I Sent a Pro Organizer a Photo of My “Cluttered” Kitchen Cabinets and Here’s How She Fixed Them

published Jun 26, 2024
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Food pantry before organizing.
Credit: Megan Beauchamp

My rental kitchen is only 56 square feet, which means counter space is limited and cabinet space is even more precious. Because I work from home and cook almost all of my meals, I’ve accumulated a lot of spices, baking supplies, and pantry staples. Needless to say, my cabinets are cluttered (to put it mildly).

After recently knocking a nearly full bag of flour off a shelf and onto the floor while searching for baking powder, I’d finally had enough. To get a handle on the madness lurking behind my kitchen cabinets, I reached out to pro organizer Stephanie Treantos, the founder of Lemonaid Solutions, for her expert advice. And honestly, I wish I’d done it sooner. 

Below, find out how she revamped my kitchen cabinet storage — and steal her tips to transform yours too.

Credit: Megan Beauchamp

Edit, edit, edit. (Hint: Be ruthless.)

First, Treantos told me to go through my cabinets and toss anything I don’t use regularly. “For example, if you tried to make pad Thai once and failed miserably, [then] the peanut oil is no longer useful,” she explains. I threw out a bottle of sunflower seed oil I’d only used once and a fish oil bottle I didn’t even remember buying.

Also, tossing out “expired items is another way to make room for new [purchases],” notes Treantos. “It isn’t just about the expiration — it also shows you’ve had this in your kitchen for years without using it,” she says. I was shocked at how many (very) expired spices I had just sitting in my cabinet taking up valuable cabinet real estate.

Create zones and categories.

Next, she explained how grouping similar items (think: grains and pastas) can make a huge difference in organizing an efficient kitchen. “Zones and categories are the foundation of any system that will truly last,” says Treantos. “Keeping really strict zones helps prevent waste and reduces overall upkeep of any organizational system.”

To create an organizational system that works for you, “think about your routines, how you cook, how you shop, and what really makes sense for you to have an easy flow throughout the day when in this space,” she advises. Because I cook brown rice and quinoa regularly, I moved them to the same storage bin to make it easier for me to see, at a glance, if I need to stock up on my next grocery run.

Credit: Megan Beauchamp

Relocate based on categories.

“Move items to their new appropriate places per the previous step,” says Treantos. “If one category is too big for the space you have it in now it might mean you need to shift the placement of the categories to accommodate the quantity.” In my kitchen, that meant moving my (many) spices and condiments to the larger cabinet and migrating my grains and baking supplies to the smaller one.

Keep things properly contained.

Once I defined my categories and identified where they needed to go, buying the right containers was next. “Order products that will help keep your items contained and are easy to access,” advises Treantos. 

I bought two of these lazy Susans to get my spices and condiments in order. For grains and baking materials, I opted for two of these bins. I went with clear containers to make it easy to see where items are and what I may be running low on.

Credit: Megan Beauchamp

Use labels to make things easier to find.

Labeling your storage bins might feel silly, but it’s a step that pays off when you run out of a particular pantry staple, Treantos told me. “[Labels make] it easier for everyone to put things away, or when a bin or cabinet is empty, it tells everyone what is meant to be there and what you need more of,” she explains.

Shop for the space you have.

“Everyone nowadays is buying in bulk at Costco, but can your kitchen accommodate the influx?” asks Treantos. (In my case, that’s a hard no.) If not, but you want to keep extra back-stock items on hand, Treantos suggests that you consider creating a back-stock area in your garage, basement, or a nearby closet. 

I use a rolling utility cart to store bread, bags of pasta, and packaged snacks, but still, space is limited. “If [back-stocking items isn’t] feasible for you and your home, consider shopping for the space you have so that you can keep the system you are creating in place without overwhelming it with items that don’t fit,” she says.