If variety is the spice of life, then spices are the variety of a skilled chef - if they don't become a nuisance in the kitchen. Organize your spices with the latest racks, shelves and storage units.

Kitchen storage areas stuffed to the brim

Pop corn poppers, bread machines, juicers, ice cream makers and other novelty appliances are great, IF you use them regularly. If you don't, they're just taking up precious space. Donate appliances you never use.
Only keep enough storage containers for what you typically store. There's no need to have 30 whipped cream containers and 17 margarine tubs, if you never use them. Determine how many you realistically use, and toss the rest. If you have Rubbermaid or Tupperware containers you don't use, give them away to a friend or donate them to The Salvation Army.
How many sets of dishes, silverware or glasses do you have? If you entertain frequently and you need 25 glasses, fine. But if you have a family of 4 and rarely have more than 6 people over at a time, having tons of glasses is probably over kill.
Keep plastic, foil and other wraps organized, in plastic containers, and keep them together--this way, you won't spend money buying stuff you already have.
Hang hooks under cabinets for tea cups and mugs. This can free up a bunch of space in your cabinets.

Spice racks

If you enjoy cooking with spices, I'm sure you'll agree that it's annoying to have to find spices that are just tossed in drawers and cabinets in no particular order.
Get yourself a good spice rack, that you can install on your kitchen wall or place in a kitchen pull out drawer. My spice rack holds 18

different spices . The spice bottles came with the rack. The rack I have was a gift, and it came with the spice bottles already filled. Unfortunately, I didn't have a need for quite a few of the spices the jars were filled with.
So, I emptied out the spices I didn't need, and then washed and dried out the jars. I then put plain, circular white labels--available at office supply stores--over the names of the spices that were pre-printed. Next, I grabbed a sheet of paper and made a list of all the spices I regularly use, and made sure I had 18 listed--one for each of my available spice bottles.
Finally, I neatly wrote the new spice names on the labels, filled the bottles with the proper spices and organized them alphabetically on my rack.

Expand-a-shelf organizers

If you purchase lots of canned and jar goods--soups, tomato sauce, baby food, tuna fish, etc., you may be experiencing difficulty finding these items in your cabinets when you need them.
Expand-a-shelf organizers are these little devices that sit on your shelves, in cabinets, in refrigerators, etc. that look like 3 or 4 steps. They basically have space for items on the first step, second step and so on, so that the items all the way in the back are stacked high enough that you can see them just as well as the items on the front step. Sort of like stadium seating. These organizers also expand so they fit perfectly into your cabinets!

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by Maria Gracia - Get Organized Now! http://www.getorganizednow.com FREE Get Organized Now! Idea-Pak and E-zine, filled with tips and ideas to help you organize your home, your office and your life, at the Get Organized Now! Web site.