These easy tips to organize cabinets and drawers will save you time

Imagine you won a gourmet meal prepared in your kitchen by a celebrity chef. Would the chef be able to find the tools needed to create the feast without having to call in a search party?

If not, it’s time to organize.

There are countless gadgets and accessories to organize your kitchen and bathroom cabinets and drawers so everything is in its rightful place.

Sweet Jennifer has found the Store It! Cabinet Caddy very helpful in organizing the vast assortment of spices in the Romero kitchen.

This vertical organizer is also perfect for cabinets in other rooms to organize, prescriptions, hardware, cosmetics, and anything else that gets lost behind the clutter. Find it on Rosie’s e-store.

Tip: Organize spices alphabetically. They will be easier to locate.

Rosie-Certified Partner Get Organized with Bridges offers quick and easy organizing tips for plastic containers:

• Store the lids and containers together in the same cabinet or drawer nearest to where you use them the most.

• Keep the lids contained to a small area such as a small crate or box. Do not toss them in the cabinet and hope for the best.

• Make sure that you keep all of the same size containers stacked together, lids too.

• Only purchase three or four sized and shaped containers. You don’t need every size. A few choices will do (too many different sized containers is generally the bigger part of the problem).

• Have only three or four of each size. If you find that you are running out of containers it might be a good time to go through your refrigerator and discard old items.

Organizing food storage containers in this manner is extremely helpful because the sizes are stacked together and all of the lids are contained in one area.

Most importantly, you will find what you need when you need it.

An organizer under the sink provides extra space and allows you too see the cleaning tools at hand. Many are expandable and have optional baskets that will fit the space and work around the piping.

Hӓfele America makes unique storage items. Their Storage Unit Pull-Out Cleaning Caddy is ideal for storing sponges, cleaning chemicals and anything you may need to carry from room to room as it serves as a detachable cleaning caddy.

All plastic parts are easily detachable and dishwasher safe for easy cleaning. The rubber feet on the base prevent marring or sliding when you set it down.

How about the corner cabinet? Once something goes in there and is pushed into the dark recess of nowhere it’s usually never seen again until you move out. Hafele has ingenious solutions for corner cabinets.

The Magic Corner II has front baskets that pull out and swivel to a 90-degree open position while back baskets are simultaneously moved to the cabinet opening. This isn’t your basic lazy Susan, which they do offer, too.

Ann Lyons, a designer who works with Rosie Right Remodeling, has a lot of requests for built-in paper towel holders.

The top drawer of a base cabinet on back of island is removed and converted to a paper towel holder. “I thought it was pretty cool,” she said.

Lyons also noted that hidden charging stations are very popular. A drawer is fitted with electrical outlets. People can plug in their phones and keep them out of sight. Pull-out trash bins remain a highly requested organization item as well.

“I am seeing tons of floating shelves. Clients like the clean look rather than all cabinets,” Lyons said. “A floating shelf can be placed over the sink window for extra storage.”

Make use of all the nooks and crannies, including the space in front of the sink. Pull out the decorative panel in front of the sink and add a tip out tray to store sponges and scrubbers. The trays are available at many home stores.

The junk drawer

Don’t deny it. You have a junk drawer. It’s the catch-all for things you don’t know where to put: tape, coupons (mostly expired), keys to goodness knows what, lip balm, gum, pens, and so on.

Time to clean it out and make it the odds-and-ends drawer. This is a task a Rosie staffer said her grandma would do when she visited. Now, her mom cleans out the junk drawer. So, let’s tackle yours.

Step 1: Measure you’re the width, length, and depth of the drawer. Buy an organizer or multiple small bins that fit. Lyons says she is doing a lot of custom trays for drawers.

Step 2: Pull everything out and take inventory.

Step 3: Toss things like dried out pens, caps without pens, dead batteries, expired coupons, handfuls of rubber bands, etc.

Step 4: Sort like items and place them together in the drawer.

Tip: Keep cords organized by labeling what each one is for. Same with the keys.

Take the time to organize these areas. You save yourself from frustration and buying items you don’t need down the road.

For more do-it-yourself tips, go to rosieonthehouse.com. An Arizona home building and remodeling industry expert for 35 years, Rosie Romero is the host of the Rosie on the House radio program from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturdays on KTAR-FM 92.3 FM in Phoenix, 9 to 11 a.m. on KAFF-AM (930) in Flagstaff, and 10 to 11 a.m. on KNST-AM (790) in Tucson.