6 Small Tasks to Do Daily to Declutter Your Kitchen, Experts Say

Let’s be honest: staying on top of cleaning and organizing every room in your home can get overwhelming—and before you know it, piles of junk on countertops and crammed-full kitchen cabinets can feel unmanageable.

Major decluttering sessions take up a lot of precious time, so your kitchen is starting to become cramped and chaotic instead of open and inviting, it might be time to try building some new daily and weekly habits.

To help, we spoke to three professional organizers, who shared the top tips they give their clients looking for low-effort ways to keep their kitchen clutter-free.

Curate Your Countertops

All of our organizing experts agree that the countertop is one of the most important spots to keep decluttered in a kitchen.

While keeping some must-haves out and styling them on trays and risers ensures the kitchen stays functional, having as clear a surface as possible leaves plenty of room for food prep and makes counters and kitchen islands much easier to clean.

“Try paring your countertop back to the essentials, then monitor what type of things end there over a week,” Amelié Saint-Jacques of Amelie Organizes suggests.

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Nightly Reset

Maintaining a clean, organized kitchen is much easier when you break things down into small, bite-sized habits to build each day, instead of waiting for a Sunday reset and letting messes and clutter accumulate throughout the week.

This is why Saint-Jacques recommends that all of her clients try the ‘closing shift’ method, which involves working through a 5-10 minute list of tasks each evening after dinner.

“Do a nightly reset by making sure the dishes are clean—or the dishwasher is going—and wiping down the counters and sink,” she suggests. You will love starting the next day fresh in a clean, orderly space!”

Decant Everything

There is nothing worse than trying to open up your spice drawer, only to find it overstuffed with multiples of the same item (and missing the ingredient you need).

Although it may seem like an extra task to add to your kitchen checklist, Saint-Jacques says keeping your dry ingredients and snacks in designated containers will help in the long run.

“If there’s one thing you can do to organize your spices, it’s to decant everything in uniform jars, and store them in a way where you can see them all,” she says. “I also recommend keeping individually wrapped snacks in clear bins and jars.”

Pre-Grocery Clearout

Another quick food organizing task Saint-Jacques encourages is a routine fridge check and clean-out, which is best done right before you plan your grocery list. This keeps duplicate products from building up, reduces food waste, and creates space for fresh produce.

“I like to clean my fridge before doing the weekly grocery shopping so I know what I actually need, and have clean space to put away my food,” Saint-Jacques says.

Organize Ahead

Although keeping open shelves and surfaces clutter-free is important, H2H Organizing’s Ben Soreff and Reba Bassett of Revelation Organizing both advise prioritizing your lifestyle and day-to-day needs when putting things away.

“Be realistic about your daily habits and functions in the kitchen,” Bassett says. “Think through your daily routine, and what you need for coffee, breakfast, and dinner, then keep the items you need for those tasks easily.”

“We want to put items where they belong, not just where they fit,” Soreff adds. “Focus on making sure frequently-used pieces are within reach.”

Regularly Review

“I find that most people don’t have a regular rhythm of going through their kitchen items,” Bassett explains. She suggests doing a ‘review’ every 6-12 months, or more frequently if you have young children with quickly changing needs.

Saint-Jacques agrees with the importance of regularly setting aside the time to declutter, and also recommends following the popular “one-in, one-out” rule as a mini cabinet clear-out. This keeps the task much more manageable, and will make your annual review a breeze.