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Decluttering the Kitchen: 15 Items You Probably Have Too Many Of

If you only have a short amount of time to dedicate to decluttering the kitchen and want to make some rapid progress, try targeting these items first so you can make more than just a dent:

Over the years, I’ve organized countless kitchens—from full move-in unpacks to kitchen decluttering makeovers. No matter the home, the exact same culprits tend to pile up every single time.

Before you start:

Prep your space: Clear a flat work surface, like your kitchen island, a table, or countertop. Set up three designated boxes or/and bags: Donate, Trash, and Recycle.

Pull out and sort: Declutter one cabinet or drawer at a time. Don’t just pull out the items you want to get rid of. Instead, pull everything out and sort related items together. Only put back what you want to keep. This is an important mental shift. You are only keeping what you truly use and value.

To Declutter the Kitchen Fast, Target These 15 Easy Items First:

1. Water Bottles.  This one is at the top of my list for a reason. They are the #1 most frequent thing I see waaaay too much of.  Whether they be ridiculously tall, short, lidless, personalized, or promotional, I am willing to bet you have too many. 

In fact, I’ll bet you have several long-forgotten water bottles shoved to the back of one of your kitchen cabinets right now. Once you edit your collection, use a water bottle organizer to keep them organized.

2. Coffee Cups and Thermoses. Close cousins to water bottles, and nearly as excessive, are coffee cups and thermoses. They come in the form of souvenir mugs, promotional products, and personalized gifts.

They easily multiply well beyond what a household needs or can realistically use between dishwasher cycles. Let’s face it, we all have one or two favorite coffee cups we use all the time, and we rarely use the rest.

3. Food Storage Containers. Takeout tubs, warped plastic containers, and the inevitable orphaned lids that match no existing container. How do these things curiously multiply and take over the kitchen without our knowing it?

Consider how many containers you would realistically use at one time, and get rid of the rest. Also, if you have both plastic and glass container sets, consider letting go of the plastic since glass is a healthier and more durable choice.

4. Canvas Totes and Paper and Plastic Grocery Bags: Everyone seems to have a massive, under-sink nest of plastic or/and paper grocery sacks and an ever-expanding hoard of reusable tote bags.

Canvas tote bags: Keep only 4 or 5 bags and don’t keep them in your kitchen. Instead, store them in the car so you have them when you need them. Viola…no more tote bag messes in your kitchen or pantry!

Plastic grocery bags: These freebies accumulate because we mindlessly keep stashing them away as they come into our home. Shove plastic grocery bags into something small, like an empty Clorox wipe container or another small grocery bag holder so they don’t expand, and when it’s full, start discarding the excess.

5. Extra Sets of Dishes. Have you inherited a set of your mom’s or grandma’s china? Extra sets of unused dishes appear to be a commonality in many, many homes. They sit untouched, hogging precious space and collecting dust.

Why not get rid of the mismatched and chipped set of dishes you’re currently using and begin using the china you got from your mom? Or if you don’t really like the china, donate it to someone who will appreciate it. Don’t be guilted into keeping it. Would your loved one really want you to keep them if you don’t use them?

6. Coozies.  Like other promotional products, we accumulate these from weddings, work, and other events we attend, so everyone has a plethora of them. Use a small open-top bin, and store them standing up to condense them and save space. Get rid of your least favorites that don/t fit in the bin.

7. Expired or Duplicate Spices and Seasoning Blends: Duplicate jars of ground cumin or paprika bought because no one checked the rack first, plus dusty tins of obscure novelty rubs purchased for a single recipe years ago.

I find at least some, but often a large quantity of expired spices hiding behind other spices every single time I organize a spice cabinet. Though they are usually safe to eat after their expiration date, they do lose their flavor and could ruin a good recipe.

To curtail future waste, use an expandable tiered shelf to help you see and find what you have more easily, and always use a grocery list when you shop.

8. Duplicate Prep Utensils: Do you have four identical pairs of tongs, five rubber spatulas, redundant whisks, and six wooden spoons? It is a hassle every time you try to retrieve a utensil because the crock is too full.

Go through your utensils and sort them; donate the ones you have too many duplicates of.  Make cooking easier for yourself by using drawer dividers to keep utensils sorted so that you can easily find what you need.

9. Single-Use Gadgets: Unitaskers like avocado and apple slicers, pitters, spiralizers, and specialty egg gadgets claim prime drawer space despite doing only one job. Donate these odd-shaped novelty items that don’t fit well in your utensil drawer if a knife can do the same job. On the rare occasion you need to slice an egg, it will only take an additional 15 seconds to use a knife.

10. Paperwork.  Do you constantly have a messy mountain of household paperwork cluttering up your island or countertop? If so, know that you are not at all alone.  It is one of the most common points of frustration for so many of my clients.

Read my post “How to Manage Paperwork at Home” and set up a system so that every piece of paper that comes into your home can be either tossed or put away immediately, and put an end to the piles for good.

5 More Kitchen Items to Declutter:

I frequently see an excess of these items as well, so they are worth mentioning.

11. Placemats and tablecloths. If you have several tablecloths and placemats but rarely entertain in such a formal style anymore, it might make sense to pare down or even let them all go so that you can store something else in that space.

12. Rarely used appliances. Heart-shaped waffle makers, Bread makers, multi-tier juicers, deep fryers, fondue pots, and sandwich presses that get relegated to unreachable lower cabinets.

13. Dishcloths, rags, and hot pads. If you have piles of stained bar towels, fraying pot holders, and seasonal holiday dishcloths stuffed into an unclosable drawer, it might be time to edit your collection.

14. Cookbooks. These days, most of us are more likely to turn to our phones to look up a recipe rather than use a cookbook, yet I still see loads of unused cookbooks in many kitchens.

15. Entertaining Glassware and Platters: Champagne flutes, cocktail coupes, oversized punch bowls, and heavy serving platters that gather dust between rare gatherings and take up a lot of storage space.

Conclusion:

Tackling your kitchen doesn’t need to require an exhausting weekend overhaul—it just takes editing out the silent clutter that creeps in over time. By letting go of the excess, you aren’t just clearing shelf space; you’re making daily cooking and cleanup noticeably easier.

Hopefully, this list will help you sort through the low-hanging fruit in your kitchen, fill a donation bag, and enjoy the immediate breathing room you create in your cabinets.

Feeling Stuck?

Schedule a coaching call, virtual organizing session, or a home assessment with me, and get the support and encouragement you need to move forward.