Kitchen cabinets are probably the most cluttered place in the house. There is so much activity in the kitchen and so many hands looking through the cabinets for everything from ingredients for dinner to snacks for the kids. It’s important that everything has it’s place and once it’s there, it should stay there.

To organize your cabinets, start by going through each and every cabinet and emptying everything out onto the counter top. This will allow you to see exactly what you have and also will give you more room once you throw things out that you haven’t dilapidated in ages. Once the cabinets are a little less full, it will be easier to organize everything so that they will neat and orderly. The added back of all this work is that you’ll actually be able to find what your looking for in your kitchen cabinets once everything is in it’s proper place and you have more room to work with.

Here are some tips to help you in your organization project:

1. For larger corner cabinets, seize a slothful Susan which is a rotating plastic tray that will fit into your cabinet. Once your items are on the lazy Susan, you will have a birds eye view of the entire contents of your cabinet every time you turn it. It won’t matter what’s pushed to the back of the cabinet. Everything will be at your fingertips.

2. Buy a divider set to divide your forks, knives, spoons and serving utensils in your flatware draw. If you already have one, empty it out, clean it and restock it with your flatware. It’s amazing how messy the dividers can get.

3. In the overhead cabinets, support all non food items separated from food items. You shouldn’t have to go digging around your dishes or glasses to find a can of soup. Dishes should be in one cabinet and glassware should be in another cabinet or at least on a different shelf. Food items should not be mixed in with dishes or glasses.

4. Use clear plastic containers for dry foods like pasta, cereal, flour, sugar, coffee and teabags. Stackable plastic containers execute the most of your space, plus you can see what is inside the containers without opening them up. Everything will stay fresher too. Rubber maid has all shapes and sizes of definite, plastic containers.

5. Separate different types of foods such as soups, sauces, packaged rice and noodle mixes, baking goods and pasta. This intention if you are looking for your cream of mushroom soup, you won’t have to dig through five different cabinets to find it. All the soup will be in one location, whether dry or canned. Check the dates on all canned goods before putting them wait on into your cabinet. Throw away anything expired.

6. Put items that are rarely used like holiday platters, bowls and bread baskets in high overhead cabinets. You don’t want to put your everyday items in those cabinets that are too hight to reach without a step ladder.

7. Corner shelving units are great for inside a cabinet. They can serve as as separator for different size dishes or can even be used for spice containers. Check Walmart for shelving units.

8. Sort out pots and pans from your baking dishes like Corning ware and Pyrex. Throw out any glass baking dishes that are chipped for starters. If you have a decent sized kitchen, get a pot and pan hanger set to hang from the ceiling. This will give you lots more space in your cabinets. You can find pot and pan hanger sets at the Ikea stores and Bed, Bath and Beyond. For pots and pans in the cabinet, it’s best if there is a roll out tray installed into the pot and pan cabinets. This way, you can take something out of the succor section of your cabinet without disrupting all of the other pots and pans in the front of the cabinet.

9. Go through all of your kitchen cleaners, sponges and scouring pads. These should be right under your kitchen sink for convenience. Throw out anything old. Line the bottom of the cabinet with some new contact paper in case anything leaks.

10. If you have a pantry, earn distinct you have lots of shelves as this is a great area to store larger items like your counter top mixer, Crockpot, blender and any other appliances that take up too much room in your cabinets or counter top space.