Step by Step Fridge Organization for Normal People

Can we have a heart-to-heart about fridge organization?

I LOVE scrolling through photos of beautiful organized spaces. I own multiple books on organizing.

But I have long been irked by how disorganized our fridge feels. The mess of bottles, the having to reach wayyyyy to the back and then knocking everything over to find that bottle of hot sauce, the tetris of finding places for leftovers and random ingredients, the lack of full-height shelves – earlier this winter, it was all driving me crazy.

And I could find almost no step by step fridge organization resources or guides that realistically seemed like they would help.

Nearly all of the photos I saw of super-organized fridges just make me exasperated. Where are all the condiments? Do these people’s husbands not keep a lot of oddly sized bottles of cocktail ingredients on hand? Where are the leftovers and the random half of a lemon? Did they actually decant their milk into a separate pitcher? How does everything fit so nicely into those containers without any random crap left over?

I would log off Pinterest in a huff. Because it felt like in order to be organized, I had to have a separate beverage fridge, keep only two salad dressings on hand, throw away our leftovers, and maybe never let my husband put anything away ever again.

There had to be something in between our annoying mess of a fridge and the picture-perfect model fridges.

So I set out to find it. And if you’re in a similar state of fridge frustration, I hope these discoveries help you, too.

Let’s walk through the step by step fridge organization process I followed to make my fridge not annoying – plus, I’ll share some inexpensive tools that helped a ton!

Disclaimer: If you are like, yeah, my fridge is fine, feel free to skip this post! The fridge police are not going to stop you if your fridge is not picture-perfect. If the arrangement of your fridge shelves does not matter to you, by all means, spend your time on something that does!

step by step Fridge Organization for Normal People

Step 1: Figure out the problem:

First, I had to figure out what, exactly, was driving me crazy. (Take note, this is a good first step any time you’re going to organize something.) This was not that hard because the issues popped out at me every single time I needed the soy sauce.

Anytime I had to reach for something in the back of the fridge, I knocked over so. many. bottles.
The top shelf was so crowded with oyster sauce and ketchup and leftover chicken broth that it was hard to tell what we had. We would run out of things OR buy too much and have to figure out where to put the extra.
Adam was constantly asking where things were
Some of the shelves were wire, which made small bottles tip over
There was never a good place for defrosting meat

Step 2: Name your limitations

Since we live in an apartment on a budget and can’t buy ourselves a new fridge, there were some limitations on what we could do. Naming them was helpful so I could figure out what was actually possible for us.

We needed to spend as little money as possible
The shelving arrangement – and the annoying wire shelves – had to stay
There are few full-height tall shelves, so cartons of milk and bottles of sparkling water could only fit in the single full-height section on the door.

Step 3: Find a solution

The first thing I did is establish some loose zones. We already had this to some degree, but the zones we had didn’t really make sense. (Also, there is no before photo. My apologies. I was on a rampage and just wanted it fixed.)

We needed to prioritize space for drinks and cocktail supplies, allllll the bottles of sauces, and frozen meat, since those were the things driving me most crazy.

So I took everything out of the fridge and chose where to put those obnoxious things first. (This is also a great time to swipe down the shelves!)

Then, with a little finagling, we gave everything else a home. Here are the fridge zones we landed on. It’s not perfect, but hey, what is?

Fridge Zones:

On the door:

Butter. Plus backup Chick-fil-a sauce.
Nut butter and jelly
Drinks. The ones that are too tall to go anywhere else.
Salad dressings and sauces

In the main space:

Ready-to-go drinks. Big cartons are in front; smaller bottles are hiding in the back.
Spreads and condiments. Particularly those in large containers.
Open flex space. For leftovers, fruits and veggies, yogurt, whatever.
Cheese and deli meat.
Carbs. Tortillas and buns go here.
Meat. Anything that is defrosting, marinating, or waiting to be cooked.
Tiny sauce containers. Weird category, but it works!
Cocktail ingredients. And backup wine bottles that need chilling.
Greens. Lettuce, spinach, etc.
Hardier fruits and veggies. Lemons and limes, apples, and carrots.

Step 4: Buy some strategic tools

These are the few organizing supplies that we tried and loved. If you’re similarly itching to hit Add to Cart, just make sure you figure out where you want everything BEFORE you buy. You’ll save yourself a few trips to the Container Store, and you might find that you don’t need as much as you think.

Also, make sure to measure! Fridges aren’t all the same size, so make sure whatever you buy will actually fit!

After figuring out our zones, here’s what I bought to make organization easier.

(Heads up, some affiliate links below. Purchasing through these links does not raise the price for you, but it does send a few pennies of commission my way.)

Rolling bins

These were 100% worth the price. They’re my favorite – no more tipping bottles over as you reach for one way in the back!

We have the 6″ size, but you can also find a 4″ version and a 9″ version.

SHOP

Can and bottle holders

These let us stack cans and bottles. It saves SO MUCH space with all the cocktail supplies and sparkling water and random cider we keep on hand. Plus, it’s much easier to see what we have. The last San Pellegrino doesn’t get forgotten in the back of the fridge for months.

SHOP

A few strategic clear bins

I did not want everything in the fridge to go in a bin. It would take up too much space and leave us with too little flexibility. (Plus, it would cost all the $$$.) So I just got two: one for tortillas and buns that slides under the cheese drawer, and one for meat. The meat one has been MAJOR. No more trying to figure out where to balance a plate of defrosting meat juice! It’s also easy to sanitize. Plus, if I need to leave something on the counter in a defrosting emergency, I can just pull out the whole bin and not have to find a separate plate. Win-win-win!

The Container Store sells a wide and narrow version, but we have the wide.

SHOP

Bonus freebie item: sections from an egg carton

If you have sauces that are on their last legs and need to be stored upside down, cut off a few sections of an egg carton. I have 4 squares of one in a corner of the fridge door, and it works great. Bottles don’t tip over, and if anything leaks, the carton absorbs the drips.

How to get your own fridge in order

Your fridge definitely doesn’t have to look like ours – in fact, if you have even a slightly different fridge layout or eat different food, it probably won’t!

But you CAN follow the same steps outlined above.

Here’s a reminder of that step by step fridge organization process:

Determine what’s bugging you
Name your limitations
Take everything out, swipe down the shelves, and put the biggest headaches in place first
Find a place for everything else
Finally go place that Amazon order for the tools you need.

Pssst: Want more real-life tips like this? Get on the list for my step-by-step apartment hunting guide. It will give you realistic, tried-and-true tips for finding the perfect place, moving, and creating a space you love. Just enter your info below!

Step by Step Fridge Organization for Normal People

And I could find almost no step by step fridge organization resources or guides that realistically seemed like they would help.