10 Mistakes to Avoid when Organizing Your Kitchen

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[economicist]

Oh fun. Now my cooking journey can be like my programming journey, where I spend all my time customizing my development environment and no time actually programming.

[Ubeogesh]

My problem with most of this is CLEANING. When everything is so exposed, it will all collect much more dust, and in the kitchen specifically - grease. That's why most of the stuff has to be hidden behind a door

[NinaThoren]

Being able to see everything in your pantry (and kitchen in general) is so important. The reason I still want cabinets is because of the dust and grime that can build up if I don't use something on a particular shelf very often. Having the pantry in a pull out drawer feels like a good solution to having it enclosed but still being able to see everything

[mr.dalerobinson]

Since I moved into a ‘tiny home’ I’ve learnt everything has a place, and every space can have a thing.
During lockdown I have ‘finessed’ the layout, building simple shelves, hanging pots & utensils, refining the layout and making things work logically.

Now I prefer my tight but organised space, and I’m working on my ‘workflow’ to further refine it.

[kyledavy]

I've noticed cabinets are easier to just wipe down any grease build up on the doors. Whereas if it was something like jars on a shelf, I need to wipe down every jar

[StarrshProductions]

Here's another thing: Organize your fridge. Keep similar things in similar places. I got fridge organizers for cheese, meat and sauces to keep them in one place. Makes it easier to control what is still left and in the long run prevents you from wasting food because it was tucked away somewhere in the back!

[JMilMovies]

That curved blade knife in your knife block is the "birds beak knife" (named for its shape, not it's function) and is most typically used for peeling fruits/vegetables because it's shape allows you to cut very shallow to avoid wasting any of main part of the fruit/vegetable when you're peeling it.

[randallthomas]

A few hints: If you’re storing in cabinets, deep enough to get things lost. Buy some plastic shoe boxes, to organize things into. I have translucent, shoe boxes in the cabinets to sort ingredients, spices for savory food in one, spices for sweets and deserts in another. And I have rack on the outside of the cabinet above the stove, which holds my seven spice grinders. I have grinders with herb and spice blends for different meats and sauces and they are right there so i can put them on searing steaks, or add them to a pan sauce.

On knives, the ones I use the most are on the island with the cutting board. I store them in a decorative metal tin. I lined the bottom of the tine with three layers of cardboard to keep the tips form hitting the bottom, and then poured the tin almost full of dry beans. The knives get pushed down into the beans to the handles. They stay in order, and are readily grasped for use. The specialty knives are in a drawer in the island, along with diamond hones, micro planes, egg separators, measuring spoons and cups. If I’m butchering or cutting down large cuts of meat those knives, cleavers or kitchen shears come out when I need them.

I’m diabetic so it takes me a while to go through starches such as pasta and grains. I store them in mason jars, and vacuum seal them. The jars are clear and air tight, and in the wide mouth version somewhat square so they store neatly on a shelf.

One of the best ways I have to deal with left over soups, stews, and sauces is to purposely make extra, and freeze it for future use in vacuum seal bags. making one cup of a marinara sauce is impossible. Making five quarts, and freezing it in portion sizes works well. And, most of them can be canned in glass jar with a pressure cooker, and stored in the pantry if needed.

[Thalanna]

The video: "Use space" "With space" "Then use that space" "Establish space"
Me in my 40 sqf Paris apartment: "what is space?" :p

[babthooka]

My pickle with shelves is that the stuff on them has to be cleaned. And it's a pain to have to clean lots of small things that could be on a shelf. This is true in the whole house, but in the kitchen it's much worse, because exposed things tend to get greasy. Even if you "only" have to clean up things every 2nd or 3rd month, washing a thin layer of grease off of 20 jars + any number of cooking appliances is a major pain. My opinion. I like things in cabinets because I'm lazy. It's MUCH easier to clean a cabinet front than all the crap inside of the cabinet. :D

Well, after seeing the whole video, it seems you like stuff left out in the open with easy access. Maybe I fry stuff too much, but if I did that, I'd never finish cleaning up grease & dust. :P

[_bane_]

Note: lots of produce is light-sensitive, e.g. olive oil spoils when exposed to UV light, beans can bleach etc. - you *do* need to have some covered shelf space if, say, you're not using/opening a new bottle of oil every other day

[triciamoss]

Obviously, he is a visual organizer. He likes to be able to see everything. This kitchen would drive me crazy because of the visual clutter. To each his own. Most of the items in my kitchen are in cabinets, which I tend to leave open when I cook. The countertops are mostly clear. Knives are in the knife drawer, spices are in the spice drawer. Even the paper towels are under the sink. As for fridge organization, masking tape and a sharpie marker are my best friends. Every container gets a label with the contents and date. Takes some time to label, but I spend very little time hunting, opening, and sniffing.

[PocketDoc]

Tip 1, Utilizing Shelves. 0:50
Tip 2, Drawer organization. 2:21
Tip 3, Pots and Pans. 3:47
Tip 4, Knife Blocks. 4:54
Tip 5, Cooking Item Essentials. 6:46
Tip 6, Spices. 7:36
Tip 7, Pantry Organization. 9:15
Tip 8, Storage Containers. 9:50
Tip 9, Counter Space. 11:29
Tip 10, Dish Towels. 12:31

[AT-nufg]

A lot of ingredients keep better in a cool, dark place. Keeping things on open shelves exposes them to light and fluctuating temperatures. Also some people find it looks cluttered when everything is on display on shelves and prefer things to be hidden in cupboards.

[Aikano]

But everything gets covered in grease and oil from cooking, along with random dust. Cabinets with glass doors are therefore superior. Way easier to clean

[melaniehancock]

Great advice! One thing I would like to add is get rid of all the extra stuff you NEVER use from your kitchen space! I relocated seasonal items to a rack in my garage which is also organized, I got rid of a million extra mugs and cups, utilizing mason jars for drinking glasses as well as storage. I don’t leave small appliances on my small counters, but instead freed up cabinet space to put them in to make my kitchen clean and less cluttered. They’re easily accessible. One day I’ll have a house where I have space to hang my pots and pans and have more pantry space to organize my baking stuff better. (I don’t have a pantry, I have two medium size deep cabinets 😫)

[tagger_]

The only small tip I'd throw in there, in terms of the magnetic knife strip.
Space out your knives! - especially if the magnet isn't "firmly gripping/holding" onto your more heavy knives, but maybe just "does the trick", so to speak.
I've grabbed a few knives before, and when doing that, I've accidentally bumped one of the other knives and it fell down, cutting me on it's way down.

[maxe]

My husband and I we’re just talking last night about reorganizing our kitchen. I love that you found your style/process, but I hate visual clutter. For me, as little things on the counter and out in the open as possible is better. When my house is visually cluttered I feel bogged down and overwhelmed 😕. Despite that, your video has inspired me to get a move on with the reorganization! 😁😁😁

[TaylorRaine]

I have little kids and when you showed that picture of the “efficiency shelf” all I could imagine were my kids climbing that thing and making off with all of my stuff to play with somewhere 😂

[EtherPump]

A personal example on how i combined tip6 and tip 8:
Every so often i buy a pizza kit, just a ready-made pizza dough with a tomato sauce for it. The small glassjar that contains the tomato sauce, instead of throwing away perfectly working glass jars. Now I'm using them to store spices that come in weird bags and also made spice mixes like cinnamon+sugar or onion+garlic. Also work nicely as nice drinking glasses