Kitchen Organization Essentials: Type A Tried and True Series
Products We Love (And What To Avoid)
Let’s be real: a messy kitchen can make even the simplest meal prep feel like a marathon. There’s nothing worse than digging through cluttered cabinets, only to find three separately purchased bottles of cumin stashed behind a stack of long-forgotten canned meat. 👀 🫣 Orrrr when you’re hunting for the one lid that actually fits your pot, only to find it buried in a sea of mismatched pans and small appliances. Trust me, we’ve all been there—and we’ve helped countless clients turn their kitchens into spaces they actually enjoy spending time in.
Today, I’m spilling all those beans (pun fully intended! 🫘) on our favorite tips and must-have products that bring instant order to any kitchen. These aren’t just things we recommend—they’re things we actually use. Each item has been put to the test and proven to make any space more organized and functional. Because let’s face it: we’re not just after space-saving here—we’re after sanity-saving! Each of these picks has a special place in our organizing toolkit, and I promise they’ll make your life so much easier. A well-organized kitchen is closer than you think. Let’s dive in and make it happen!
1. Use your vertical space
Shelf Risers
Of course, this is one of the oldest tricks in the book, but it’s amazing how often we don’t see it being utilized. Using shelf risers maximizes every bit of your valuable cabinet space, making things more accessible and ultimately protecting your dinnerware and glassware.
What We Love:
We have two favorites from the Container Store that we run to over and over again for their quality and durability. For the budget buy, we love the classic grippy white wire shelf riser, but for an ultra-sleek and luxe option, we are obsessed with the Acrylic Organizer Shelves from CS. I mean... look at those finished pics.
White Wire ($)
Acrylic ($S$)
Honorable Mention in the Shelf Riser Department ($)
These mesh stackable shelf risers from CS are absolutely fantastic quality. We love the mesh for non-wobbly security on the shelf. The catch? Although we love using them any time that we can, we find that they often don’t fit in pretty standard Each variation has different depths, lengths, and heights, making it a little more finicky when it comes to measurements. If some of the sizes work in your space, it’s a great pick, both for price and quality!
Serving + Bakeware
YouCopia Adjustable Bakeware Racks
What We Love:
The YouCopia Expandable Bakeware Rack is a lifesaver for anyone tired of digging through a pile of pans. It keeps everything organized with adjustable dividers, so you can easily grab whatever you need—whether it’s a baking sheet, cooling rack, muffin tin, or even cutting boards.
No more flipping through stacks or worrying about stuff toppling over. It expands as your bakeware collection grows, keeping things neat and accessible. It works great in deep drawers, lower, or upper cabinets!
Measuring at 11.5" long, this is perfect for smaller spaces or when you just have a couple of items to store!
The expandable hero! This version expands from 12"-22" wide, making it the perfect fit for any space!
Lids Galore
YouCopia StoreMore Pot Lid Organizer
What We Love:
While we have tried some of the Container Store options for lid storage, we consistently find ourselves coming back to YouCopia for this one. This organizer is a powerhouse that grows with your needs, whether it’s holding pot and pan lids, bakeware lids, cookware accessories, or food storage container lids. We like that it’s open on the sides to accommodate wider lids and accessories, whereas some other options can pigeonhole you into what you’re able to store.
Tip: We often pair this with the larger adjustable rack to store CorningWare, baking dishes, and their lids.
YouCopia StoreMore Adjustable Pot Lid Organizer
Water Bottles
Water bottles are one of the trickiest items to store. They come in all shapes and sizes, and stacking them? Forget it. It’s easy for smaller bottles to get lost behind the big ones or, even worse, for them all to tumble out as soon as you open the cabinet.
