35+ Easily Dispensable Items to Declutter Kitchen Cabinets [Printable]

Last Updated on December 17, 2023

Feeling overwhelmed about decluttering and organizing your kitchen?  Don’t quite know where to start?  I feel your pain.  So to help kick-start the process, I’m sharing my list of 35+ easy to toss items to declutter kitchen cabinets.  Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to it!

Backstory

I’m no Martha Stewart.  I’m no Maria Kondo.  Instead I’m just a homeowner, like yourself, trying to figure out the best solutions to make my kitchen as user friendly as possible. 

As a mom of 3 little ones, I spend a LOT of time in my kitchen cooking and cleaning.  And when that’s all done…. well, I cook and clean some more. ?

A few months ago while making school lunches, I opened the kitchen cabinet with the plastic food storage containers.  And about two dozen food container lids came rushing out, cascading over my feet.

It was a clear sign that it was time to declutter my kitchen cabinets…. 

Why Declutter Kitchen Cabinets?

Getting rid of dispensable items in your kitchen cabinets brings several tangible benefits.  So if you need motivation to start declutters, consider these 5 reasons to declutter kitchen cabinets:

1. Saves time
2. Less stress
3. More productive
4. Easier to clean
5. Saves money

For me, taking the time to declutter kitchen cabinets was a HUGE help.  I could see and feel a difference in my kitchen.  My time in the kitchen is more efficient.  I’m less stressed and much happier.  Plus there is less to clean!

Decluttering Kitchen Cabinets Tip

Before we dive into the long list of dispensible items to declutter kitchen cabinets, here’s a tip to help you through the process.

If you come across something in your kitchen cabinet that you aren’t quite sure whether to get rid of it, ask yourself these 5 questions. 

1. Do I use it regularly?
2. Does it make cooking easier for me? 
3. Could I use another tool for the job? [And if so, which one should I keep?]
4. Am I just keeping it out of guilt or obligation (say a gift from your mother-in-law)?
5. Does it make me happy when I use it?

(For the last question, I channel a bit of Maria Kondo “spark joy”…. LOL)

If you answer Yes to #1, #2 and #5, then then hold onto it a little longer.  If you answer No to #4, then keep it.

35+ Dispensable Items to Quickly Declutter Kitchen Cabinets

For several reasons, kitchens somehow manage to quickly accumulate all kinds of clutter.  Extra take-out food storage containers.  Stale snacks in the food pantry.  Unused fancy kitchen gadgets that seemed like a good idea at the time, but now sit in the back of the drawer or in that random space between the kitchen cabinets and the ceiling.  

So once in a while you need to go through and declutter kitchen cabinets.

But for me, beginning a decluttering project feels overwhelming and hard to start. And that’s often the case for most people – just starting.

So here’s a list of 35+ things to easily declutter from your kitchen cabinets to give you a place to start and get the ball rolling! If you want to download the list as a free pdf Checklist, scroll to the bottom!

1. Broken items: C’mon people! It’s broken for crying out loud!
2. Duplicates: Do you really need 2 can openers?  4 bottle openers?
3. Chipped Dishes: Plates, bowls, glasses, mugs, etc.
4. Coffee Mugs: While that mug may have a cute saying, admit it. It’s too small to actually hold all the coffee you drink in the morning…
5. Travel Mugs: Leaky or never kept your coffee hot enough
6. Water Bottles: You don’t need a water bottle from every 5k fun run. 
7. Souvenir Glasses: Yes that trip to that Alaskan brewery was incredible, but do you really need it in order to hold onto the memories?
8. Plastic Food Storage Containers: Duplicates and ones without lids (and lids without containers). Warped ones (they are only designed to last so long…)
9. Children’s Dishes, Cups and Utensils: Have they outgrown them? Ready to move onto big girl/boy spoons?
10. Cookie cutters: Your son called. He’s grown up and no longer wants Batman shaped cookies
11. Expired Food: Check the fridge and pantry
12. Unopened Non-Perishable Food: You’ll never eat it? Then help others and donate to a local pantry
13. Take-out Extras: Chopsticks, ketchup packets, packets of sugar, salt and pepper
14. Expired Spices
15. Unopened Unused Spices: Like the food, if you’ll never use, donate it.
16. Small Appliances: No longer using that old George Forman grill? Is fancy ice cream maker would make Ben & Jerry’s quality ice cream only to create a slushy mess?
17. Gadgets & Gizmos: Own up to buying your pineapple precut from the grocery store and toss the pineapple corer collecting dust in the back of the drawer.
18. Extra Pots & Pans: Just how many things are you going to cook at once?  It’s not a competition! Also declutter any really beat up ones. And don’t forget the lids!
19. Excess Baking Dishes:  You don’t need more than one 3-quart French White casserole dishes, do you? 
20. Additional Mixing Bowls: unless you are opening your own bakery (and if so, can I apply to be a taste tester?)
21. Extra Strainers/Colanders
22. Cookbooks: When was the last time you used a book versus going online for a recipe?  If there is one recipe that you truly love in a cookbook, cut it out to save.
23. Tired Oven Mitts: Why do we (ok, me) hold onto these until they are so raggedy?
24. Worn Dish Towels: Dingy or stained from abuse
25. Placemats & cloth napkins: How many of these do you really need?  How many dinner parties do you have (and more importantly, why aren’t I invited over? ?) 
26. Mismatched Linens: If your color scheme is blue and greens, toss the random black placemats and dish towels that create an eye sore
27. Wine & Specialty glasses: Why have 24 margarita glasses if you haven’t hosted more than 10 people at once at your house?
28. Excess Cutlery: Where exactly did those random mis-matched forks and spoons even come from?
29. Cutting Boards: Extra or damaged. Cracked wooden cutting boards harbor bacteria, which makes it unsafe to use.
30. Serving Dishes: It’s okay if you loaded your wedding registry with party ware but haven’t used it 10 year later.  You thought you would keep hosting those huge parties, but on classier platters.  And then you had children and started going to be bed at 9pm….
31. Unused Cleaning Products & Supplies: I bet under your kitchen sink you will have half-used cleaning products and old or gross sponges and brushes.    
32. Take-out Menus: You can find these online.
33. Refrigerator Magnets: Throw away the magnet with your college’s football schedule from 2017.  You can’t even remember if they made it to the championship that year..
34. Unused Gifts: Don’t hold onto gifts from your great aunt or mother-in-law your keep out of guilt..
35. Anything Not Used in a Year.  Not sure? Hold onto it for 6 months and use this tape trick.

Wrapping Up

Once you’re done, congratulate yourself!  Enjoy a kitchen that is more efficient and less claustrophobic.  And consider taking a next step by considering shelf liners to highlight those emptier shelves.  Or spiffy up the exterior of your kitchen cabinets with a good clean.  

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