Budget Friendly Small Kitchen Organization Ideas

This post is about a budget-friendly organization for a small kitchen.

1. Before getting started

Before organizing your small kitchen, there are a few steps I like to take before organizing anything. Whether it’s getting into the right mindset or physically taking action, these are a couple of tips you should know before organizing your small kitchen.

Encouragement

Have you ever seen an aesthetic home with all sorts of organization containers and wondered how you can achieve a clean organized space? Typically to achieve those social media-ready organized spaces requires a lot of money.

In some cases, organizers can be helpful. In many other cases, they are just adding to the clutter. The purpose is to reduce and refine the existing clutter, so adding more to the pile doesn’t help. I promise by the end of this post, you won’t feel the desire to spend on endless containers.

Declutter

Wouldn’t it be nice not to have to take out everything just to reach for an item in the very back? Wouldn’t it be nice if you had fewer dishes to wash and more space to breathe?

For organizing any space, it’s always important to declutter anything you don’t use or need. No more wasted time organizing products you’re not even going to use back on the shelves. Everything after the decluttering process, are curated items you know you use.

Is it Worth it?

Although decluttering can be daunting at times, we don’t need or use a lot of what we have. You have to decide what’s worth it to you. I like to ask the following questions to myself when deciding whether to keep or declutter an item.

“Even though it would be nice to have (object you are debating on decluttering) because it (object’s function), is it worth the extra clutter and (object’s negative aspect)? Or would you rather have (positive outcome of decluttering object)?

Example Question 1: Even though it would be nice to have a crockpot because I can just dump food in and let it cook for 4 – 12 hours without thinking much about it, is it worth the extra clutter and money spent on electricity? Or would you rather just spend 30 minutes cooking instead of the crockpot using 6 – 8 hours of electricity cooking?

Example Question 2: Even though it would be nice to have a produce chopper because it makes cutting produce faster, is it worth the extra clutter and time it takes to wash? Or would you rather have more space and spend a couple of extra minutes manually hand-chopping with your kitchen knives?

Everyone has different situations that may call for different needs in the kitchen. As a 24-year-old cooking for 2, I don’t mind manually cooking with just a few basic products. However, if you are a busy person, using a vegetable chopper and crockpot might be worth it. You have to decide what’s worth keeping and getting rid of.

2. Free Kitchen Organization

Get creative and analyze the space you have first, before spending money on kitchen organization products. Many people don’t use their spaces to their fullest potential. Whether it’s overcrowding with clutter, or not using the space at all, use your space with intention.

Use Unconventional spaces

Small kitchen ideas on a budget are to use spaces you might not have thought of. You can store your items in the oven, warming drawer, under the sink, the fridge, or on top of cabinets.

For the oven, you can place pots and pans inside. The shallow drawer underneath the oven is great for placing anything flat such as cutting boards or baking sheets.

When you’re in a small kitchen, you have to get creative with storage placement. My apartment kitchen does not have an actual pantry. I store my seasonings, potatoes, and onions all in the refrigerator. I know that they are supposed to be in a cupboard rather than a fridge. However, I have found no changes in the flavor, texture, or preservation. Sometimes you just got to do what you got to do with the given situation.

3. Visual organization

Lessening the visual clutter in a small space is key to creating an illusion of a bigger space. To create a more functional and organized space, keep the visual clutter to a minimum.

Ditch the clear plastic bins and Get solid bins

Every kitchen organization post seems to always promote the clear plastic food bins, shelves, drink dispensers, food containers, etc. I’ll be the first to tell you that you don’t need those! They’re pricey, more of a hassle to deal with, bad for the environment, and don’t look good. I used to be one of those people who had endless organization containers, and I donated all of them.

I try to avoid as many organization products as possible. I like using the empty shelves/drawers as they are 99% of the time. The maintenance of needing to wash all these organization products and drop loads of money is not worth it for me.

Airtight food containers are a hassle to deal with because you need to wash them frequently. When you go to empty the already packaged food into those airtight containers, often it doesn’t fit everything. You’ll buy a set amount of those containers, but then realize “Oh I need another container for my couscous”. You end up in a never-ending cycle of buying organization products just to fit the new items you buy.

