5 Easy Ways To Organize Your Bakeware In Your Kitchen
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
Something about the chilly autumn air and daylight savings coming to an end makes it the best time to start baking. Whether you're learning a new recipe or following the same one for the millionth time, the heat from the oven and the smell of spices creates a sense of warmth at home. On the other hand, if you need a self-care night, baking is perfect for relieving stress, claims Little Rae's Bakery. Baking lets you be creative and mindful of the task in front of you. Focusing on following the recipe by ensuring every ingredient is measured precisely and combining the elements correctly distracts from other intrusive thoughts. The joy of seeing the results after spending a couple of hours putting everything together is enough to relieve the stress and anxiety, even if it's just for a little while.
Depending on the size of your kitchen, there's always a limited amount of space, especially in a smaller kitchen, for storing tools and food while also making room for kitchen décor. Rummaging through drawers and trying to find a whisk when baking supplies aren't organized can disrupt the enjoyment and it can be tedious to spend time looking for them. Likewise, it's frustrating to pause the baking process to look for the best sheet pan, which is why we came up with a few ways to organize your bakeware to make finding your favorite tools easier.
File organizer for baking sheets
We're guilty of piling baking sheets haphazardly in a cabinet, making it difficult to find the one we need. Alternatively, stowing cookie sheets away on top of the stove doesn't make it easier to use them either because they end up on the counters, creating an even bigger mess. Interior lifestyle blogger Organizing Home Life claims she used to store her stoneware in the drawer under the oven, but it wasn't deep enough to hold every sheet pan she had. So instead, she cleared out a cabinet and placed a cookie sheet organizer inside — a flat tray with dividers.
Depending on how many sheets you have, some organizers can hold up to 11 pans. Amazon has an adjustable baking sheet organizer for $19.99 that can hold up to six sheets. We suggest picking a cabinet to store the pans first before buying an organizer to measure the space, so it's guaranteed to fit. Customers raved over the product, giving it 4.6 stars out of 5, and claiming it's easy to assemble, durable, and good quality. You can also check out your local thrift store to find the organizer at a potentially more affordable price.
Labeled storage containers
Baking requires many ingredients that can create a messy look in the pantry when the packages are stacked on top of one another. For example, if you're a fan of making cupcakes, loaves, cookies, or cakes, you might have bags of candy and chocolate overflowing on the shelves secured with bag clips. In addition, it can be overwhelming to see and sort through various ingredients to find the one you're looking for. Usually, you want the baking ingredients nicely organized in the same spot to be easily accessible.
According to Molly My Mag, an effective way to organize all the bags is to pour the contents into labeled glass containers. Start by taking out everything from your pantry, categorize it, and throw away anything that has expired. Then, fill the storage containers with all your baking ingredients, such as flour, sugar, chocolate, etc. Label each container as you fill it, so you don't forget what's inside. Use a sharpie for jars you know will hold the same item forever and dry-erase markers for those that will hold temporary ingredients. Since dry-erase markers can be hard to remove after weeks, use Windex to get rid of the markings.
Baskets for small appliances and tools
Baking sheets and ingredients aren't the only things that take up room in the kitchen. Whisks, wooden spoons, and measuring cups are prone to get lost in deep drawers full of other kitchen items. Creating a designated baking area is perfect for preventing the loss of a whisk or other tool. Blogger Bakers Makers claims a baking zone allows every relevant appliance, such as mixers, bowls, cups, and more, to stay organized. Use an empty countertop or build separate shelving to hold it together. On the shelves, you'll be able to store the smaller appliances, like spoons, whisks, rolling pins, pipe bags, icing nozzles, etc., in various baskets.
There are different types of baskets with dividers in which you can store nozzles and cookie cutters together, or you can place the items in ziplock bags and put them in regular baskets (per Bakers Makers). Target has many clear storage bin options for baking tools and equipment as well. Once you have all the baskets organized, labeling them will make it easier to gather everything you need when it comes time to bake.
Hanging rack for sprinkles
We know how hard it is to resist buying sprinkles every time we make a trip to the grocery store. As the seasons change, there always seem to be new packs of sprinkles with different colors and designs. While we roam the baking aisles, we don't think about the drawers full of colorful containers that we already have at home. Instead, we throw another in the cart and resolve to deal with the issue later. However, organizing your sprinkles at home will ensure there's always room for more.
Borderland Bakery suggests that a kitchen storage rack is the easiest way to store sprinkles. You can set it up on the door inside the pantry or on an empty wall. Amazon has different options for hanging racks that come in various sizes. For example, the 1Easylife brand has a metal six-shelving unit that offers six different widths for the baskets. It comes in either a black or white finish. Reviewers claim it's easy to assemble, extremely sturdy, and saves space for storing food items.
Store baking tools in drawers
We mentioned how building a shelving unit in the kitchen can help store baking tools and equipment, but if you don't have enough space for an entire unit, opt for cabinets and drawers. In addition, kitchen drawers are often filled with mail, pens, random toys, and hair ties, so it's the perfect opportunity to clean them out. According to Remodelaholic, deep drawers are a superb alternative to pantry storage. You can divide a drawer into sections to hold all the baking supplies, like flour, sugar, chocolate, etc., in labeled containers. On the other hand, this method also works for tools such as piping bags, nozzles, cookie cutters, and spatulas.
When organizing baking tools in deep drawers, expandable separators will evenly break up the space, or you can measure out the length you'll need depending on how many supplies you have. For example, if you have more cookie cutters and piping nozzles than piping bags and spatulas, you can make a larger gap with the dividers for the cookie cutters and nozzles. The piping bags don't have to be laid flat; instead, stack them on their sides to make more room. Amazon has a pack of four organizer dividers that can be adjusted to fit most sized drawers. Customers claim the dividers are well made, easy to use, and don't move around since they have a lock-in feature to keep them in place.