12 Genius Tips, Tricks, And Hacks To Organize Cooking Utensils (And Keep Them That Way!)

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There are several essential tools every kitchen must have. If you open your kitchen drawers, you'll likely find several different types of whisks alongside various nylon turners, slotted spoons, serving spoons, can openers, tongs, and countless knives. The problem, of course, is keeping so many tools organized and readily accessible when you need them. No one wants added clutter in their kitchen. Plus, when you're preparing a recipe, you don't always have tons of time to sift through a jumbled mess of cooking utensils to find the specific item you need.

If you're tired of fighting the kitchen chaos, we have several genius hacks to help you get all of those cooking utensils organized. Before you choose a hack, take a few minutes to weed through your collection. If you have too many duplicates of a particular tool or any specialty utensils that you never use, consider donating them or moving them to a less prime location. This will help ensure that the utensils you do use regularly are the focus of your new organization system.

When you're thinking through kitchen organization hacks to make cooking a breeze, you'll want to find a solution that will keep your cooking utensils easily accessible. You shouldn't have to dig through a drawer to find what you need or walk across the kitchen to grab a particular tool. One way to ensure your most-frequently used tools are easy to find is to hang them on the wall right next to your stove. You'll be able to see what you have available, and to reach for the utensil you need without stepping away from what you're preparing.

You have plenty of options when it comes to hanging cooking utensils on the wall. One method is to mount a rack with several hooks to the wall. This Housolution Hanging Kitchen Rail comes with mounting screws to secure it into place, as well as 15 detachable S-hooks to hold slotted turners, spoons, ladles, and more. If you rent your space or just don't want to drill holes in the wall, you can still take advantage of this organization hack; instead, consider something like this YiZhi Adhesive Wall Hooks Kitchen Rail. With its damage-free adhesive, you won't need to worry about peeling off any paint or leaving holes in the drywall. The set includes two rails, each with six integrated hooks to hold a variety of tools.

Keeping your most-used kitchen tools on the counter next to the stove will ensure you can easily grab what you need to whip up a box of brownie mix, make some scrambled eggs, and stir your famous pasta sauce. A crock offers the ideal storage solution. Not only are crocks large enough to hold several cooking utensils, but they're also attractive and can make for a stylish addition to your countertop. You could even consider implementing Ina Garten's double crock method for organizing kitchen tools by using not one, but two crocks. The benefit of using two crocks, beyond the obvious additional storage space, is that you can better organize your collection. Consider putting all of the nonstick-safe tools — such as those made from nylon or silicone — in one crock, and metal tools in the other.

With countless kitchen tool crocks on the market, each person should be able to find one that matches the color scheme and style of their kitchen. If you have a more modern space, then you might find that these Le Tauci White Utensil Holders offer the perfect complement to your style. Conversely, if you're looking for something a little warmer and more colorful for your space, then this cheery red Fun Elements Kitchen Utensil Holder might be for you. Some crocks, like this Dowan Utensil Holder, even feature a rotating base to make it easier to get your fingers on the tool you need.

You use a silverware tray to keep your flatware separated, so why not use one for your cooking utensils, too? In the same way that the individual sections keep your forks from mixing with your knives or spoons, they can also help you keep larger cooking and serving pieces from getting all jumbled together. As you're shopping for a silverware tray for this purpose, keep the size of your kitchen drawers in mind. Look for a tray that will fill your drawer without leaving too much empty space — if your drawers are an odd size, you can always get something like this Pipishell Expandable Bamboo Drawer Organizer.

As for which cooking utensils to organize in the tray, that may depend on your specific collection and the tray that you purchase. In most cases, you'll be better off using a silverware tray with small cooking tools, such as tongs, vegetable peelers, mini spatulas, or scrapers. These items will fit more easily in the narrower slots of a silverware organizer. Plus, you'll be able to fit more items in the tray if you keep your ladles, fish spatulas, and other larger tools elsewhere.

If you have a lot of cooking tools that you want to keep within easy reach of your stovetop or kitchen prep space, you may want to consider some out-of-the-box solutions. Why not cover part of your kitchen wall space with a pegboard? With a pegboard and some hooks, such as the Huhole Black Pegboard Hooks, you can create a custom layout based on the sizes of the specific utensils you have. Consider where you place each tool, keeping those you use regularly closer to your stove or prep area, and put utensils that aren't used as frequently near the edges or top of the board.

Adding a pegboard to your kitchen will open up other storage options as well. You could purchase some little containers, such as these Kuhome Pegboard Bins, or wire baskets, like the Dorman Hardware Pegboard Wire Basket Set. With these added accessories, you could also keep spices, seasoning packets, and other small items in a prominent location.

Let's be honest: There are probably many kitchen organization mistakes you need to stop making. If you've simply been tossing all of your cooking utensils into a drawer, that needs to stop now. Most kitchen drawers are at least several inches wide, with many being over a foot wide. That's simply too much space, and an unorganized utensil drawer will cause your tools to become a jumbled mess as they slide around each time the drawer is opened or closed.

However, this doesn't mean drawers are off-limits when it comes to storing your essentials. You simply need to add some drawer dividers, such as the Bameos Bamboo Drawer Dividers, to keep your space better organized and make it impossible for tools to become a cluttered mess. These dividers are expandable to fit in drawers of different depths, and the integrated springs help ensure a secure hold to keep the dividers precisely where you want them. The benefit of using individual dividers, such as these, is the customization they allow. You're in control over the spacing, making it possible to keep kitchen tools of varying sizes organized with ease.

