Simple Guide in Organizing Your Kitchen Cabinets: KonMari Method

The kitchen is the heart of your home. Your entire family uses it, and it’s where the fun of cooking starts. Even when you have guests over, the kitchen serves as a welcoming space to congregate and bond for a while. It sets the tone and mood for your entire space.

Marie Kondo’s, author and TV host who specializes in organizing, progressive approach to kitchen organization help homeowners create a space where they can enjoy cooking while keeping their kitchen neat and orderly. The point of the KonMari method is to focus on what to keep rather than what to discard.

Organizing and tidying up the kitchen can be the difference between an inspiring day and an overwhelming one. Let’s have a look at some of the ways you can tidy your kitchen space following the KonMari method.

• Take out everything and put it on the floor

To get started with tidying up and organizing, you have to take everything out of the cabinet and other storage and put it on the floor or dining table where you can see them for sorting. This applies when you’re organizing your pantry and refrigerator.

You can save cleaning the fridge for some other time, but remember to use the same method. It’s going to get messy and crowded, and that’s okay! Getting messy is part of the process.

• Time to recognize attachment versus joy

Now, this is where everything gets interesting (or challenging). Marie Kondo advises only to keep the things that “spark joy.” So, whenever you hold an item in your hand, ask yourself, “Does this spark joy?”

You’re dealing with a lot of items, many of them are clutter. To make deciding more manageable, start with the things that you feel strongly about keeping, such as your mom’s gifted chinaware or her hand-me-down pots and pans. During the process, you’ll find old plates, mason jars, and other items that no longer spark joy in your life (and kitchen).

• Clean your empty cabinets

When you’re done eliminating kitchen clutter, make sure to clean your cabinets and storage before you sort out whatever’s left in their rightful places. Take this chance to hand-vacuum the cabinets and wipe them with cleaning products. Remember, before you put your things back, allow the cabinets and your other kitchen storage to dry completely.

• Avoid visual noise by transferring products into simple containers

To make your kitchen sink space more peaceful and uniform, consider getting rid of visual noise or those unsightly product labels that don’t spark joy. Think about transferring your dishwashing and handwashing soap into a simple, text-free container. Little changes like this, such as not having to stare at ugly labels, will make your kitchen space a whole lot better.

• Don’t put anything on your kitchen countertops

In her first book of tidying, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Kondo suggests keeping things off of your kitchen countertops. This way, it would be easier to wipe out oil spills, traces of water, and other kitchen accidents.

When thinking about how you’re going to sort out your kitchen items, keep ease of cleaning in mind. Seeing your surfaces completely clear helps create a space where you can enjoy prepping and cooking. Although this may not apply to every household, at least find the best way to organize your kitchen with this in mind.

Additionally, neat surfaces allow you to spruce up your kitchen space. You can look into kitchen decor tutorials to find out how to make your kitchen more appealing.

• Keep things categorized

Your kitchen tends to get cluttered quickly because of all the tiny things you have that don’t really fit together. Thus, it takes too much space.

One thing you can do to maximize your space, especially your kitchen drawers, is to put a drawer organizer for your utensils to keep things categorized and organized. When it comes to your consumables, like plastic bags and sandwich bags, put them into one container.

• Use vertical storage

For an efficient kitchen, use vertical storage instead of horizontal, where you’re bound to waste a lot of space. Consider investing in expandable kitchen cabinet shelf organizers to maximize the cabinet space. These are great for sorting your plates, cups, and cans in your cabinet. You can find smaller ones, as well, which are great for organizing your herbs and spices.

Summing it up

Basic kitchen safety rules, organization, and tidiness—these are some of the primary reasons why many homeowners invest their time and money in designing a conducive kitchen space. With the tips above, we hope you can declutter your kitchen more effectively.

With that, we leave you with a quote from Marie Kondo.

“What I hope you will aim for is a kitchen where you will feel happy just cooking, one that expresses your own unique brand of joy.”

About The Author: Michael Hill is the Marketing Manager at Ayala Land International. He believes that everyday is a chance to learn something new. In his free time, he writes about home improvement, personal finance, and lifestyle articles while listening to soul and jazz music.

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