Organizing Your Kitchen Cabinets? Here's Why You Should Start Focusing On Color

Ask any professional chef, and we bet they'll tell you that an organized kitchen is an important step of making a great meal. From establishing set work stations to keeping tools accessible and drawers tidy, ease and functionality are two of the key factors to consider when it comes to organizing your kitchen. And the same goes for your cabinets. One of the best ways to keep your cupboards in order? Grouping everything by color.

From dinnerware to pantry items and even to produce in your fridge, color-coordinating your things offers multiple benefits. The first, of course, is simply good aesthetics. Seeing everything grouped by color is pleasing to both the eye and brain, and can help us perceive visual harmony and balance, allowing something even as chaotic as a stocked kitchen feel calming and organized. But color coordination has its practical uses as well. For one thing, color coding may help you identify items more quickly and clearly and remember where everything is, whether it's a set of plates or a certain snack.

Additionally, it will allow you to easily take stock of the food, drinks, and ingredients you have (or are running low on) with just a glance. Not only could this reduce the possibility of wasting food, but also save time and money. How many times have you re-purchased an item only to come home and see that you have a fresh pack shoved to the back of your cupboard?

To put this clever (and colorful) organization hack into practice, it would help to pick up some clear glass or plastic containers. Food packaging can come in every color of the rainbow and will differ according to brand, but each type of food itself will look similar in hue (think: chocolate, cereal, nuts, pasta). By transferring them out of the multicolored packaging and into clear containers that display each item, you can more efficiently sort and organize your groceries by color, and automatically keep similar things nearer to each other. This will also give you a clear view of how much of each foodstuff you have left, and indicate when it's time to restock on your next trip to the supermarket. 

The same goes for things like herbs and spices; keeping the greens, oranges, and fiery reds grouped together in clear spice containers will help you reach for exactly what you need more quickly, since you won't have to rifle through different jars or packaging, reading all the labels to find what you're looking for. You know turmeric is golden orange, for example, so you can go right for it based on its color.

And if you're tired of misplaced plates and mismatched dinnerware, this trick will definitely come in handy. Instead of stacking everything together once it comes out of the dishwasher, take the time to group each of your dinner sets by color, so that they're always together and ready to go whenever you need to set the table.