I've got so many submissions for the Organize Kitchen Cabinets Challenge that I've also broken down these hall of fame pages into several parts.
In Week #2 of the Organized Home Challenge the mission was to organize your kitchen cabinets and drawers and many readers have done an awesome job!
You can scroll down below to see before and after photos showing what they've done to organize their kitchens, and what a dramatic difference it can make.
If what you see inspires you, you can check out the kitchen cabinet organization challenge, and its step by step instructions so you can also participate.
This is a before - but she said it was already decluttered
After - notice the shelf expander
Tina showed her progress in week # 2 of the Organized Home Challenge too.
First, I loved the picture of how she organized her flatware, including children's oddly shaped utensils, using these little slim organizing baskets (see picture on the right).
These little baskets are such a great way to organize all kinds of small stuff in drawers, and are one of my favorite versatile and cheap storage solutions.
Next, I wanted you to see how she used a shelf expander (see example on the left) to create more shelf space. It basically uses what would otherwise by unused "air space" and makes more room for you to stack dishes or other items. I think it works well in her cabinet, and is something simple that can really increase storage in a small cabinet.
Thinking Hard About Where Things Should Really Reside In Each Cabinet
by Lee-Anne
After - with added shelf expanders
Before
After
Lee-Anne from Life in a Peanut Free Shell shared quite a few pictures of what she accomplished during this week's challenge.
I've chosen just a few for the hall of fame, but they are here to demonstrate how Lee-Anne really thought about where everything should go in her kitchen and rearranged the contents of the cabinets to match.
First, in her cabinet holding her plates and cups she had to stretch to reach things she used regularly. She was tired of it so she added shelf expanders and moved things around so everything she used frequently was in easier reach.
Further, she had a very deep cabinet (the before and after pictures you see). She explained: "It’s so narrow and deep that it was hard to fit anything in it! It’s main purpose was to store our leftover food containers in there, but I hated it. Unless they were put back “just so” you could never match lids with containers. Believe it or not, it was easy to lose stuff in there!"
So she completely moved that stuff to a different location and replaced it with kitchen gadgets, because that made more sense for the location and the type of storage area available.
Kitchen Cabinet and Drawer Organization Before And After Pictures
by Dawn
(Minnesota)
Before
After
Before and After
Stuff I got rid of!
Dawn says:
After completing the challenge this week, I was shocked to see how much stuff I had that I didn't need! I broke it down and did the cabinets with dishes and our kitchen storage closet in one afternoon. Then the next afternoon I did the cookware cabinets and the drawers that hold utensils and miscellaneous stuff.
I got rid of stuff I didn't use, moved things to a better location and then organized them in a way that made it easier for me to get things out of the cabinets. I thought about what irritates me when I go into each cabinet and corrected those problems.
I got rid of ten bags of stuff! Now I can't wait to get started on the food storage areas.
It feels so good to look into my cabinets and see the organization and lack of clutter.
Taylor says:
Thanks Dawn for sharing those great pictures.
Wow! Ten bags of stuff decluttered. That is pretty darn awesome, and I'm sure it feels so freeing to you. Keep up the great work and enjoy your now more spacious kitchen cabinets and drawers.
Do You Want To Organize Your Kitchen Cabinets Now?
This concludes this first part of the hall of fame for Week #2 of the challenge, all about kitchen cabinet and drawer organization.
If you've gotten inspired I'd love for you to join the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge, and get your whole house organized over the course of the year.
In addition, once you've done this week's challenge I'd love to feature your pictures in the hall of fame too.
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Does anyone else besides me put labels on their shelves in the cabinets stating what's on it? It helps a lot not to be asked where is _____? Where does____ go?
Lazy Susan shelves by: Anonymous
I have two lazy Susan shelves in a corner. I store candy and treats on one, and drink bottles and bags of dried chili on the other. If anything falls off the shelf into the corner, it is very difficult to retrieve. Any ideas on what is best to store on these type of shelves? Is there some kind of pie shaped containers that fit these shelves?
Turntable kitchen cabinets by: Anonymous
I didn't notice any turntable cabinets. Does anyone have photos of how they took care of those and what they put in them?
Deep cabinets by: Pam
How do you use deep cabinet space without losing accessibility? I just took a dozen outdated cans of food out of this base cabinet. Maybe put seldom used appliances behind the cans?
Need help by: Stacey
Hello I need help on how to organize the kitchen cabinets with pots and pans.
response to Stacey asking for help with pots and pans organization by: Taylor
I have not seen where to issue of cleaning downdraft filters has been brought up.
In doing the cabinet organization challenge, I discovered that I had forgotten to clean them and had a mess to clean under my island cook top. We used the opportunity to order additional filters, so that I wouldn't forget to clean them and to complete the liner in the base.
Containers by: Maryellen
I don't keep cottage cheese, whipped topping or any others containers for food (leftovers) storage. It's too easy to lose track of what you have in the refrigerator. Is that cottage cheese or some other unknown? Also a translucent or glass container is better so you can see what you have saved.
base cabinet question by: Gale
After a kitchen leak my insurance company replaced the base cabinets and floor. Had to move everything out of the kitchen for a few weeks. When the work was done, the crew gone, and I started moving back into kitchen, I discovered that there is just one big space in the new base cabinets, no shelf. I'm trying to figure out how to best use the space without spending money on fancy pull-out inserts or cube and board shelves. Suggestions?