YouCopia UpSpace Bottle Organizer
What We Love:
This organizer is a game-changer for water bottle storage. What it may lack in beauty, it truly makes up for in customizability. Unlike fixed-size organizers, this one has adjustable shelves that accommodate everything from the narrowest Swell bottle to that mega 40 oz Stanley you take everywhere. It comes in a 2 or 3-shelf variety, as well as multiple widths in each, making it friendly for any space or quantity! You don’t have to play bottle Tetris—just slide each bottle onto its own shelf, and it’s right there waiting for you. It’s versatile, sturdy, and makes grabbing exactly what you need a breeze, no matter the size.
Note: Not all shelves can accommodate water bottles on their sides, especially the tall ones. Some cabinets might fit bottles with lids and straws intact, while others might need you to store lids separately. If possible, test your largest bottles on their sides in the space you’re using. If only some bottles fit, you can keep the ones that don’t upright on a nearby shelf.
YouCopia UpSpace Bottle Organizer
Other notable favorites that work well, but are a little less customizable:
2. Utilize Shelf Depth Without Burying Items
Every space is different. You may be dealing with items bursting from 8-inch deep shelves or items being buried to “die” in 26-inch depth lower cabinets. Our biggest recommendation? Get bins that use the space well. After years of experience in every space imaginable, these are the bins that we come back to time and time again:
Standard Upper Cabinet Depth:
The Everything Organizer Cabinet Depth Bin (10.5” Deep)
What We Love:
We love the quality, the price, and the crystal-clear acrylic look! We also love the variety of widths it comes in for any space and the removable dividers. This allows you to use the full depth of a cabinet or shelf, while also being able to create categories—either with the use of multiple bins or with the dividers.
Everything Organizer Cabinet Depth Pantry Bin
Deeper Cabinets and Shelves:
Everything Organizer Shelf Depth (14.5” Deep)
What We Love:
This echoes everything we love about the cabinet-depth version above, but it’s also great for slightly deeper cabinets and shelves. We recommend always trying to find a bin that uses every available inch to keep things from getting buried in the back!
The Everything Organizer Shelf Depth Pantry Bin
iDesign Deep Drawer Bins (16” Deep)
What We Love:
These bins are great for both deep cabinets and creating built-in dividers within drawers. These come in 4, 6, and 8-inch widths, making them perfect for any space and category.
iDESIGN Linus Deep Drawer Bin
Stak Bins (17.5” Deep)
What We Love:
One of our all-time heroes. It may not be as luxe as the acrylic, but it is an absolute workhorse. We love that it comes in a million sizes, but our most commonly used sizes are the “long with wheels.” These come in at a whopping 17.5” depth, are available in multiple heights and widths, have several adjustable dividers for category sorting, and have small rollers to boot for easy access to the back of the bin!
STAK Bin w/ Wheels
A few notable favorite bins for different spaces of the kitchen:
Lazy Susans
What We Love:
Lazy Susans are fantastic for maximizing corner space and making items more accessible in deep cabinets or on pantry shelves. Instead of reaching over and knocking things around to grab a spice or bottle, a quick spin brings everything right to the front.
They are ideal for organizing oils, sauces, and spices in those hard-to-reach spots. Check out some of our favorites that are sure to fit any space or aesthetic!
Our Favorite 9” - 11” options:
Our Favorite 11.5” - 16” Options:
Do you have a really deep cabinet that could use one of these?
Coming in at a whopping 20” diameter, this puppy isn’t for every space, but we’ve had incredible success using it in extra-large lower and upper cabinets. One of our favorite uses is for easy storage of liquor! Everything is accessible with a simple spin, and it utilizes every inch of those hard-to-reach areas without having to take everything out to get to what you need.
What to avoid?
We do not prefer turntables with built-in dividers for kitchen spaces. We find them more of a hassle than a help when it comes to storing items. We do, however, still like options with removable dividers and cups!
3. Drawer Organization
Drawer chaos is real. Utensils everywhere, random bits and pieces getting lost in the mix. Adjustable Drawer dividers keep everything neat and easy to find, from your knives to your measuring spoons.
Imagine not having to spend five minutes digging for that one spatula, whilst digging past a multitude of items that could slice your hand open. 🤕 Trust us on these picks!
