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Organizing for convenience
When putting items away in cupboards, closets, drawers, or cabinets, it’s best to put those things that you use the most often in the easiest places to reach. This seems obvious, but even in my kitchen I’ve recently found that I wasn’t following this principle in all of my cupboards.
I had wine glasses on the first shelf of my cupboard and coffee mugs on the third shelf. I might have wine a few nights a week with dinner, but every morning I have coffee without fail. I switched up the contents on the two shelves and love the convenience.
Check your linen closets, your drawers at work, and your clothes dressers to make sure you’ve organized your supplies for easy access. If you’re standing when you access these spaces, you want those things you need most often to be between shoulder and knee height. If you’re sitting when you access these spaces, you want those things you need most often to be reachable without standing up or bending over.
13 comments posted
Posted by Michele Connolly, Get Organized Wizard - 09/08/2009
Totally agree! Life’s much easier when you allocate your storage real estate according to frequency of use.
For example:
* Utensils and appliances used often deserve a CBD location.
* Pots and pans used sometimes can live in the suburbs.
* The juicer and ice cream machine used rarely belong on the outskirts of your kitchen real estate.
Your readers who need to organize the kitchen might like to do my Get Organized Mission #15: Organize Your Kitchen:
http://www.getorganizedwizard......r-kitchen/
Ciao for now,
Michele
Posted by Kathryn - 09/08/2009
We remodeled our kitchen a couple of years ago, and one of the greatest joys of the final product is not the aesthetics of the space (my main motivation), but the fact that I can be unloading the dishwasher and reach the storage space for 95% of all the tableware and cookware within one step at most, and the appliances are stored in deep cabinet drawers right underneath the outlets where they get plugged in.
Posted by whyioughtta - 09/08/2009
There’s nothing like a chronic whiplash injury to drive this point home. My kitchen is organized around *not bending, ever*.
One of the best things I did in our recent kitchen reno was to put drawers in my base cabinets (instead of doors) and put my plates and bowls in there instead of in my upper cabinets, like I had always done. I use IKEA RATIONELL VARIERA plate holders to store and lift them. It has literally saved my neck.
Here’s the IKEA thingy: http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/cata.....s/30076197
Posted by Chris - 09/08/2009
This is spot on. My kitchen cabinets have adjustable shelves, so I have the shelf positioned about 6 inches above the “floor” of the over-sink cabinet.
That way, the mugs (and short juice/highball) glasses are at easy reach, and the taller glasses (including wineglasses) on the top shelf are also much more accessible, because they’re sitting a bit lower down.
Posted by Theresa - 09/08/2009
So true! I think about this when organizing a kitchen. Keep dishes close to the dishwasher for easy unloading too. If we a take a few moments and think about it we’d all find some shelves worth rearranging to make our lives easier. Great tip!!!
Posted by Louise - 09/08/2009
And a great way to realize that something isn’t in the right place is if you keep procrastinating on putting it away. If the coffee cups are too inconvenient on the 3rd shelf, they tend to linger in the drying rack or on the counter.
I wrote about this same topic with an emphasis on living in an RV:
http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com.....se-it.html
Posted by Joe Ganley - 09/08/2009
Also, keep in mind the various people who use the different items. For example, I’m the only coffee drinker in the house, and I’m taller than the rest of my family, so the coffee cups go on a top cabinet shelf. Other than those, most of the top-shelf items are the least frequently used ones.
Posted by Lori Paximadis - 09/08/2009
Yes, absolutely! Great advice in the kitchen, and everywhere else, too. I have lots of cubby shelves in my clothes closet, so when the weather changes, I rearrange it to put the current season’s stuff in the easiest places to reach. I might use my stapler or some stamps once a week at the most, so those don’t take up precious desk space, but live on a shelf a few steps away from the desk (my current setup doesn’t have any drawers). The reference books I use most often are on the shelf right behind my desk in arm’s reach; others I use less often don’t have to be so close.
Posted by infmom - 09/08/2009
Absolutely. We have a really, really tiny kitchen with very limited cupboard space. Everything is arranged according to likelihood of use. And there wasn’t room for all the dishes, glasses, mugs etc. so drinking utensils are found in a separate cupboard in the breakfast nook.
I keep all the canned goods and so forth that I buy for the current week’s meals on the lowest shelf in the cupboard, and the items I’m less likely to use on the upper ones. The very top shelves, ony my 6’7″ son can reach without a stepladder, so that’s purely for storage.
Posted by STL Mom - 09/08/2009
Good advice. And if you want to use something less, put it somewhere inconvenient.
I put my washable towels, dishcloths, and rags in a drawer in the island, right in the middle of the action. Paper towels went into the pantry, out of sight. It’s so much easier to grab a towel or rag that a roll of paper towels now lasts for a month or more.
Now I need to convince my family to hide the TV and put more books and games in the family room…
Posted by WilliamB - 09/08/2009
So true.
Another tip is that things used together, should be stored together. Frex, all the baking gear in one place.
Another another tip is to consider weight when deciding storage. If it’s heavy, maybe it should be near or at counter level. If it’s lightweight, it’s easier to store at the top or bottom of your reach.
One final tip: after you’ve been in a place a while, review your organization to see if it matches how you actually use the place. (As opposed to how you thought you’d use the place.)
Posted by Dawn F. - 09/08/2009
Use this system for your kids, too. Put their socks, underwear and pajamas at a safe and convenient level for them to reach – they’ll be more likely to get dressed by themselves (hopefully quicker, too).
Put the laundry hamper in a handy location, too.
Making their living arrangements more convenient could help them and Mom&Dad in a big way!
Posted by Debbie M - 10/25/2009
You might want to put two wine glasses on the first shelf, too. (Move two mugs up to the third shelf if you need to to make room.)
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