After the pantry, the refrigerator and freezer hold most of your food. Which means a lot of things in and out. Time to get it organized!
Welcome to Day 3 of the 6 day Kitchen Organization challenge! On day one, we tackled all the food in the pantry so today we work on the cold foods and the refrigerator and freezer.

Originally Published On: November 3, 2021
Today’s Task: The Refrigerator/Freezer
Just like when we organized the pantry, having an organized refrigerator and freezer make it easier to find the foods you need when cooking and making your grocery lists. Decide how you want to do this, I suggest one of two ways: either take everything out at once, or go shelf by shelf depending on how full they are and how quick you think you can get it done. You don’t want to leave the food sitting out too long.
- Take all the food out from either the entire refrigerator or just the top shelf.
- Wipe down the inside of the refrigerator, including the walls, shelves, drawers, etc.
- Look through all the food for anything that is expired and toss it out. Make sure to make a list of what you are throwing away so you can replace it.
- Group similar things, such as condiments, fruits, vegetables, cheeses, meats, etc. so you know about how much you have of everything.
- Decide if you need new containers to organize your refrigerator with, or if what you have will work for the organization you are trying to achieve.
- Put everything back in the refrigerator in a more organized way.
- Continue with the next shelf if you are doing one at a time, and don’t forget to clean out the shelves in the door as well.
- Move on to the freezer doing the same thing.
Inspiration & Resources
I put together a blog post with a list of some of my favorite organization products for the kitchen that you can find here: https://www.sonshinekitchen.com/organizing-products-kitchen
If you are looking for some ideas for pantry and kitchen organization, I created a Pinterest board that you can find here: https://www.pinterest.com/sonshinekitchen/kitchen-organization-decor/
My Refrigerator and Freezer

We have a counter-depth refrigerator, which means we lost some space, but we really don’t miss it. ENow and then, if we are planning a party, the refrigerator gets a little tight. Otherwise, I love it. We try not to have a lot of food that isn’t fresh, which means we don’t usually have a lot to keep in the refrigerator. I keep all the condiment bottles in the door of the refrigerator, the eggs and milk are also in the door and some of the bigger condiments like our maple syrup and tub butter. The bottom shelf in the door is juice boxes for the kids.
We splurged on the refrigerator with the “showcase” door and it is amazing! We use that all. The. Time! In the refrigerator, I keep the cheese all in one drawer, vegetables in another, and meats in the bottom. The shelves don’t have a lot of order, partly just depends on what fits where.
The freezer is also small, so we have to be strategic with that. The top shelf is frozen fruit and bread, next is frozen vegetables, then leftovers and breakfast, and our meats for dinners go in the drawers.
Kitchen Organization
- 6 Days to an Organized Kitchen
- Day 1: The Pantry
- Day 2: The Junk Drawer
- Day 4: Under the Sink
- Day 5: The Cabinets
- Day 6: Catch-Up

If you have any questions, need any help, want suggestions on your unique situation, feel free to send me an email and I can give you some guidance!
Take some before/after photos and post them online using #sonshinekitchen so we can all see the progress you are making!
More Posts about Cleaning and Organizing the Kitchen
- 6 Easy Tips for Cleaning the Dishes Quickly
- 9 Commonly Missed Messes when Deep Cleaning the Kitchen
- Do this ONE THING to Make Cleaning After Meals Easier
- 6 Days to an Organized Kitchen
- Kitchen Organization, Day 1: The Pantry
- Kitchen Organization, Day 2: The Junk Drawer
- Kitchen Organization, Day 3: The Refrigerator (and Freezer)
- Kitchen Organization, Day 4: Under the Sink
- Kitchen Organization, Day 5: The Cabinets
- Kitchen Organization, Day 6: Catch-Up
- 7 Favorite Organizing Products for the Kitchen
- How to Naturally Clean the Oven with Minimal Effort
- How to have an Organized Pantry Without Plastic
I truly love cleaning out the fridge and freezer! We really need to do our deep freeze!
Oh my! Cleaning my fridge or kitchen is my favorite part of my day! Its just it is so satisfying so see when the kitchen or fridge is clean !
This is my biggest struggle. And it is mainly because I have two teenagers who love to shuffle through the fridge trying to find food to eat. I love all your tips. They are great! I just hope once I am done with the list, the kids will keep it looking good. One can hope!
I definitely need to go through my fridge and freezer. There is so much junk in there! I will have to use your tips to get things organized.
I hate organizing my kitchen, especially my fridge! I always need a little inspiration to keep it nice and tidy!
I love the Pinterest board that you created. It`s all the inspiration I needed to organize and declutter my kitchen.
I love to organize my kitchen but the fridge is always the hardest one. Thanks for sharing this. I’ve picked up great tips on how to clean my fridge easily.
Wow…I love the progress I am seeing here. I have a huge challenge with arranging food items in the fridge! Thanks for sharing your ideas.
I really need to get my house organised. I usually spend this time before Christmas decluttering and making room, that includes organising. But I haven’t even had a chance to start yet!
This is something I really need to do, my kitchen cupboards and fridge and freezers all need a good sort out
I think starting the new year off on a clean and organized note is a great idea esp after the holidays. I need to organize my refrigerator/freezer now too!
When it comes to keeping your fridge clean, there is a lot of gunk that can build up, especially on the shelves inside there! We always do a big defrost in the summertime, as well, and eat up everything that has gotten lost in there.
I definitely need to organize my refrigerator, it is a complete mess…
I totally need to do this! My fridge is a mess and we have so much stuff that needs to be tossed or reorganized.
My refrigerator is terribly disorganized. I would love to take inspiration from your post and try my hand at organizing mine 🙂
You should see my fridge, it is crazy lol…I needed to read your tips, thank you so much…
The refrigerator is something I always dread tidying up. It’s always at the bottom of my list because it’s just overwhelming. Thank you for the tips though. I now know where to start.
Honestly cleaning and organizing the fridge feels SO good afterwards. It’s something I try to do every other week.