Martha Stewart’s Top 13 Kitchen Organization Tips

When it comes to keeping a kitchen pristine and organized, Martha Stewart is certainly qualified to share a tip or two. The culinary superstar loves to keep her own kitchen space clean and tidy, and having designed her own range of kitchens, she knows how to keep a kitchen efficient and practical.

From using turntables in your cupboards to creating a moveable island if you don’t have a fixed one, Stewart has a wealth of creative ideas that can transform your cooking space and help you feel more relaxed in the kitchen. Whether your space is in desperate need of some reorganization, or you are already obsessed with kitchen tidiness and are simply looking for extra ideas, you can guarantee that Stewart will have a few tips to suit.

If you are ready to get your kitchen sorted once and for all, these tips will move you in the right direction. So, grab your cleaning cloth and let’s explore Martha Stewart’s 13 best tips for organizing your kitchen.

Keeping your kitchen tidy and manageable is often a balance between convenience and minimalism. Although it’s tempting to keep all of your favorite appliances and cookware within arm’s reach, it’s counterproductive if you are only leaving yourself a small amount of space to work. Martha Stewart recommends keeping your precious counter space as clear as possible, only leaving the essential items on display. She likes to place an attractive fruit basket and some vegetables on display, but most other items will be stored elsewhere.

Have a look at the items that are currently on your worktop and consider how often you genuinely use them. Chances are your kettle, block of knives, and perhaps your slow cooker or air fryer are items that you use once or more per day, meaning it makes sense to keep them out. You should still try to find the most unobtrusive spot for each of them, so that they don’t interfere with your meal prep. Items like food processors and large pots and pans have significant footprints that take up an unwieldy amount of space, so storing them elsewhere is a better option, assuming you have the space.

If you have limited cupboard space and need to keep a lot of items sitting out, try to keep them as organized as possible. The more serene and less cluttered your cooking space feels, the more you will enjoy preparing food, and the easier it will be to clean everything up afterward too.

If you’re a keen home cook, the chances are you don’t use the same chopping board for everything. Raw meat should never share a cutting space with food that won’t be cooked, and using color-coded boards is the simplest and most hygienic way to keep your family safe. For instance, red is usually used for raw meat and blue for raw fish, while green is for fruits and veggies. You may also have white or brown boards for dairy products or cooked meat.

In addition to these boards, however, Martha Stewart recommends keeping one board close at hand, so that you don’t need to rummage about in a drawer or cupboard whenever you need to chop something quickly. Bread, nuts, or cheese are items that may be cut regularly throughout the day, so having an all-purpose board that can be quickly wiped down in between uses will make life a bit easier. Unlike your full set of cooking boards that will likely be plastic, this board will sit out on your countertop, so choose one that you enjoy looking at. Wood or bamboo are great options, but glass also makes a nice change.

The size of board you choose will depend on the size of your kitchen. A chunky butcher block can double as a raised worktop and is ideal for placing hot pans or baking trays. Otherwise, a slimline board can slide in behind the bread bin when you’re not using it.

Most of us are guilty of having at least one drawer in the kitchen that is completely disorganized. If it’s a drawer you use regularly, such as the silverware drawer, it will cause you stress every time you open it and can’t find what you’re looking for. If you struggle to get your utensil drawer shut, it may be time for some reorganization.

Martha Stewart likes to keep her drawers neat and tidy, and she recommends using drawer separators to do so. Her favorite options for flatware include rectangular compartments that allow her to store each type of cutlery neatly. If you can find an adjustable one, you can even store some of your larger utensils in the same drawer — no more struggling to cram the whisk in on top of the teaspoons. On that note, assess whether you really need a lot of these utensils in an easily accessible drawer. If you live alone and have a full set of silverware that can serve 10 people in your top drawer, think about whether you can store some of it elsewhere and free up the drawer space for a vegetable peeler or pair of scissors.

Drawer separators are a handy option for the rest of your kitchen drawers, too. Even if you still need to have a junk drawer, it will be much less stressful if your odds and ends are all neatly presented!

If you have deep cupboards and kitchen cabinets, finding items that are hidden at the back can be a bit of a mission. To prevent you from coming across condiments a year after they have expired or spending an hour hunting for the gravy boat you last used at Thanksgiving, Martha Stewart recommends using a simple hack. Placing a lazy Susan in your cupboards, or even your fridge, means that you can simply rotate the disc to discover what is lurking at the back.

