Martha Stewart Recommends This Organization Tool In Your Kitchen Cabinets

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Our kitchen cabinets seem to love being messy. No matter how we try to organize them, they often devolve into a mess of mismatched dishware, ingredients, and other ephemera before too long. Thankfully, there are a multitude of ways to keep your cabinets organized, including one smart tip from expert chef and queen of the kitchen hack, Martha Stewart. In addition to tips like increasing counter space in a small kitchen via extra shelving, Stewart recommends the simple addition of a lazy Susan to help organize your cabinets.

It may seem small, but this step can end up being a big deal. Lazy Susans are excellent organizational tools for your fridge, so why not bring them into the cabinets, too? They feature a plate that you can rotate at will and, given the right size, also serve to store kitchenware. Instead of reaching past endless cups and plates to get to your favorite glass, just turn the lazy Susan, and it's right there in front of you. That means less effort, less likelihood of knocking something over, and ease of access. This hack is especially useful for cabinets with little space or ones that contain small items that clutter easily, like containers of herbs and spices.

That's not all there is to it, especially if your kitchen is tight on square footage. For extra space, use a two-tiered Lazy Susan that effectively doubles your cabinet's storage and makes it neater and easier to navigate at the same time. That's something Stewart would undoubtedly approve.

If you can't find a lazy Susan that fits your needs — perhaps you're dealing with a uniquely-shaped cabinet — don't worry. You can make one at home using a lazy Susan swivel plate or bearing. It has all the moving pieces you need to turn a couple of ordinary pieces of wood into a lazy Susan, without any complicated engineering on your part. Best of all, it's highly affordable, so you can organize all the ingredients you and Martha Stewart can't live without on a budget.

Aside from the hardware, all you need are two circular pieces of wood, with one larger than the other. The smaller piece will serve as the base, while the larger one will become the plate that your kitchenware rests on. These can be any size so long as they're big enough to fit over the hardware.

To make your DIY lazy Susan, affix the hardware into both circular wood pieces. In order to attach both together, make a small hole in the base using a drill bit so you can rotate it and drill your screws into the top. Once all the screws are in, all that's left is to customize it. Stain your wood, paint it, or even engrave it — the world is your kitchen décor oyster.