How I kept the Vellore Village Kitchen organized

There’s something incredibly satisfying about a well-organized kitchen. Everything has its place, and you’re not digging through cabinets or muttering under your breath just to find one tool. Can anyone relate? Stay with me, I’ll walk you through a few simple kitchen organization ideas that made cooking in this space so much easier.

Before remodeling my own kitchen, cooking felt chaotic. Half the time was spent searching for things or pulling everything out just to reach something in the back. So during the design stage, a lot of thought went into how everything would be organized and where it should live. Even with limited space, every decision had to be intentional.

If you’re exploring ways to improve your space, these kinds of kitchen organization ideas can completely change how your kitchen works day to day.

Start With These Kitchen Organization Ideas

Before getting into the drawers and cabinets, here are a few things I learned that made a huge difference.

Purge

You’d be surprised how much you accumulate over time. Go through your cabinets and remove anything you don’t use. It instantly frees up space and makes everything easier to manage.

Create an Inventory

As you’re purging, take note of what you actually have. How many small appliances do you own? Do you bake often? How many utensils do you really use? Knowing this helps you understand how much space you need and where everything should go.

Understand How You Use Your Kitchen

It is interesting how many people don’t give this enough thought. The traditional ‘kitchen triangle’ isn’t the only way to design a space. Think about how many people cook at once and what their roles are. When we design for clients, we spend a lot of time understanding how they use their kitchen. That’s what allows us to create a space that truly works. This is also a key part of good interior design tips, designing around real habits, not just theory. Even if you’re not doing a full renovation, this exercise can completely change how your kitchen functions. Sometimes just reassigning cabinet use can make a big difference.

Now lets dive into my drawers and cabinets and take you through why this worked for me. 

Island Organization: Cooking and Cleaning Zones

As mentioned in the Vellore Village Kitchen Reveal, moving the cooking area to the island was essential. It created a more social and connected space. We divided the island into two zones: cooking side, cleaning side.

Cooking Side

The spice and oil pull-outs were placed on either side of the cooktop for easy access. We use a lot of spices and oils, so this was a must. In fact, one kitchen company tried to convince me not to include the oil pull-out because ‘most people don’t use it’. Needless to say, I walked away. Be firm in what you want. You’re the one using the space.

The drawer bank by the cooktop was designed for utensils and most used pans. The first drawer has all the serving utensils and cooking knives. The second holds all the cooking utensils, and according to one Instagram comment, an unusual amount of whisks (‘Holy whisks batman! Must do a lot of…whiskin!’). The bottom drawer includes the most used pans, and a few of the smaller chopping boards that can be easily grabbed.

Cleaning Side

The cleaning side includes the dishwasher, sink cabinet and cleaning supplies pullout. The dishwasher is probably the hardest-working appliance in the house. It really pulls its weight.

The sink cabinet was once again a reason for debate. Everyone thought the sink was too small, without understanding how this particular kitchen is used. The size of the sink is perfect, and a large double sink in this case would have actually used up necessary space. The sink cabinet includes a 3 bin storage. In an ideal world this would have been in a separate cabinet, however we would’ve had to add about 6” to the length of the island, space we didn’t have. The pullout to the right has 3 interior drawers that holds all the kitchen cleaning supplies, towels and mitts. 

Storage on the Opposite Side of the Island

The other side of the island has all the dishes, pots and Tupperware. Each has its own drawer, which makes unloading the dishwasher incredibly fast. The dish drawers include a peg system to keep everything in place. These can be adjusted based on your dish sizes, and similar options are available online. If you’re looking for practical kitchen organization ideas, this is one of the simplest upgrades with a big impact.

The Pantry Wall

The pantry wall was designed to house all big and small appliances, dried food, and anything else you can think of. All cabinets were similarly built with Shelves on top, pull-out drawers at the bottom, making things easy to grab. Only one cabinet is a full pull-out pantry with drawers, that I use for dry food storage. I love how everything is in one cabinet. For storage I use mostly glass jars and OXO organizers as I love all the different sizes, the fact that they are transparent, and easy to clean.

Except for the oven, all appliances such as the fridge and freezer were built to seamlessly disappear. The espresso machine was also hidden on a pull-out shelf with coffee and tea stored right underneath. There is a built-in outlet with a kill switch so we don’t have to take out the machine each time we want to use it. It is important to know that kill switches are required by law if you live in Canada, however I would recommend it regardless of where you live. When the door closes, there is no active power, making it safe and easy to use. There is no fear of forgetting to shut down the appliance. 

Baking Zone and Small Details

I love to bake, but before it used to take me longer to prep than to actually bake. So everything related to baking now lives in one place. The oven cabinet has 3 drawers, all assigned to carry oven accessories, as well as all baking trays and utensils. On top of the oven, we enclosed the microwave, once again with a kill switch mounted on the door. Everyone in this household is fairly tall, so the height is not an issue.

Beyond the dedicated spaces, I took the time to divide the drawers even further to help keep things in order. Vegetables and fruits were assigned to 2 drawers. These baskets with lining make it east to separate the vegetables and to clean. Most importantly, there is finally enough space for all the cat food! All pet owners can understand the struggle. We had a dedicated space before the kitchen reno, but it was the small space in the hood fan cabinet above the rangetop. Hard to reach, and annoying to restock. A small drawer was also assigned for all the extra spices that I don’t use on a daily basis. I decanted all the loose bags of spices, and used Ikea Rajtan spice jars to organize everything. I even added printed labels to make everything easily identifiable. 

Small Details That Make a Big Difference

One of my favourite features is the open shelf for herbs. I used self-watering pots so we can grow herbs year-round right next to the cooktop. There’s something about having fresh herbs within reach that makes the kitchen feel alive.

There are tons of ways you can optimize your existing kitchen cabinets, with lots of dividers and tools that were simply not available a few years ago, unless you went completely custom. 

While I have every drawer assigned to a specific use, I am still in search of making those drawers even more functional. I will report back as I find the right tools that work for me. In the meantime, what are your favourite ways to organize your kitchen?

Final Thoughts

An organized kitchen changes everything. It makes cooking faster, easier, and actually enjoyable. When everything has a place, the entire space starts to work with you instead of against you.

If you’re looking for more kitchen organization ideas, explore our kitchen design section where we break down layouts, storage, and real project insights. You can also explore our full project insights to see how the entire space came together.

For more ideas, projects, and behind-the-scenes moments, you can follow along on Instagram.