There’s more to kitchen organization than stowing items away behind closed cabinet doors, clearing the countertop of bulky appliances, or divvying up your utensils into little dividers. As much as we love magnetic knife racks, labeled spice jars, and lazy Susans, these products aren’t necessarily a guarantee that your kitchen will be hardworking.
If you really want to set your space up for success, you’ll have to look beyond the cupboards into all the nooks and crannies where clutter tends to gather: the pantry shelves, the back of the sink base cabinet, the corner of the island. Keeping this holistic view in mind, we gathered 12 ideas that make for a truly clutter-free kitchen.
There is a designated spot for every single item in Sarah Sherman Samuel’s walk-in pantry. The designer set the dimensions of the shelves according to the items she wanted to store there, from cereal boxes to paper towels. She even squeezed one in for her coffee mug collection (the measurements came out to exactly 6.125 inches high).
Anything that doesn’t conveniently fit in a drawer or on an open shelf can live on a mounted rod over the cooktop. Baker Ashley Illchuck displays cups, scissors, and bags of dried goods from S-hooks on her brass rail.
Mail, keys, sunglasses—all these things tend to end up in one big pile on the kitchen counter. But in this Los Angeles home designed by Frances Merill of Reath Design, those items are out of the way, thanks to a small drop-off ledge that’s conveniently located next to the door. Now nothing important gets lost to the