Can’t find all those lids for your Tupperware? 47 saucepans and frypans? Do you use that bread machine you bought on a whim “just in case”?

If you answered YES to these questions then read on McDuff!

Of course it may take you all day to clean out your cabinets or it may only take an hour. My suggestion is to have a plan before you start and a clear idea of what you want to achieve. If it helps write it down or draw a diagram of your space and put your belongings “away” on paper first.

You will need to firstly remove everything from each cupboard – one cupboard at a time. Wash down your shelves with hot soapy water. Take a good hard look at the things you removed – Are they things that you use regularly or irregularly or NEVER. The things that you never use I want you to place in a cardboard box and give away. The things you irregularly use place in a box but DON’T throw away yet. Now find new homes for the things you use always in a cupboard closest to your stove for your pots and pans and your oven for your bake wear.

With the Irregular Used box sit it aside and leave it out for a month – take note of how many times you used an item from this box in a month if you used it more than twice a week you may find it a permanent home. If it is something you only use seasonally then pack it away. Anything left in the box at the end of the month that hasn’t been used at all find it a new home.


If you have the money altering your current shelf space by taking out the flat shelves and putting in sliding wire baskets is a great space saver idea. You can always see what you have by pulling the drawer out. You can buy these systems at places like Howards Storage, IKEA, Bunnings – some K-Mart stores have them too. They range in price from about $40 per drawer unit.

These units are great for storing saucepans and frypans under your bench stove top, you’ll do less bending and less rummaging around in the back of dark deep cupboards. IKEA also sell fantastic full cupboard units that are fairly reasonably priced if you are lucky enough to be able to replace your current cupboard system. If not then the in cupboard solution is best for you.


We all have a drawer in our kitchen that is a mish mash of utensils for cooking. Tip the drawer out into a box and try the one month test on this box of items too. The essentials are – 2 wooden spoons, 1 metal spoon, 1 potato masher, 1 ladle, 1 spaghetti server, 1 slotted spoon, 1 set of measuring cups, 1 set of measuring spoons, 2 balloon whisks (small and large) and 1 egg flip, and one juicer. (the type that you squeeze the orange over into a jug)

For your glassware and mugs and cups that take up so much room buy tiered shelving unit for that cupboard and store them upside down to store them closer together. Plates can either be stacked on top of each other in kind or if you have higher space store them on their sides in a dish drainer.