, it’s time to combine like with like. The most important part of an organized kitchen is to create zones designated for each food type (including the food in your fridge). If you’re a baker, consider placing all your core baking items on one shelf in your pantry (e.g. flour, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla extract, etc.). If your family eats a lot of whole grains and pasta, pool these items together at eye level so they’re always in sight. Zoning will save you time looking for what you need and will considerably eliminate food from going to waste.

Map out your space. After you’ve replaced your pantry items, it’s time to rethink your kitchenware layout: does it make sense for your cooking needs? Are the silverware drawer and dish cabinets close enough to the dishwasher for easy unloading? Are your pots and pans easy to reach? If you find yourself on your tippy toes every time you reach for your boxes of cereal, consider moving them to a lower shelf. Don’t be afraid to do a little shuffling to eliminate any nagging pain points in the kitchen.  

Bin it to win it. Now’s the time to fill in the gaps with any storage solutions. You absolutely don’t need to spend an arm and a leg furnishing your kitchen with clear containers. In fact, many storage items you probably already have lying around your home. I love using empty iPhone boxes as dividers for the junk drawer.

Level up. In terms of products, however, there are definitely some worth investing in. If you’re someone who does a lot of cooking, I strongly recommend investing in a Lazy Susan (and organizing it with your fave items) to keep your most frequently used oils and vinegars close to the stove. If you buy a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, consider containing them all in one place in a vertical fruit basket, which is a huge space saver. If you love your spices and herbs but can never locate what you need when you need it, consider investing in a spice organizer.

Let’s get cooking. Now that you’ve done a little reorganizing, you can go forth and test the waters. In fact, go boil some pasta water and salt it with that bowl of kosher salt sitting conveniently next to your stovetop. Grab a box of pasta from your pantry shelf located conveniently at eye level. Then salt it some more, butter it, drizzle it with olive oil, maybe add a flash of some red pepper flakes, or do none of those things. You’re the boss of your own kitchen!

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The Best Time-Saving Kitchen Tools I Bought in 2020