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Kitchens can get cluttered—small kitchens even more so. Our kitchen is on the smaller side, so if we overflow it with unnecessary items, it can feel crammed very quickly. 

In this article, I’m sharing with you my kitchen reset process and I’m taking you along for the ride. We’re going to dive into all the cupboards, get rid of anything unnecessary, reorganise a bit, and restock.

Keep reading below or watch the video:

Mugs

I’m starting in the mug cupboard, a space that used to be overflowing with mugs that we didn’t truly need. And honestly, we don’t need 30 or 40 mugs in there. 

Nowadays, we have about 12 mugs, I think, and some of them were in the dishwasher, so I put them back in the cupboard. And we probably don’t even need 12. But I like to have some extra for when we have guests over. 

My goal is for the mugs to fit into the small cupboard neatly. I don’t want it to feel too stuffed, because then it’s a pain to put things away.

This is also where we keep our glassware, travel mugs, water bottles—everything like that. 

In this “reset” process, I did declutter one water bottle that I realised we hadn’t used in a very long time. We tend to gravitate towards our other ones, so I let go of that one.

Food containers

For food containers, we generally have ones made of glass. We have just a few plastic ones for the kids. 

The trick that I found works best with food containers is to keep the lids on when we store them away. I know it seems like this way they are going to take up much more space. In reality, keeping the lids on keeps the cupboard tidy, and it’s also really easy to grab a container when needed without having to scramble around looking for its matching lid.

Baking and spares

Up in one of our kitchen cupboards, I keep a basket of baking items that we use once in a while with the kids when we do something special.

It’s also the place where I keep a few spares and kind of overflow as well.

Spices

When it comes to the spices, I keep them on a kitchen wall, in a horizontal storage. It works really well for us because it doesn’t take up surface area.

I did a quick refill of some of the spices, and I did take note to buy some more that we were missing.

Under the sink

This is an area that can get so cluttered so easily as sometimes we feel like we need a whole bunch of cleaning products in order to keep our home clean. In our case, we have minimised the amount of cleaning products that we use, and it helps a lot.

On the door, we keep our cleaning cloths. Then we have a little container where we put all of our plastic bags that we take to recycling at any large supermarket.

A few months ago, I actually got a drawer set that helps keep our cleaning products stored in a better system. I use it to store the dish pods, laundry pods, Purdy&Figg refills, and sponges. 

Then I have my two Purdy&Figg cleaning bottle sprays. One is the bathroom one, and the other one is for any other surface.

And that’s pretty much what we have under the kitchen sink.

Pots and pans

When it comes pots and pans, we keep it simple. We only have a few of each because, realistically, we do not need a whole bunch of them. We’re a family of four and these fit our needs really, really well.

Cutlery

I did a tiny clean in the cutlery drawer just because it was getting a little bit dirty underneath. 

So I took everything out, and I did declutter a few little bits and bobs that needed to be thrown away. There were also some toys that I brought back to where they belong in the living room. 

In this drawer, I also keep scissors and a couple of pencils—just things that are actually useful and that we use on a regular basis. 

These drawers can get so stuffed with a whole bunch of random items—it can go from 20 different paracetamol syringes to random toys to knickknacks. All of these things can clutter up our drawers, so it’s really good to give them a refresh and take out anything that doesn’t need to be in there.

Utensils

I then did a bit of a refresh in the utensils drawers. In it, we have spatulas, a grater, and lots of random little items like a garlic press, pizza cutter, and similar items. 

I also have a basket of cloths in this drawer, and that’s really handy because I’m trying to use fewer wipes. I’m not saying I’m completely 100% wipe-free, especially when we’re on the go, but at home, I try not to use them and instead use these cloths.

Plates

A few months back, I decided to move the plates into a bottom drawer. This way, they’re really close to the dishwasher, so the “empty the dishwasher” process is easier and quicker. It’s these tiny things that make our days flow just a bit smoother.

Snack cupboard and potato&onion drawer

I filmed the video for this article on a Monday, which is our usual food shop day. So we got our Tesco delivery, and I put the groceries where they belong.

I started with the snack cupboard—which is where we keep the kids’ snacks, our chocolates, and treats that we have at the end of the day.

We also have our bread bin in this cupboard.

One trick I find really useful with snacks and pantry items is to remove as much packaging as possible and keep in bins just the individual items. It saves space, and it’s much easier to grab when we’re on the go.

I also did a bit of a restock in the potato and onion drawer.

I like to keep most of my cupboards and drawers not 100% full. My goal is to not have them full to the brim, because then it would be really hard to put things away or tidy up. Whereas when we have 70 to 80% of the space full, there’s always that little bit of wiggle room, which just makes cleaning and tidying every single day a bit easier.

Fridge

Then I moved on to the fridge to restock. I don’t have specific containers in here—some people like to do their fridge really aesthetically pleasing, but that’s not really my goal. I just like to keep it simple.

We keep drinks, milk, sauces, and jams on the door. Then, inside the actual fridge, I try to organise each shelf by category.

We have one shelf for meat, and when I put the meat in there, I try to stack it up in the order that it’s going to expire. This way, I know the ones at the top are the ones I’m going to cook first. This helps us reduce food waste and make sure that we eat the food before it goes bad.

We also have a shelf for dairy, a shelf for fruit and veg, and the drawers at the bottom are usually full of veggies and stuff like that. Then everything else just goes in between.

Breakfast bar

Up in a cupboard is our breakfast bar—as we like to call it. We keep here the cereal, coffee, sugar for the coffee, oatmeal, and some bowls. Making breakfast is really easy because of this, ’cause everything’s in one spot. Also, our coffee machine is right below it too.

When storing food away, I like having clear containers. This way, when I’m doing the food shop, I can easily see what I’m missing and what I need to buy more of. 

Pantry

Similarly, for the cupboard where we keep all of our pantry items, I like having things in clear containers. Glass jars come in really handy for that, so I can see when we’re out of pasta and make sure we’re not overbuying things.

We don’t have overflowing cupboards with food that is going to expire before we get a chance to eat it—we only have the food that we actually eat. This not only saves money and reduces food waste, but it also makes our cupboards look less cluttered. 

I also keep up here the blender, and the bin for the kids’ medicine.

Surfaces

To finish off the kitchen reset, I gave the surfaces a bit of a spray to make sure they were nice and clean.

I hope this was helpful if you’re trying to declutter and reset your own kitchen. Organising your kitchen can make a big difference, and it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Take your time, make it work for you, and it’ll be so much easier to maintain.

Thanks for reading!