No matter how frequently you cook, trying to prepare food in a disorganized space can be stressful. Whether or not you find creating a meal exciting, it can be hard to get started in the kitchen if you have to dig through your cabinets to find what you need. Reduce the mental load of planning recipes by getting organized and breathing new life into your kitchen.

Examine Your Inventory

In order to get organized, you sometimes have to get a little messy first, in preparation. Reorganizing your kitchen should include taking an inventory of what you have, so start by pulling everything out of your cabinets. Pulling everything out of your cupboards can be tedious, but it will remind you of what cookware is buried in the back of your cabinets. It’s also a great opportunity to wipe down that shelf space. Look closely at your appliances, too. Is everything still in good condition? Are there appliances that you don’t use but take up valuable storage space? Determine what can be donated, recycled, or trashed. Then, group similar cookware together. Cookie sheets and cookie cutters differ significantly in size and shape, and therefore shouldn’t be stored in the same place. However, categorizing them together will make it easier to store them in adjacent locations later.

Cross-reference Your Habits with Your Cabinets

Now that you have a clear picture of your belongings, think through your cooking habits. What dishes do you like to cook frequently, and which appliances do they require? Are you delegating food prep tasks and working alongside other family members and have regular traffic jams? Storing your utensils, appliances, and cookware according to your unique routine will make your day-to-day life easier. Here are some strategic placement ideas that keep the items you need in the locations you might need them most:

• Store dishes near the dishwasher or drying rack
• Breakfast appliances like a coffee maker, blender, or kettle belong near the cabinets with mugs, coffee beans, tea bags, etc.
• Keep pots and pans near the stove
• If baking accessories don’t have room near the oven, store them in the cabinets closest to the baking ingredients
• Heavy or bulky appliances are most easily accessed when stored on lazy Susans or pull-out shelves

Make Your Storage More Efficient

If you’re low on cabinet and drawer space, you’ll need to be creative for maximum efficiency. Organizational tools can make tricky spaces more effective, like lazy Susans in corner cupboards and shelf inserts in cabinets for smarter stacking. Tension rods can be helpful in tall or narrow cabinets, creating vertical storage for items such as cutting boards, baking sheets, trays, and muffin pans. Drawer dividers are excellent for silverware but are also helpful for miscellaneous or oddly shaped kitchen items. Cupboards above the fridge or other hard-to-reach spots are best for infrequently used or seasonal kitchenware. Need extra storage? Try using a rolling cart for pantry overflow or entertaining purposes.

Kitchen DIY Opportunities

As your life evolves, your kitchen might need to evolve with you. Sometimes a DIY project or two is all it takes to accommodate your new routine. Hang pots and pans by installing a ceiling rack or adding hooks to the wall or side of a cabinet. Open shelves can make dishes easy to see but they aren’t everyone’s aesthetic preference. Consider installing pull-out shelves for convenient access to the whole cupboard. Need more space for your mugs? Try adding hooks on the bottom of a kitchen cabinet near your coffee machine or kettle.

Start New Habits

Occasionally, you can make your kitchen more organized by simply tweaking a few habits. When you bring home groceries, stock your fridge and cabinets with the newest items at the back to make sure you use up food before it expires. Try labeling containers (especially leftovers) with the date you made the meal, so you know when to freeze it or eat it. Keep trash bags near the trash bin or store a few at a time in the bottom of the container.