Loading a new kitchen's cabinets/drawers-- what goes where?

Except for having the glasses by the sink and spices by the stove I think I rearranged my cabinets a half dozen times in the 1st year I was in this house.  I think it's really a trial and error thing, you just keep shifting things around until you find what works.

Glasses are in the upper cabinet on one side of the sink and coffee mugs on the other side of the sink. The coffee machines and kettle are on the counter below that cupboard. The mugs are on the first shelf and all coffee/tea/hot chocolate supplies on the shelves above. The lower drawers house all the grill things and all the dog things (for us these are the drawers closest to the outdoor slider).

Dishes are in uppers to the right of the stove. Pots, pans, utensils in lower drawers on both sides. Spices, oils, food supplies in the uppers on the left. All baking things and storage containers in the island drawers.

Cutlery is top drawer on the island. I can stand at the dishwasher and unload the dishes/glasses with one step while one of the kids unloads the cutlery/mugs without taking a step. And yes, my kids automatically help if they see me unloading the dishwasher. It may be my super power.

Biggest tip: purge, purge, and then purge again before you begin. Then take everything you don’t use daily and put it in boxes. If you don’t take it out within a certain amount of time, seriously consider getting rid of it.

As you cook now make a list of things that bother you, keep it handy so you don’t forget meaning to add to it later. Or, make an Alexa list.

Put commonly used items in your prime real estate area where it is easiest for you to reach. For me that is drawers and upper shelves due to my back. Those cake pans you never use but insist on keeping? They can go in a high cabinet.

It’s best to go with where you would think to look for things rather than where most people keep them. Here are some things that make sense to me:

Glasses near the fridge; plates, bowls and utensils near the dining room.

Tongs, spoons, whisks and other utensils you use on the stove in the drawers next to the stove.

No spices near heat (mine hang on my pantry door in alphabetical order and it’s awesome). I have this one without the grid,  just lots of shelves for slices up top. And deeper ones for oils, vinegars and sweetners closer to the floor. 

We keep our commonly used oil & balsamic vinegar in cruets, salt in a cellar and a spray container for oil all on a tray on the counter close (but not too close) to the stove. The tray visually grounds all of the items so they don’t look as messy to me, and it’s easy to move everything at once to wipe down the counters. 

Baking items together if you bake a lot.

Small appliances all together on the lazy susans in the corner.

Trash and recycling cans on a pull out in a base cabinet like this. They also make them that attach to the floor of cabinet, but avoid those if you can. We have one and the bottom of the cabinet gets so yucky and it’s very hard to get to.

Food storage near the fridge.

The following 3 compose our prep area: 
     
     All cutting tools in one drawer.

     Cutting boards near the knives.

     Knives near the trash can cabinet (so can easily turn swipe trash into can without taking a step).

     Our main cutting board lives on the countertop here, and there is a lot of countertop next to it so
     another person can work there.

We have a ziplocks drawer and right next to it other items like this: foil, wax paper, parchment paper, etc. ideally this would go above the food storage cabinet (or lower drawers) but that’s not possible in our kitchen.

Don’t put commonly used items in the cabinet that is blocked by your dishwasher. That’s where we keep all of our Corning Wear and baking Pyrex (not storage Pyrex).

Look up rev-a-shelf and other brands like it. They have a TON of drawer and lower cabinet solutions. Build.com has a lot of them and they’re shipping now. So does Amazon.

LOL, who is this Susan and why is she so lazy? Stupid autocorrect!

I keep utensils used during cooking next to the stove. Spices are also near the stove (across from it in an island). Silverware is kept near the dishwasher as well as dishes (mine are in a drawer). Pots and pans are in drawers near the stove.

I’ve had 16 kitchens in the last 30 years. Sadly, I’m a pro at this!

The first thing I do is write out my cupboard contents on sticky notes. I’ll put them on the cupboards around the kitchen, keeping in mind how much space they took up in the previous house. That way, I’m just moving around post it’s and not pots and pans. Mentally go around your old kitchen, listing out what you had in each cupboard.

I think of tasks and group like items. So baking items all go together, cooking pots together, dishes I use to set the table are together, plastic ware... if someone else sets the table, I put all those items together at the end of the kitchen, including silverware. For me, it’s easier to carry items to the location when unloading the dishwasher vs having DH or the kids in my space as I’m finishing making dinner.

I always have one cupboard for baking sheets, cutting boards, and the like, storing them upright. For me, it’s more efficient than stacking them under heavy pots.

Items like sprinkles, cupcake papers, and cake decorating are in baskets and put into the most inconvenient spaces, as they aren’t used as often.

Seasonal glasses, plates, bowls, etc are put within reach or I’d never use them. I’m short and don’t want to climb a step stool when I’m pulling things together. For me, that’s frequently the cupboard above the dishwasher. Easy enough to get to when the dishwasher is closed!

For utensil drawers, I sort by task as well. I usually have a drawer for cooking and a drawer for baking.

We have a spice cabinet next to the stove and we store our spices in a similar cabinet away from the stove. Apparently, stove temps can affect your spices.

We stand next to ours as well.  I can't even picture a kitchen arrangement where standing in front of it would work, unless the dishes go opposite the dishwasher in a galley kitchen.  Otherwise, why reach so much further if you don't have to?  To me, it makes the most sense to keep the commonly used dishes above the dishwasher, then stand to the side of the dishwasher and everything is within reach.

I’m short. 5’2” on a good day. I keep plates and bowls in the cabinet above the dishwasher, because it’s most convenient, but it’s a stretch for me on tiptoes to reach and my daughter can’t reach at all. She has to unload the dishwasher and stack the dishes on the counter and then close the dishwasher and put the dishes on the cabinet. Standing to the side adds enough extra room that it’s hard to reach across the dishwasher and up.

I did this when I helped my cousin organize her kitchen a couple of year ago...but it didn’t even occur to me when we moved in 2008.

Game changer for us was putting dishes IN A DRAWER. The flatware is in the top drawer. One dw is left of the sink and the draw is to the right. The other dw is opposite the first one.

You can stand at the sink and unpack both dishwashers without taking more than a step.

The fridge is on the other side of the drawers so if you want a snack, again, its all right there.

We have pots in drawers under the cooktop, baking trays and cooling racks above the double ovens and a baking station between the two. Pans are hanging in a cupboard to the right of the stove.

Basically everything is stored as close to where it’s used as possible

Similar to what other posters did, I made a copy of the plans when we did our kitchen remodel years ago and wrote on that paper where I wanted some things to go. I probably did this before it was all done so I could start unpacking things right away.

Our kitchen isn't huge, but I did decide to separate the cooking spices from the baking spices and supplies. That has helped a lot since now the baking stuff is right above the mixer. I did eventually get a smaller container so I could keep salt in both places.

When we designed our kitchen I read posts at houzz and the vast majority recommended drawers in all lower cabinets. I was really nervous to do it but I love it. Pots and pans, dishes, mixing bowls, are all in drawers. The only door cabinets we have are the ends of the island (shallow, so we couldn't do drawers there), under the sink, and one for a pull out trash can. When dh started thinking about us moving to his mom's old place, the first thing I thought about was my drawers and having to redo the entire kitchen so I could have the same there. Thankfully we decided it would require too much work on the entire house to do it (only one bathroom, no dining area, small kitchen, etc).