Why I love solid bins

My all-time favorite organization container is Walmart’s Mainstays Collapsible Fabric Cube Storage Bin in “Vanilla Dream”. They are less than $5 a bin and look super chic. I love the ivory color with the faux brass finger pull because it makes a space look stylish.

Unlike clear acrylic plastic bins, these hide the clutter. No need to make sure everything product is neatly placed inside. Visually, your space will look more organized by storing your clutter in solid material bins that mask everything.

Most small kitchens lack an actual pantry. These bins are great for creating pantry ideas for small kitchens. You can use these to categorize your carbs, snacks, desserts, and baking products. You can create your own DIY small kitchen pantry with a few bins and store them in the cupboards.

Create a Neutral color palette with pops of color

Lighter colors often give a sense of openness, light, and airy. Darker colors can make you feel like you’re in a tighter enclosed space. Having a kitchen with lighter colors will make your small kitchen appear larger when creating a simple kitchen design.

If you aren’t into the all-neutral vibe, add pops of color throughout your kitchen. A great way to do so is with the produce on the counter, flowers, fun kitchen towels, or artwork.

Clear off countertops

Visual clutter can make a space look more unorganized when sitting on top of the countertops. To make a small kitchen feel bigger, store away as much of the clutter as possible. If you aren’t using it 4 out of 7 days of the week, put it away. Common kitchen essentials that are left out are toasters, blenders, tea kettles, and knife blocks.

4. use Drawer Liners

If you’re renting, or planning on moving, it’s good to not be tied down to a one size fits all organization product. I know it is tempting to buy a lot of organization products, but most of the time they will be extra clutter. These drawer liners give you the flexibility to organize your belongings no matter the size of your next drawers. No need to buy drawer organization containers such as utensil organizers and plastic drawer organizer trays.

It wasn’t until I moved into my 2nd apartment, that I realized my utensil organizer didn’t fit the new apartment’s drawer size. It was too wide for the drawer which is when I got the drawer liners. I ran into the same problem with drawer organizer trays. They would fit perfectly in one drawer, but when moving to a different drawer size, it was like playing Tetris. I would either be left with an empty void in the drawer therefore needing to buy another organizer tray or I would have leftover trays.

Drawer liners protect the wood drawer itself along with keeping items in place from moving around. It feels good not to have the baggage of extra drawer organization containers that will end up needing to be cleaned and packed again when moving. You’ll see you can do a lot with the existing space without needing to buy extra storage products.

5. Use Food Containers for Fridge organization

If you’re looking to organize your fridge without breaking the bank, use your current food bowls and microwavable food containers as fridge organization. There are a lot of fridge organization products out there like clear bins, produce-saving containers, drink dispensers, and more. Those aren’t necessary to achieve an organized fridge. Once again, you’ll spend more time washing those things than it is helpful.

By using your cereal bowls and food containers, you most likely already have these items. When they aren’t in use, you can store them with the rest of your containers so it doesn’t feel like it’s taking up extra space. They are multi-use if you use them to eat out of and organize your fridge.

Ways to organize the fridge

If you’re ingredient-prepping produce, place those pre chopped carrots, spinach, and cabbage in food containers.

Place heavier produce that is better left whole such as potatoes, onions, apples, cucumbers, and avocados in cereal bowls. Placing looser produce in bowls will make sure they aren’t rolling all over the place in the fridge.

6. Use Space Saving Kitchen Essentials

Space-saving products are very helpful when having a small kitchen. Look for products that are collapsible, can be taken apart, stackable, or multi-purpose.

Collapsible kitchen products – Colanders, water bottles, funnel, cheese grater

Stackable kitchen products – Cookware sets with detachable handles, mixing bowls, nesting measuring cups and spoons, dinnerware

Multi-purpose kitchen products – Double-ended utensils, a cheese grater for a zester, a cup as a masher, an aluminum baking tray for a food defroster