Kitchens are definitely the most unique rooms in our homes. While most homes have more than one bathroom, many bedrooms, and both a family room and living room, most of us have only one kitchen.

The kitchen is also the most functional room in the house. Not only do we store food, cooking utensils and dinnerware, but we have fancy machines to keep food fresh and prepare it.

Needless to say, designing and decorating your kitchen goes far beyond the usual choice of wall paint and furniture fabrics.

Organization is Key

Especially in smaller apartment and condo kitchens, it’s often tough to keep your kitchen organized enough to have the space you need for all that functionality.

So, if you are ready to redecorate, it may be a good time to organize your kitchen too. Here are just a few tips to help you.

1. Use Stacking Shelves on Counters

If yours is a small kitchen, counter space is probably what you lack the most. But stacking shelves, which leave most of the counter space below them open, will give you additional storage and/or food preparation space.

2. Divide Your Drawers

Modern kitchen cupboards feature massive drawers that are at first appealing, because of how much stuff they can store. But, after throwing things in them for a while, they can become disorganized and be a poor use of space. Adding mini-storage bins to section larger drawers can help you use the space better.

3. Add Curtain Rods to Walls

You can hang anything: pots, cutting boards, towels, you name it, from a curtain rod against the wall. When you do, you free up the drawer and cupboard space all that stuff used before.

4. Use Your Oven

If you’re more of a microwave person, there’s a huge space that’s rarely used in your kitchen. You can use your oven to store items that you can quickly remove for those days when you actually bake something.

5. Build a Pegboard Wall

Pegboard has long been a staple in many home workshops, and that’s really what your kitchen is too. Like the curtain rods, pegboard is very accommodating as a place to store almost anything.

Used properly and most of these ideas will not only help you be more organized in the kitchen, but they will add character to its décor too.