2 Ways The 80/20 Rule Keeps Your Kitchen Neat, Tidy, And Organized

In the seemingly never-ending quest to keep our kitchens tidy in amongst our busy lives, you may have come across tips and techniques such as the 12:12:12 method. Well, at Chowhound we have just discovered a new one and honestly, while it's easy to roll your eyes at rules like this, this one is less about discipline and more about breathing room. It's based on the Pareto Principle – otherwise known as the 80/20 rule. When you put this rule into action in the kitchen, it reduces clutter and streamlines your kitchen items.

When applying the 80/20 rule to kitchen organization, the first way to use it is by considering the idea is that your kitchen works better when about 20% of the space is left empty. This keeps your kitchen neat by opening up more space and streamlining your stuff. So no, it doesn't need to be pristine or perfectly styled or like something lifted from a Pinterest page. Just... not crammed. And sure, that might feel wasteful at first, especially if you're the type who thinks empty shelves are an invitation to be filled (I definitely am) but leaving that bit of space untouched makes everything else easier to deal with. It allows you to put things away without rearranging half the cupboard, you can actually see what you own, and when life gets busy — as it always does — the kitchen isn't the first place to immediately tip into pure unhinged chaos.

The nicest part about this approach is that it doesn't demand a dramatic purge in order to declutter your kitchen. It doesn't ask you to consider what sparks joy, Marie Kondo-style. You just have to simply decide that not every cabinet and countertop needs to be working at maximum capacity all the time, and then you're already doing it. And this approach can be extended beyond your kitchen, into closets and bathrooms, too.

The second way to use the 80/20 rule in the kitchen is the one that might hurt a little more at first, because it's harder to argue with. Let's just be honest here, most of us only use about 20% of our kitchen items most of the time anyway. Think about it for a second and you'll probably know exactly which ones those are: Your go-to pan, your favorite knife that probably needs sharpening but that you reach for anyway, and that same mug you drink your coffee out of every morning despite the six others on the shelf. Everything else tends to sit there, getting shuffled around and quietly demanding storage space, so this trick isn't necessarily to get rid of it all (though you can if you want to). Instead, it adopts a softer approach, which is to move it out of sight. 

Pop the food processor you use once a year on a high shelf, into the back of a cabinet, or even into another room if you have the space. This way, your daily items have front row seats in cupboards and countertops, and immediately the place will feel visually lighter by embracing negative space. If you haven't touched that gadget in months, you already know that seeing it isn't the reason, so identify the 20% of your items that you use 80% of the time and put the rest out of view. This method is an easy way to keep your kitchen tidy because it actually works with your habits instead of fighting against them. And if you miss something the first time around, well, great — you've learned it actually deserves to be in that core 20%. There's always room to adjust and make a method like this truly work for you and your habits.