Organizing a kitchen can be a daunting task. First off, counter space is key to a well tuned kitchen dinner, and where's that odd utensil you only use twice a year? Our spices can get get out of hand once you enter the realm of: there's more then salt and pepper! Plates are stored where? Can you get to your fridge while your oven doors open? You may not think that something like that would or could be important, but it can be!
In the 8 years I have been at my current home, I have learned from my cooking habits what areas I need to improve on recognize what was going well, but needed some improvements if possible and what I just couldn't live with forever.
In a professional kitchen you try and design a path like a triangle between the three most sacred items in your kitchen, the refrigerator/freezer, the sink and the stove. It's when the triangle does not exist between these three that a successful "rhythm" can exist during meal times. Obviously the kitchen is what it is for most of us, thus my experience in m y kitchen with the amount of my kitchen apparatus made it challenging for the first 5 years. Hopefully one of my issues is one of your issues and maybe can inspire some organizational changes with your kitchen!
Counter space is so important, lets discuss how to get by with what little you have, which is the theme I hum to every time I get ready to make a meal.
You have to give your larger counter-top apparatus a top 5 ranking as to how often you use it and ease of storage compared to the other apparatus.
For me, I ranked my Espresso maker #1 and gave its own spot to the left of my sink (also easy access to fill with water and clean out the water drip tray).
Ranked #2 is my toaster, not too much special there, it can handle a bagel, and it sits to the right of my sink, under a cabinet which does get warm on toaster use but not too warm!
Ranked #3, not due to use but due to no way to store it properly is my deli slicer... yup got one and it rocks when you need it from slicing semi-frozen steak for cheesesteaks, potatoes for scalloped potatoes, the thinnest onions for frying and the main reason all sorts of deli meats!
Ranked #4 in my small but packed kitchen is my standing mixer/meat grinder, not used a ton, but again, is hard to store and get out when needed, I also store small things in the bowl when not is use.
Ranked #5, this habit comes from working in the restaurant industry, I like to keep my industrial sized aluminum foil and plastic wrap on my counter, it serves a dual purpose at my house, it's situated on a a counter edge closest to my kitchen window mainly so the kitties do not get on the counter from the window sill! Plus I know how much easier it is using the larger industrial sized version to get clinging to your food with balling itself up! And who wants to run out of foil in the middle of wrapping and piece of meat for the grill or smoker or oven. Plus industrial size foil is actually thicker then the tiny "thinner" wraps at the local supermarket.
So with my top 5 kitchen gadgets ranked I still had to find places for the other 258 gadgets! Just kidding... I think... On top of my refrigerator is home to a dehydrator (I love making large batches of spicy beef jerky) also on the fridge is two different sizes of crock pots. living on top of the cabinets near my sink, coffee French press, potato ricer, whipped topping maker/canister, a laser thermometer (you need one; here's a link to the one I got, vital for deep fryer accuracy and double checking your oven temperature.) Let's see there's also a spaghetti strand drying tree, hey what can I say, I'm 1/2 Italian! There's a three tier bamboo steamer, two transparent beverage dispensers I use at parties, a large popcorn glass bowl and a thermos for when I commute to work, well, because coffee!
On top of the counters across from my sink, lies a treasure trove of pots and pans and tart pans and pizza peels! In my garage I store my chaffing dishes and insert trays for catering and parties. One small place next to my stove was a few small shelves which could not really fit anything worth while. and it only took me five years to realize I can take the removable pegs under the shelves, removing the shelves and now having an area I can store all my sheet pans, pizza stone and the shelves inside! My daily use pots and pans still have no place and get stored either next to the stove or top of the stove under a constant shuffle.
I have a rolling cutting board cart I have ni had for ten years with every intention of using it in my kitchen... but the kitchens too small. So it sits outside the kitchen in technically the dining room. It fits just under where there should be stools opposite my stove. But alas, its mainly a storage cart for all my cats gear. Their cases of wet cat food, the giant storage bin for 30lbs of their dry kibble, a bag holding spare catnip stash, extra jingly balls, flea meds, and their cat vet records. Yeah perfect place to store those. :shrug:
But the epiphany came to me, I can make room in my kitchen, if only, Craig's List... what... they are calling it a hutch! This is what I need! It will solve many issues and they are practically giving away hutches/buffet hutches on Craig's List. Then I looked a a new hutch from a local Lowes I think and they can go for not too much new if you need something basic. I am looking to (to alleviate the clutter and relocate some it from the kitchen to the "hutch". If I move my liquors to the hutch, that's a whole cabinet free (due to how tall the bottles are!) I could then fit my mixer in that and alleviate counter space for more places to drop down a cutting board which will definitely help speed meal time up if I don't have to have an apparatus shuffle to make room!
I could also relocate many of the "top of the cabinet" crew to the hutch and have room for more bulk shopping items that I don't always purchase due to no space, like a case of water for emergency grab and go! And possibly dedicate a cabinet to cat products so my chopping board cart can be used as intended (sorry kitties!)
After I paused a couple days in between writing this article, I noticed I had a pretty large bread machine on my counter, that I don't use a lot, I instantly relocated it under my mobile cutting board, now I can slide my deli slicer closer to a corner so its not on top of my electrical outlet. More room!
During my time at this house I ended up getting these very handy and awesome space saving baskets, can racks and shelves. 
$30 - Stackable 2 Tier Sliding Basket Organizer Drawer
Although it looks like the spices are organized, to me its organized chaos, because I have larger bags of spices and then bags of different dried chilies and so I end up with three areas of spices, still haven't figured that one out yet.
I learned from my Mom to always rotate the stock, meaning just bought cans of say soup, are placed behind cans of soup already stored, oldest out first in food!
These three organizers have made my kitchen life much much easier!
$30 - Stackable Can Rack