Wood + Bamboo Drawer Dividers
What We Love:
Adjustable Drawer dividers keep everything neat and easy to find, from your knives to your measuring spoons. These quality drawer dividers stay put, allow you to create clear divisions and categories, and work in almost any space since they come in so many sizes! We also love that they come in a variety of colors and wood stains, making them blend seamlessly with any kitchen cabinetry.
12” - 17” drawers:
17”- 22” drawers:
What we don’t love:
Plastic adjustable drawer dividers. These never lock well, aren’t as visually appealing, and it’s just a no from me dawg.
Drawer Cups
Drawer cups are perfect for organizing those smaller kitchen essentials that tend to get lost in the shuffle. Whether it’s drink hydration packets (like your favorite electrolyte mixes), kitchen tools, or those extra straws, these cups keep everything in its place. No more digging through a drawer for a bottle opener, measuring cups, or that avocado slicer you would use if it wasn’t buried at the bottom of the drawer.
Drawer cups make it easy to separate and group similar items together—whether it’s cooking gadgets, baking tools, or snack accessories. They come in a variety of sizes, too, from deeper cups for bulkier items like bottle openers or bag clips, to shallow ones for smaller things like tea infusers or chopsticks.
Everything Organizer Drawer Organizer Cups
We have fallen in LOVE with the Container Store’s Everything Organizer Drawer Cups. Our previous go-tos were the I-Design Drawer cups, but all of our annoyances with them have been solved with these!
What We Love:
Sturdy, durable, and SO easy to clean!
These drawer cups have built-in grippers on the bottom of each cup! No more sliding around in drawers or the need to put museum gel under each cup.
They are modular! They don’t waste any space in the drawer and meet each edge with a seamless presentation.
This may sound trivial, but the labels are a cinch to remove. If you have ever worked with I-design Drawer cups, you will know that few things could test you more in life than their TERRIBLE labels. They are comically horrendous to remove, leave behind gooey residue that’s nearly impossible to get off, and there are usually three labels to remove per drawer cup…but they are great drawer cups haha 😅
Note: The ONLY drawback we have for these is that they are missing a couple of sizes that we feel should be offered, like the 4x8” in the Deep Drawer Organizer. (Container Store will hopefully hear our pleas 🤞)
Shallow Everything Organizer Drawer Organizer (2" Height)
Deep Everything Organizer Drawer Organizer (3.25" Height)
Other drawer cups we love:
Drawer Dividers meet Drawer Cups
SpaceAid Bamboo Drawer Dividers with Inserts
What We Love:
Talk about the best of both worlds! One of our favorite products to work with in gadget or junk drawers is these adjustable drawer dividers with inserts that act like built-in nooks for each of your gadgets and gizmos.
Note: Be sure to get a size that will fit snugly in your drawers. In our experience, if these are even the tiniest bit loose, the inserts will not stay put very well. These also take a bit of finagling to get just right and to place all your gadgets in their own little pocket. If you like a bit of a puzzle (which is what organizing tends to be), this could be the perfect fit for you!
What we don’t love:
Expandable or fixed full drawer organizers. You may hear this as a hot take, but I cannot tell you how many times we’ve tried to love them and they just miss the mark. They aren’t terrible…and we do love that you avoid having a gap in a drawer, but they just can’t compete with individual drawer cups.
Instead of being able to utilize uniquely sized cups for whatever categories you are trying to contain, you end up being pigeonholed into whatever sizes come within the tray. It’s never a one-size-fits-all situation when it comes to organizing a kitchen, so we prefer the customization and control we have with drawer cups. That being said, it is definitely a start, and they can definitely work wonders, just not the hype we see them get often.
Real Solutions, Real Results
At the end of the day, organizing your kitchen doesn’t have to be a battle. Your kitchen should work with you, not against you. A few smart organizing tools can make a world of difference, and we’re here to guide you every step of the way. Ready to finally get your kitchen working for you? Let’s make it happen!