Installing a lazy Susan allows you to utilize parts of your kitchen cupboards that may otherwise lie empty. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, meaning that even the awkward far corner of a cupboard can become useful space. They can also cut down on mess, especially in the fridge. Instead of knocking over a tub of yogurt while trying to reach the jar of mayonnaise behind it, you can simply turn your lazy Susan so that the condiments are at your fingertips. Less mess means less time spent cleaning up and more time enjoying cooking — so, everyone wins.

If you’ve never installed sliding baskets in your kitchen cupboards, prepare to be amazed by the difference they can make to your kitchen organization. Deep cabinets in a kitchen are a lifesaver for storing large appliances, but trying to find small items hiding at the back isn’t easy. By using sliding baskets, you can easily access the back of your cupboards without emptying everything out. Small sliding baskets can be installed in large cupboards above the main appliances and cookware, allowing you to store sponges, bin liners, or lids for plastic boxes. If you don’t own a spice rack, you can store your spice and herb jars neatly in a sliding basket above larger jars in the pantry, utilizing space that would otherwise be lost.

Martha Stewart also recommends using pretty baskets to organize items in your open kitchen shelves. Not only do they look attractive and add some variety to the room, but they also allow you to group similar things together for easy access. Baking supplies, dried goods, or even your favorite cookbooks can be stored neatly and still be easily accessible. Stewart also has a genius tip for keeping the baskets sliding smoothly — add a few soft adhesive pads to the bottom of the basket and they will glide out like a dream whenever you call on them.

If you are lucky enough to have a kitchen island, it is crucial to make the most of the wonderful space and help keep the room as organized as possible. In addition to creating extra countertop space, a kitchen island has the potential to solve a number of common kitchen storage issues, if you use the space effectively. Martha Stewart loves to use a kitchen island and has a few great tips for putting it to best use.

One great use of space is to install a hanging rack above the island. Using ceiling space is a game changer when it comes to storage and having somewhere to hang awkward items like colanders, sieves, and small pans means more space in your cupboards for other essentials. It also means these items will be right above your head as you are cooking, saving you time on a daily basis.

Stewart also recommended using the cabinets in the island to store cookware and linen that you will use regularly while cooking. Aprons, baking trays, and cutting boards can all be stored neatly underneath the countertop, while tea towels that are in use can be hung on the side. Keeping a small compost bin in the island cupboard also means you can easily dispose of the food waste as you are cooking. What’s more, keeping the surfaces clean and tidy between cooking allows your island to double as a casual eating space.

Martha Stewart never fails to surprise us with her innovative kitchen ideas, and this is one hack that you have likely never thought of. Stewart advises adding a small ‘wall’ to the end of your countertop, enclosing it and reducing the prospect of accidents and messy floors.

If you enjoy baking, you will know that the worst part of it is cleaning up afterward. Flour and sugar have an uncanny ability to get into every crevice and onto every surface, and the floor is often hit hard too. Stewart has added a side wall to the end of her pastry station and says it reduces the amount of flour that ends up on the floor, something we would all be grateful for. If it leads to less vacuuming and sweeping, it’s definitely a yes!

Even the most careful cooks have knocked the occasional bowl or jar off the end of a countertop or kitchen island, and the makeshift wall can prevent these accidents too. This can be especially useful if you have kids in the house or a number of people working in the kitchen at the same time. One final reason to utilize this extra wall hack is that it looks fabulous. It will create a unique and stylish finish to your kitchen, as well as make your cooking life a bit simpler.

When you look around your kitchen, you may think that you don’t have room to add more storage space. But if you want to make your kitchen super efficient, you need to get creative and be determined to use even the smallest of spaces.

Martha Stewart advises using slimline shelves to allow you to store smaller items on unused wall space, freeing up crucial cupboard space for heavier items. In most kitchens, the wall space is used less the higher up you go. Consider how many shelves you could fit onto the walls above eye level or whether you can squeeze in one or two between appliances. Tea supplies, spice jars, or lightweight baking accessories such as cupcake cases and piping bags can all be kept on miniature shelves in spaces you wouldn’t have thought of using.

