5 Simple Steps to Under the Kitchen Sink Organizing

Easy steps to clean, purge and organize under your kitchen sink!

There's nothing like a leaky faucet to force you to purge and organize. Sadly, that's usually what it takes to get me motivated to clean out and organize around here. Under our kitchen sink was looking pretty rough, so I guess it was a good thing we had a water issue.

Neat and organized under the kitchen sink cabinet

It was after dinner and while we were putting the kids to bed that we noticed the floor was wet by the sink. Why do house issues always happen at the most inconvenient times? Luckily, a waterproof shelf liner helped protect most of the cabinet, but there was still a bit of water that had soaked into the wood. I quickly cleared everything out, got the kids in bed then was left with quiet a mess in our kitchen.

Thankfully, my husband was able to determine where the water was coming from and fix the leak. I let everything dry out a couple of days then cleaned and purged to get my under the sink cabinet neat and organized.

5 SIMPLE STEPS FOR ORGANIZING UNDER THE KITCHEN SINK

5 steps to an organized under the kitchen sink cabinet

1. Start with a clean slate
Remove everything from under the sink and evaluate what you have. Toss dated, dried out or unused items and donate anything that is still in good shape, but you no longer use. I ended up throwing out quiet a bit of old and expired cleaning products and only kept the items I use most often.

2. Vacuum and wipe down the inside of the cabinet
Extra points if you line the bottom of the cabinet with shelf liner, contact paper or other pretty paper. (I used wrapping paper from HomeGoods)

3. Corral like items

I used a metal cleaning caddy (I recommend one that doesn't have dividers to maximize space) to organize my most used cleaning products (glass cleaner, all purpose cleaner, my favorite stainless steel cleaner, lysol wipes, etc.) The items that I use less often (hardwood floor cleaner, carpet cleaner solution, etc.) got placed just behind the metal caddy.

start with a clean slate and clear out the cabinet

I bought a small storage drawer organizer to organize smaller cleaning supplies and Swiffer pads. I guess it was a good thing the boxes were ruined by water, because I love having everything in the drawers and easily accessible.

organizing under the kitchen sink with clear storage drawers

Using storage drawers to organize under the kitchen sink

Use clear items to organize under the kitchen sink

5 simple steps to get your cleaning supplies organized

4. Keep the most used items front and center
No one actually enjoys cleaning (at least I don't), so why make the task worse by having to go digging through a cabinet looking for supplies? Keeping your most used items front and center allows you to easily grab what you need and get the job done quicker.

5. Use clear storage containers
It's easy for items to get shoved and lost in the back of a dark cabinet. Make it easy on yourself and store what you can in clear containers. It keeps things visible and you can quickly see and grab what you need. You can even take it one step further and add cute adhesive labels.

Simple steps to organize under your kitchen sink

Bamboo Shade / Rug / Coffee Bar sign (DIY project) / DIY Market Sign / Lower cabinet color: Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore

There you have it. My under the sink cabinet is pretty, neat and organized. All it took was a water leak to get my butt in gear and five simple steps to get everything organized. Now I might actually enjoy opening the cabinet and cleaning just a tad bit more.