If you're like many home chefs, you have quite the collection of knives; moreover, also like many home chefs, your collection can probably be found in a muddled heap within your drawers. Put an end to the disarray now with a simple solution. Mount a magnetic strip — such as the Modern Innovations Stainless Steel Magnetic Knife Bar — to the wall in your kitchen.

The strong magnets will keep your knives hanging in place until you're ready to pull them off for use. Once your drawers are free of knives, you'll have plenty of space that you can use to organize other cooking tools. Knives aren't the only thing you can organize on these magnetic strips, though. They'll also work with metal whisks, serving utensils, and more. If you have enough metal cooking utensils, you could even purchase two and mount them both close to your food prep area or stove for convenient access.

When you want to keep your cooking utensils not only organized, but right at your fingertips when you need them for prepping or cooking a recipe, it can't get more convenient than having them hanging right at eye level. With some under-cabinet hooks, you can make that convenience a reality in your kitchen.

These EigPluy Utensil Hooks can be installed under a cabinet or open shelf without making any holes in the wood; the base attaches via a strong adhesive pad that can support more than 4 pounds. Once in place, the hooks rotate a full 360 degrees, making it even easier to access the specific utensil that you need. If a clutter-free kitchen is more your thing, you could also install them in an inconspicuous spot, like on the interior of a cabinet.

If you want to keep your cooking tools on the counter while making it even easier to find what you're looking for, you might consider using a divided wire basket to hold them. Its multiple sections will let you sort your tools in whatever way makes the most sense for your cooking needs. For example, you might decide to sort them by material, with wood tools in one compartment and silicone and metal in other sections. Alternatively, you might wish to organize the utensils in categories based on how or where you use them. Serving tools might go in one slot, with all your spatulas and cooking utensils in the compartments closest to the stove.

The Suli Extra Large Kitchen Utensil Holder is one divided wire basket to consider. With four compartments, it has plenty of room to hold several tools and keep them organized. The wire design can complement a modern kitchen while also providing adequate airflow to ensure your utensils remain dry. The partitions for this basket are also removable, making it possible to customize the layout to hold larger tools, if desired.

Don't let all the empty space on the side of your fridge go to waste. Instead, make it functional — hang kitchen tools on the side of your fridge so they're easy to find when needed. With some magnetic hooks, accomplishing this goal will be a breeze. As long as your cooking utensils have a hole or strap at one end, which many do, you can hang them on the hooks.

There are a few different types of products that you can use to add hooks to the side of your fridge. The most basic option is to simply choose a few stand-alone magnetic hooks, such as the Neosmuk Heavy Duty Magnets with Hooks. These come in a range of color options and allow you to customize their placement based on the length and width of the tools you want to hang. Another option is to add a magnetic strip with several hooks that will let your tools hang neatly, right next to one another. This can provide a more streamlined look, but won't offer the customization of spacing things out to accommodate different utensil sizes. The Aufworld Magnetic Set includes a rack with eight hooks and two magnetic spice racks, which could serve a dual purpose as utensil holders if you find yourself overburdened with tools.

Another kitchen utensil hack to keep all of those knives organized is to add a knife block to one of your kitchen drawers. Doing so will keep your knives from piling up on top of one another while also making it easy to grab whichever one you need for chopping, slicing, or dicing. Because the blade of each knife will be covered by the block, you also won't have to worry about accidentally cutting yourself when you reach into the drawer.

The Utoplike In-Drawer Bamboo Knife Block is one option you might want to consider. It comes in different sizes to keep up to 16 knives organized and offers slots of varying lengths to accommodate different types of knives. The block is also designed to hold a sharpening steel, so you'll have it on-hand when your knives start to dull.

If your cooking utensils aren't the only items in your kitchen that could benefit from a better organizational system, consider choosing a multi-functional product to help. Many pot racks, for example, offer a solution for organizing more than just cookware. Some also feature hooks that you could use to hang cooking utensils. This way, when you pull down a frying pan or a pot, you can also grab the spatula, spoon, or whisk that you'll need to use with it when preparing a recipe.

You'll find that pot racks come in a variety of styles and configurations, making it possible to choose the best fit for your kitchen. For example, if you have a large island, you might decide to hang the Vdomus Hanging Pot Rack above it. With a large flat surface for pots and pans and 15 hooks for smaller pots or those cooking utensils, it can hold a lot to keep your space organized. If you don't have that much space in the kitchen, or would prefer not to have something hanging down from the ceiling, you could consider a wall-mounted option, such as the VyGrow 2-Tier Pots and Pans Organizer. It has two flat shelves to hold cookware, six pot lid holders on the sides, and 20 hanging hooks for cooking utensils, frying pans, and more.

The solution to organize your chaotic cooking utensils may be closer than you think — simply look in your cabinets or china closet to find a container that could help you keep them organized. Look for anything that is wide and tall enough to hold spoons, tongs, and other longer tools without tipping over, such as a thick glass vase, a pitcher that you no longer need, or even an oversized coffee mug.

Not only will you save money by using something that you already own, but you'll be keeping that item out of the landfill — a true win-win. As you're choosing which item to upcycle, consider your kitchen's style and decor. Try to pick one that will complement this style. For example, if you have a modern kitchen, a clear glass vase will likely be a better fit than a bright and colorful mug.