If you like to grow different types of fresh herbs in your kitchen, keeping them on shelves will free up precious countertop space and make your wall look prettier, too. This also applies to any ornaments or picture frames that you usually keep in your cooking space. By installing stylish mini shelving on your walls, you can add charm and elegance to your kitchen while freeing up space and removing clutter at the same time.

In a perfect world, most of us would choose a kitchen that had an island as the central focus of the room. It provides ample countertop space, heaps of extra storage, and is a convenient place for the family to sit and eat. For many of us, however, this will remain a dream until we finally get the chance to do the kitchen remodeling we’ve been planning for a decade. In the absence of a fixed kitchen island, Martha Stewart has a suggestion of a great alternative that doesn’t require calling out the kitchen fitters.

A moveable cart is key for organizing a small kitchen and can also be used as a rolling island. It not only provides an extra surface for chopping veggies or plating up, which is especially helpful when you have people over for dinner, but it essentially acts as an extra kitchen cupboard on wheels, allowing you to hang utensils from the side and keep crockery, utensils, or cutting boards underneath. And if your kitchen is more compact, you can wheel it away at the end of the evening and store it elsewhere, giving you more space to move around when it’s no longer needed.

Stewart puts her rolling cart to creative use when entertaining, too. It can be pushed up alongside other worktops to extend the buffet surface, or it can double as a mini bar for a cocktail party.

The key to having an organized kitchen and pantry is knowing what ingredients you have and when they are running low. Martha Stewart’s handy hack for this is to use glass storage jars that allow you to see exactly what is inside. There are so many ways to use mason jars to make cooking easier. Whether you use Stewart’s favorite old-fashioned refrigerator jars – which are short, wide, and can be stacked if they have lids — or tall mason jars that make good use of the height of the shelf, using glass jars can be a game changer in your kitchen.

Although clear plastic containers will also allow you to see the contents, glass is a better option for a few reasons. In addition to environmental concerns, glass is considered safer than plastic — especially if the plastic contains BPA or BPS. Glass is also easier to clean, particularly if used to store foods like tomato sauce that can stain plastic, and overall it’s going to look much sleeker than plastic in your kitchen. That said, consider these disposable containers used by Ina Garten if you do prefer plastic.

If you are fed up with half of the cupboard falling out every time you reach for a baking sheet, Martha Stewart has a game changing hack for you. By using vertical spacers or shelves in your cupboard, your unevenly shaped items that don’t stack neatly horizontally can be stored without causing you a headache every time they collapse in a heap.

This genius tip allows you to easily store all of the kitchen items that typically cause frustration when it comes to storage. From lids for plastic containers to muffins trays and oversized serving platters, everything can be stored within vertical shelves, keeping them organized and tidy. If you are not in a position to have vertical spaces installed — that is, carving ridges at the top and bottom of your cupboards — you can improvise by using magazine holders, which will do the same job.

If you are a lover of hot beverages, you may find that your tea, coffee, and related supplies end up in a bit of a mess. Rather than pushing them back into a random cupboard after every cuppa, Martha Stewart recommends having a dedicated space to keep everything tidy, which will make brewing a tea or coffee a less stressful experience.

Most of us don’t have the space for a separate coffee station in the kitchen, but you should be able to find some space in a cupboard or a spare section of countertop. If possible, it makes sense to choose somewhere near the kettle to make the process more efficient, but you will need to choose the area that works best for your room.

If possible, keep mugs, teaspoons, and even your biscotti in that area, so making a cup of tea or coffee doesn’t mean disturbing the rest of your kitchen. Martha Stewart’s love for drinking tea has led to a special tea drawer where she keeps all of her loose leaf tea, tea bags, and strainers. But for most of us, a shelf in a cupboard should suffice!

In the midst of these wonderfully creative and modern ideas for your kitchen, it is easy to forget the basics, but Martha Stewart reminds us that there is one age-old rule that still must be obeyed in your pantry and fridge — organize food by date to cut down on food waste.

In the pantry especially, where expiry dates can be many years away, it is tempting to place newly-bought food at the front of the shelf, convincing yourself that you will remember to use the ones at the back first. Inevitably, though, you will forget, and that bag of rice from two years ago will remain languishing at the back of the pantry forever.

If you decide to decant your dried foods into uniform containers in the pantry, be sure to label them clearly with the ingredient, the date of opening, and the date of expiry. It is also good practice to check the stock in your pantry once a month to prevent produce from reaching the end of its life.