Here Are Some Tips To Tidy Up Your Kitchen Island

A kitchen island can be an important part of a kitchen as it can be used for entertaining, prepping, cooking or even eating. The versatile kitchen island helps keep the space organized and can provide extras like additional seating areas and a sink and prep area. That's why islands are on so many homeowner's wish lists. If you have a kitchen island, you are very lucky, as not everyone has the room for one. Keeping the space tidy and organized will help you maximize your island. So, what's the best way to do this?

While organization methods will vary from household to household depending on specific needs, there are some general strategies for tidying up a kitchen island. You'll want to first remove clutter from the surface so you can start with as fresh a base as possible. Then, determine the best way to organize everything. Use bins and drawer inserts to keep the space neat. After you have finished organizing your kitchen island, you can elevate the area by storing decorative kitchen items on the counter. Here's a closer look at the process.

Having a lot of clutter on your kitchen island can make it difficult to use the space. It can also lead to a buildup of bacteria and germs. So, you'll want to start by getting rid of anything that shouldn't be on your kitchen island before cleaning the space well. To declutter, remove everything from the island and set it aside, including appliances, pots, and pans. Determine if the items should go back on the island or whether they should be placed elsewhere in your kitchen, or even removed from your home altogether. When looking through your things, be honest about what you really need. Donate anything that you haven't used in a while.

After you have cleared out your island, you'll want to determine how to organize things best. It's important to organize things in a way that will best suit your family, so get creative and choose solutions that suit your specific needs. Do you use the island mainly for entertaining or for cooking space? If used for entertaining, then you will want to keep items like wine glasses stored towards the front where they are easily accessible. For cooking, on the other hand, having pots and pans handy is important.

No matter how you organize your kitchen island, you'll want to group similar items together. Otherwise, you'll have a disheveled mess! Small bins and baskets are perfect for this purpose. You can find a variety of bins and baskets for the kitchen on Amazon, including this Feisco Set of 6 Cabinet Organizers, which comes in three colors and is sold for $21.99 at the time of writing. Using baskets is an affordable and easy way to get more space. 

While bins and baskets are perfect for cabinets, dividers and inserts are great for organizing drawers. If you just throw your silverware or cooking utensils in a drawer, it can look like a jumbled mess, and become difficult to find what you need. Drawer inserts, like this mDesign Expandable Plastic Drawer Organizer, make it a breeze to organize the smaller items in your kitchen island drawers, while these Clear Plastic Drawer Organizers are useful for storing larger kitchen gadgets. After you have organized your cabinets and drawers, you can then use counter space to display pretty kitchenware and tools. There you have it — a tidy kitchen island.