How to Be Ruthless with Kitchen Clutter (Easy Wins)

The holidays are over. The guests have gone, the leftovers are finally dwindling, and your kitchen looks like it went twelve rounds with a heavyweight champion. You might be tempted to shove everything back into drawers and close the cabinet doors with your hip, but resist that urge. Now is the perfect time for a reset. Not a gentle tidying up, but a ruthless, unsentimental purge that will reclaim your counter space and your sanity.

We aren't talking about a complete remodel. We are talking about high-impact, low-effort changes that streamline your workflow. When you open a drawer to grab a spatula, you shouldn't have to wrestle a potato masher to get it. Here is how to take back your kitchen.

The "Empty It All" Rule

You cannot organize clutter. If you try to shuffle items around inside a drawer, you are just playing Tetris with junk. The only way to truly reset a space is to empty it completely. Pick one zone—a single drawer, the spice cabinet, or the pantry—and take everything out. Place it all on the counter.

Wipe the interior clean. Now, look at the pile on your counter. Do not ask, "Could I use this someday?" Ask, "Did I use this in the last year?" If the answer is no, it does not go back in. Be honest. If you didn't use that cherry pitter during the peak holiday cooking marathon, you aren't going to use it on a random Tuesday in March.

The Expiration Date Reality Check

Most pantries are graveyards for good intentions. You bought that jar of garam masala for one recipe three years ago, and it has been sitting there ever since. Spices do not spoil in a way that will make you sick, but they lose their potency and flavor. Ground spices generally last two to three years, while whole spices can hold up for four. If you open a jar and it doesn't smell like anything, it won't taste like anything either. Toss it.

Check your baking staples. Flour and sugar have shelf lives, too. Whole wheat flour, in particular, contains oils that can go rancid. If it smells like crayons or play-dough, it belongs in the trash. Clearing out these expired goods frees up prime real estate for ingredients you actually cook with.

The Utensil Crock Audit

Your utensil crock or drawer is likely the biggest source of daily friction. You do not need four spatulas. You certainly do not need three vegetable peelers when you only have two hands. Keep your best one—the one with the comfortable grip and the sharp blade—and donate the rest.

Be critical of "single-use" tools. Avocado slicers, strawberry hullers, and egg separators are often just marketing gimmicks that take up space. A good chef's knife and a paring knife can do the work of a dozen gadgets. If a tool only does one thing and you rarely do that thing, evict it.

The Container Match-Up Game

Food storage containers are the socks of the kitchen—lids disappear into a dimension we cannot access. Pull out every single plastic or glass container and every lid. Match them up. If a container has no lid, recycle it. If a lid has no container, toss it. Do not save them "just in case." They are clutter.

For storage, stop stacking containers with the lids on. It traps stale air and wastes vertical space. Instead, nest the containers inside each other like Russian dolls, and file the lids vertically in a separate bin or a dedicated drawer divider. This simple switch can double your storage capacity.

Countertop Zero

Your countertops are for working, not storage. Visual clutter creates mental clutter. The rule here is simple: if you don't use it every single day, it doesn't live on the counter. The coffee maker can stay. The toaster? Only if you toast bread daily. The stand mixer? Unless you are a professional baker, move it to a lower cabinet.

Clear surfaces are easier to wipe down and immediately make the room feel larger. When you have clear acres of counter space, the prospect of cooking dinner feels less like a chore and more like a possibility.

Save vs. Splurge: Organization Gear

You don't need to spend a fortune to get organized, but knowing where to invest makes a difference.

Save: Bins for the pantry. You don't need hand-woven seagrass baskets for your onions. Simple, clear plastic bins from the dollar store work perfectly for corralling snack bags or baking packets. Nobody is inspecting the brand of your pantry bins.

Splurge: Drawer dividers. Cheap, flimsy dividers slide around and defeat the purpose. Invest in high-quality, adjustable wooden or bamboo dividers that spring-load into place. They make your drawers look custom-built and keep your tools rigidly separated. Also, splurge on air-tight, clear containers for dry goods like pasta and rice. They keep pests out, keep food fresh longer, and let you see exactly when you are running low.