Kitchen organization is a tricky business. While there are many reliable strategies available, the first rule of thumb is to make sure that your kitchen is right for what you want as an individual. That is where things become difficult. Figuring out what you need to do to make your kitchen more efficient and organized can boil down the size of your kitchen and your cooking habits. Therefore, the first reliable strategy of kitchen organization goes back to the venerable Oracle at Delphi’s famous statement, "Know Thyself."

Take a few weeks (not during the holiday season) and chart what appliances, cookware, flatware, storage containers, serving devices and foods you use the most. This should tell you a lot about how you use your kitchen. Within this chart, you should also take note of what objects you tend to use the most. At the end of the trial period, take a close look at what you have found. If you are a frequent coffee drinker, you may have discovered that you use your coffee pot a couple of times a day. Along with that, you may notice that when you use your coffee pot you also use coffee filters, sugar, cream/milk, mugs and hot water. This relationship may be obvious, but think about where you store things. Do you keep the sugar, coffee filters, and mugs all stored near the coffee pot? Are you always finding yourself walking all around the room to get your morning cup of coffee together? This is just a simple example and the possibilities are limitless. A well-kept chart can allow you to recognize everything from which pots/pans you use most often to knowing whether your silverware is stored in the best place.

Using this newfound knowledge, you should begin reconfiguring your kitchen. Start out with a basic triangle between your refrigerator, sink and stove. This gives you easy movement from one place to the next. Make sure you leave these pathways open. From here, plan how you are going to place your appliances. Do not store the devices you often use in the back of the top shelf of your cupboard. Leave the most frequently used appliances on the countertop, and store things from there. Have your cutlery and cutting boards stored within reach of each other and near the space where your ingredients are going to prepared. Use cabinet and drawer dividers that are customizable to maximize the use of space in your storage locations. Purchase a rolling pantry to store objects that you use often and in a variety of places. These devices are designed to fit in small places, but hold a wide variety of items. Once you have figured out what you really need, kitchen set-up is much easier.

A second reliable strategy to design an efficient, organized kitchen is to employ recycling bins. Having to sort through your cans, plastics, glass and recyclables is a tedious and often messy process. Recycling bins can be conveniently placed in an out of the way part of your kitchen, and save you from the tedium of sorting. Taking care of trash in the kitchen has become something that technology such as trash compacters has grown to take care of. Recycling has become commonplace in many townships, do not neglect to take care of it in your kitchen. Leaving the bins in the garage or just outside can make a great deal of extra work for you. The jars and cans can end up stacked around the sink for days before being taken out. Deal with this problem well, and you are taking a major stride towards a well-organized kitchen.

A third important step to take in kitchen design is figuring out how you are going to use the room for eating meals on a daily basis. Many people only use their dining room for special occasions, and usually eat in the kitchen. Others use the kitchen as a sort of breakfast nook, and use the dining room for everything else. Be very careful with how you commit table space in your kitchen. If your kitchen is small, you may want to consider eating in the dining room. If you have a medium to larger sized kitchen, you may want that table since it is not going to take much valuable space. This idea works even if the table is only used for storage space. If you choose not to eat a single meal in your kitchen, you should consider investing in a table to act as extra counter space.

Overall, creating an organized kitchen really comes down to determining what you need and what works best for you. However, deciding what works best for you is not always easy. Feel free to experiment with different furniture and appliance setups. You can begin by charting your use of kitchen items and from there. Think about where you are going to eat your meals and even how many people should be eating there regularly. In the end, you should end up with a kitchen that is organized effectively and efficiently.