My 'Dream Kitchen' With Plenty Of Cabinet Space Is A Nightmare To Keep Organized

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When we were shopping for our first home, my wishlist only had three things: a garage to house our cars, a bathtub, and, perhaps most importantly, my "dream kitchen" with lots of storage. The last dream stems from (surprise, surprise), having virtually no kitchen storage in any place we rented. Our first apartment had no pantry whatsoever, leaving us to store bread and canned beans in my now-husband's beat-up college bookcase in the tiny dining room. Our second place was a little better; there was at least one whole cabinet in the kitchen. But I dreamed of a home where I could store everything in the cupboards and have a stylized vase of seasonal flowers decorating the kitchen countertop. Little did I know, though, that such a spacious kitchen would turn out to come with its own struggles.

When we walked into our current home, with its soaring ceilings, deep kitchen cabinets, and expansive countertops, it felt like my dream come true. But, well... It didn't quite work out that way. To put it simply, keeping everything organized and reachable was a nightmare for years. The shelves in the walk-in pantry were so deep that I couldn't reach the items in the back unless I wedged my arm and shoulder under the ledge. I had to climb onto the countertops to reach the items on the top cabinet shelves. I'd spend the weekend organizing the kitchen, only for it to feel like a cluttered mess again by Thursday. Moral of the story? That roomy kitchen storage might be nice and cause daydreams of a perfectly organized home to dance in your head. But there are definite downsides to keep in mind.

If you're rolling your eyes, I get it. The me that moved out of the tiny, single-cabinet kitchen wouldn't have been sympathetic either. But those luscious deep drawers, endless cabinet space, and sweeping countertops provide their own set of problems. The biggest one? Clutter. It might feel like having plenty of cabinet storage will fix your clutter problems, but the truth is, it can make it worse. Case in point: Rather than getting rid of extras, you may opt to just store multiple sets of dishware, glassware, and cooking utensils, cluttering up spacious cabinets just because you can. Similarly, I started storing anything and everything in our empty cabinets (including unsuccessful knitting projects, bags full of donations, even my kid's finger paintings). Instead of having a clutter-free, organized kitchen with a junk drawer, I had a junk kitchen.

Another surprising downside is that often, larger kitchens mean a less effective kitchen work triangle. This functional kitchen layout places the sink, refrigerator, and range in a triangle, making it easy to move around your kitchen's primary workspaces. But the larger the space, the more steps you have to take from one point to another, meaning the simple routine of cleaning up after dinner just got that much harder.

The last drawback? You need organizers. Yes, "need" is a powerful word, but I mean it. Without them, you'll be fumbling in the utensil drawer, trying to find the fish spatula while the tilapia burns on the stove. (Ask me how I know.) Drawer organizers, collapsible wire cabinet shelves, even Command hooks can help organize your kitchen. But the initial setup cost, mentally and financially, was more than I expected and took more trial-and-error than I hoped.

More than a decade after moving into my kitchen, I've (mostly) made it work. Yes, I still have two junk drawers and a lazy susan that I'm not quite sure what to do with, but the rest? It's not the nightmare it used to be. 

The first, and perhaps most important, thing I did was declutter ruthlessly. If we didn't use, like, or need it, I donated it. Anything cracked, chipped, or broken was fixed, repurposed, or recycled. Then, I created zones, assigning jobs to each cabinet and drawer. The upper cabinets by the stove hold our dishware and glass food storage, and the nearby drawers are for utensils and spices. The closest lower cabinets hold my most-used pots and pans, while the ones I use less often (like the Bundt pan and the Dutch oven) sit in the next set of cabinets. Knowing how you work in your kitchen and how often you reach for items makes it easier to organize once and for all.

Finally, I leaned hard into the aforementioned organizers. I didn't always get kitchen-specific ones; in fact, the only "kitchen" organizer is my expandable pan sorter. My sheet pans and cutting boards are in a magazine holder, and cooking utensils are in the budget-friendly Brightroom Storage Trays from Target. In other words, your organizers don't only have to be from the kitchen section; shop what you have at home or at the thrift store. Ultimately, I'm not telling you not to get a spacious kitchen with gobs of storage. If you declutter, organize it for how you actually use your kitchen, and make space for what you need and use, it's wonderful. But the only one who can truly create your "dream kitchen" is you.