Now that most of the big areas in our home are coming together (the kitchen, master bedroom, craft room…) I’m finally finding time to work on all of the small spaces in our little house. Which really worries me because we have several realllly messy closets in our house! Last week we tackled a quick and easy small bathroom makeover (seriously that one took like 3 hours max) and this week we tackled organizing the space under our kitchen sink!
Which is perfect because now I can share a few tips on how to organize the space under your kitchen sink.
Looking for a bunch of posts on organization & planning? I’ve got you covered! Click here to see all of my organization & planning posts in one place!
Tip 1: Clean Your Cabinet and Install Shelf Liner
Of course, the first step in organizing the cabinet under the sink was to clean the space under the kitchen sink! Until we installed our new faucet during our kitchen makeover I didn’t realize quite how nasty it was under there yuck.
So I broke out the Clorox to disinfect the entire space… y’all those crisp clean Viva paper towels were disgusting after cleaning out this cabinet. We never cleaned this particular cabinet since we moved in… just kind of threw our cardboard boxes in and called it a day. Big mistake.
At least it’s super clean now!
Once I had the entire space clean I went ahead and used an adhesive shelf liner to line the space… it will help the entire cabinet look lighter and brighter! Plus the one I picked up is suppose to be water repellent so that water from under the sink won’t keep leaking down onto the wooden cabinet and causing water damage. It would be better if our landlord would fix the pipe but from the duct tape job he did last time I’m thinking that’s not going to happen.
The shelf liner was a little tricky to work with but I learned a couple quick tips! A) Line up the edge first and then spread from the middle out… this helped me to keep it level on one side. B) The package says to only uncover a bit of the adhesive at a time but I found that to be waaaay harder. I folded the liner in half with the sticky side out that way I could easily spread the liner onto the cabinet without the sticky part sticking to itself. C) When in doubt take it off and re-adjust! I was worried that the adhesive wouldn’t be removable but it was pretty easy to take off and fix when I didn’t have it in just the right spot. Just make sure you don’t press down firmly to seal the adhesive until you’re sure it’s in the right spot!
Tip 2: A Wooden Dowel and 2 Sticky Hooks are the Perfect Trash Bag Solution
Okay that ones kind of self-explanatory… two sticky hooks and a wooden dowel make the perfect spot to hang a roll of trash bags! I put mine on the back of a cabinet door for easy access. There’s no reason I couldn’t bend over and grab the trash bags out of the little drawer device but this way they’re handy for those times my hands are a bit full of trash!
Bonus points for painting the ends of your dowel to make it a bit more glamorous! Plus if you have a big enough cabinet I can see this being the perfect solution for anything on a roll… paper towels maybe? Or grab a set of S hooks and hang whatever strikes your fancy from the dowel! It would be the perfect spot for a little broom and dust pan.
Tip 3: Use an Under the Cabinet Drawer to Corral Cleaning Supplies
I don’t know about your cabinet but mine typically looks like we had a cleaning lady and she died. Because instead of neat and tidy all of the cleaning bottles are typically thrown in a cardboard box under the sink… or more accurately next to the cardboard box!
Don’t get me wrong there’s nothing wrong with the cardboard box method if your supplies are still neat and tidy. Ours were jumbled up and hard to find… I’d find myself searching through 6 year old empty bottles just to to find the new bottle I bought last week. I’m not kidding either… I found THREE bottles of half empty dish washing liquid when cleaning out this cabinet and I know for a fact that we just bought a new bottle “because we were out” like a week ago.
Which is why I invested twelve dollars in a new drawer caddy and over the door basket! This little drawer guy has two baskets which means I can pull out the top drawer and see exactly which bottles of cleaner we still have… or I can pull out the bottom drawer and easily reach those supplies! Try pairing down your cleaners and only keeping the ones you use or are up to date. Then line them up neatly in a your own little set of drawers… next time it’s cleaning day I’ll know exactly what I have and where to find it!
Tip 4: Use an Over the Door Caddy to Hold Supplies you Reach for Often
Don’t forget about the space you have on the backs of your cabinet doors… for so many people this is wasted real estate! With the help of a nifty little over the door caddy I organized a few of the supplies we reach for most often.
Specifically the fabreeze. The hubby loves this stuff and shifting through multiple cardboard boxes to find a bottle was getting old. Now it’s right at our fingertips… just like the dish washing liquid. We won’t lose this bottle!
Tip 5: Use Small Baskets to Corral Items you Use Together
My last tip is to use small baskets to group items together… items that you typically take out and use at the same time. Like all of our dish washing supplies! Our little glass yorkshire container has been siting on our counter for the past few years… it’s full of scrub brushes, sponges and sometimes a spare dish cloth. That was fine years ago when the scrub brushes were new and shiny but now they’re… let’s say broken in.
They’re still usable though! No need to replace them with new ones… so instead of getting rid of them all together we used the small glass container to corral them under the cabinet. This way I can easily pull them out when it’s time to wash the dishes and easily put them away when the dishes are done.
I also put our paper towels in a cute little plastic basket… hopefully with the shelf liner we won’t have any problems but I’d prefer to keep our neat and clean paper towels neat and clean! Keeping them in their own basket ensures that!
Now I just need to buy another roll of shelf liner… the dark back of the cabinet is going to drive me nuts!
The best part of this entire makeover is that if your running a little low on cleaning supplies after cleaning out your cabinet you can stock up using Ibotta. There is a $0.75 rebate on Clorox Cleaner and when you buy TWO six packs you can get this $1.50 rebate on Viva Paper Towels! If you’ve never used Ibotta don’t worry I wrote a post (with step by step how to’s) last year when I jumped on the Ibotta bandwagon.
Bonus points if you grab the Clorox & Viva bundle and then redeem both rebates!
P.S. Here’s a few more posts you might love: One Easy Tip for Perfect Chalkboard Letters Even Non-Crafters Can Master and DIY Lamp Transformation… How to Color Transparent Glass
I’d be embarrassed to show you the state of my cupboard under the kitchen sink! These are some great ideas – I’d never thought of using a shelf liner but I like what you have here
Love the back of the door ideas, definitely worth trying. Thank you
Very nice organizing tips! Thank you for sharing! I’ve been looking for under the sink organizing tips.
Such clever ideas, I liked the tip for the bin liner. It seems so much easier now. Thankyou!
I need some small shelves under my sinks. Right now I just use old shopping basics to contain the chemicals.
Great idea. I have already done some of this but have not put the liner. I must agree putting a liner make it look great. But it should be a water proofed liner.
Last year I did Marie Kondo’s the Magic of Tidying Up. Admittedly, I didn’t tidy under the kitchen sink. I really like the idea of the door caddies and will have to pick up a few the next time I’m at Target! x
I just organized my sink cabinet the other day! I had a water leak and was forced into it lol This is awesome!
Oh gosh, you have no idea how helpful this is! I’ve been meaning to organize my sink for ages, looks like I found the perfect inspiration! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Our house is def limited for space. We switched to Norwex a few years ago and now have no chemical cleaners… but we still have lots of other things under there. These look like great strategies to clean up that spot!
I also use the shelves liner that absorbs moisture. Its very convenient! And got it for less than a dollar 🙂
Such a good idea. We have just moved into a new house where we finally have so much storage. It’s so awesome to have things organised!
Thank you for these tips! I was cleaning the area under my kitchen sink yesterday, so these ideas came in handy. I’ll buy some nice looking baskets to store my stuff under the the kitchen sink!
Great tips!!I will definitely try these tips!!