Last week we shared how we painted our cabinets. Today we’ll walk you through how everything is organized. This kitchen has roughly one quarter of the cabinetry and countertop space of our previous kitchen, and we worried a bit about adapting to so much less storage. The good news: it’s working really well. We can store everything we need and reach items easily, with no endless digging. If you’re curious about downsizing kitchen storage or simply enjoy peeking inside other people’s cabinets, read on.
Our old kitchen was enormous by comparison: a ten-foot island with storage on three sides and cabinets around all four walls. I think that kitchen had about 36 cabinet doors and 15 drawers. The current kitchen has just 7 cabinet doors and 5 drawers (the two under the sink in both kitchens were false). In short, that’s roughly 51 versus 12. Many of the new cabinets and drawers are also much shallower than before, so we’ve had to rethink where everything goes.
To be fair, the old kitchen had more storage than we actually needed. We’re not heavy gadget-focused cooks or bakers, so we kept things fairly streamlined. In the past we even stored non-kitchen items there—tools, backpacks, seasonal decor, and other extras. You can see how we organized that kitchen if you’d like more background.
We did a lot of decluttering before the move, which helped enormously. Once we were here we pared down a bit more and organized strategically. The result: the kitchen has space for everything we actually use. That distinction matters—some readers have asked where items like crockpots, stand mixers, and large blenders are. We never owned many of those appliances, and others that we rarely used were donated before moving. Downsizing is about being honest about what you use; what works for us may differ from another household, but after months of cooking and eating at home, this setup is performing even better than we expected.
A major help has been adding two shelving units beside the fridge. You might remember them from our first post about the new kitchen. They added eight large drawers plus open shelves that balance function and display—plates, glasses, mugs, bowls, and a few decorative items. We use the four drawers on the left as our pantry (many readers asked “but where is your food?”—that’s it). The four drawers on the right mostly hold tools, a habit we carried over from the last house.
It’s comforting that the tool drawers exist—if we ever needed more kitchen storage, those tools could move to another room (for example, built-ins we plan for the bedroom near the fireplace) and free those drawers for kitchen items.
Beyond the shelving units and two floating shelves on the back wall, everything else fits into the seven cabinets and five drawers. Let’s start our short cabinet tour with the narrow corner cabinet between the stove and the utility closet that houses HVAC equipment and miscellaneous items.
We begin with our smallest drawer: the olive oil drawer. It holds one bottle of extra virgin olive oil and a jar of salt. Most cooking utensils sit on the counter, so this drawer didn’t need to hold much else. It’s handy to have oil near the stove in a cool, dark spot, and a small plastic bin keeps any drips from staining the drawer.
The skinny cabinet below stores plastic cutting boards, a single cookie sheet, one muffin tin, and a couple of cooling racks. We intentionally downsized those rarely-used items. Our warming drawer under the stove holds a few shallow pans and a griddle pan.
The larger cabinet on the other side of the stove houses the rest of our pots and pans. We kept a wire shelf rack in the back to make accessing saucepans easier, and we added a simple back-of-door lid holder to stop the lid pile-up. These small tweaks transformed a noisy, nested mess into an orderly, functional space.
Our cookware collection is streamlined but sufficient; we haven’t pared down much in this area because we already kept a modest set for years. We also line cabinet bases and shelves with clear non-sticky liners to protect the fresh paint.
The large drawer above this cabinet holds flatware and a few large cutting knives, organized in an expandable bamboo utensil tray that adjusts to the drawer’s width.
The sink cabinet contains cleaning supplies, spare sponges, dishcloths, and trash bags. We use a mix of freestanding wire shelves, a clear divided lazy susan, and bins we already had to keep things from becoming a single chaotic pile—cost-effective and functional.
Fortuitously, two back-of-door wire organizers were already installed when we moved in. They’re incredibly helpful for keeping spray bottles and smaller cleaning items accessible. We removed them to repaint and rehung them afterward; they don’t hang over the top of the door, so they’re unobtrusive.
On the back wall you’ll also find the two false drawers under the sink, the dishwasher, and the floating shelves we installed. Each shelf is roughly three feet long—enough for a strainer, measuring cup, tea kettle, and a few other frequently used items, all conveniently close to the stove.
Plates and glass mixing bowls sit on the other side of the shelves. Some items moved from the pantry shelves to be closer to the stove once the floating shelves were up.
Turning 90 degrees to the right reveals a run of cabinets that’s actually one tall cabinet with three narrow doors. We’d prefer two wider drawers here, but we made the most of what we have with bins and boxes. The left drawer contains foil, wax paper, and sandwich bags. The middle holds knives, measuring spoons, a can opener, and a peeler, organized in small plastic bins. The right is our junk drawer, organized with bamboo boxes we used in our previous house.
Compared with our old junk drawer, this one is compressed. We moved many items—batteries, glue, stamps, and certain tools—to other drawers or to a dresser by the front door, so the kitchen junk drawer holds the essentials only.
The three cabinets you saw in last week’s painting post hold Ikea plastic bins that fit nearly perfectly, creating clear organization zones. One bin stores overflow snacks, another holds glass food storage (most of which is currently in use), and the third contains spices, oils, and vinegars. The upper shelf stores additional glass cookware and a bin with baking supplies. The cabinet extends into a deep corner behind the dishwasher, but that space is awkward to access, so it currently houses extra empty bins—because Sherry always keeps some storage options handy.
We’ve had requests to show the bathroom sink cabinet, the linen closet outside the bathroom, and the HVAC closet next to the stove—so we may put together another post with those details. One promise: there will be bins.
P.S. You can catch up on our entire Florida house renovation in the posts grouped under our Florida house category—covering the bedroom, kids’ rooms, family room/office, bathroom, and major outdoor updates.