Everyday inspiration for keeping your kitchen clutter-free, plus Martha Stewart's own kitchen organizing ideas.

An editor's tiny apartment still manages big style and a clutter-free appearance. The cabinet doors were removed to make the kitchen feel more open. The backs of the shelves were painted the same blue as the walls. Food is stored in the white canisters on the shelves, and the large storage boxes above hold platters and holiday decorations.

In this downtown loft space, a rolling ladder, which slides between the open kitchen and the living area, allows access to shelves holding serving pieces and books.

In this Pelham, New York, home, the owners went for a subdued palette. Cabinets from a laboratory supply company hold white tableware and an array of glass compotes and cake plates. The island is topped with a practical butcher block, and large bowls serve as decorative storage pieces.

This kitchen meets its owners' dinner party and storage needs. There's even a designated area for their cafe au lait bowl collection, which lends color and whimsy to the space.

Martha's kitchen at her farm in Bedford is both efficient and homey. Two islands offer seating and storage. An overhead steel rack keeps pots and pans reachable but out of the way.

Faced with the challenge of working around an existing support beam, the owner of this home built a shallow cupboard that is aligned with the rest of the cabinetry but just deep enough to hold drinking glasses.

Recycling may save the planet, but it ruins the corner of your kitchen until collection day. An easy-to-make sorting station will help you get in order.

An under-the-counter cupboard stores bulky pots and pans. Its wide pullout shelves keep the equipment organized and accessible. A strip of electrical outlets was installed along the underside of the wall cabinets, allowing flexibility when using small appliances.

The streamlined kitchen of this Chicago-area home offers plenty of hidden spaces to store kitchen essentials; the island, built out of red cedar and marble, houses the owner's collection of classic Heath Ceramics "Coupe" tableware.

Magnetic bulletin boards are handy, but the color options are limited. Make your own and you can match the color of your kitchen.

First, paint a prestretched artist's canvas. When it's dry, turn it over. Coat a piece of cut-to-fit sheet metal with spray adhesive, and attach it to the back of the canvas. Place a same-size piece of foam board on top of the metal. Then screw mirror clips (one on each side) into the frame and a sawtooth hanger on the back, toward the top. Glue ribbon around the edges for a finished look.

Martha's rugged summer home at Skylands on the coast of Maine boasts a less formal yet highly functional cooking space. She took every white dish she could find out of the cupboards and put them on display. A porcelain fishmonger's table blends in perfectly to create an intriguing composition in an unexpected place.

Keeping a clean, open space for your kitchen means creating smart storage solutions. Tuck away brooms and cleaning supplies in a handy utility organizer.

Martha displayed her turn-of-the-century American yellowware mixing bowls above the refrigerator and freezer in her Turkey Hill home; shelving for spices was created in the leftover spaces.

Embellishments work best when they're as practical as they are beautiful. Add a simple and elegant dowel rod to keep your utensils always within reach.

In Martha's first home, Turkey Hill, she thoughtfully designed racks and small box drawers like these to hold accessories and bottles of wine. They are simple yet extraordinarily useful storage spaces.

Open shelves like these turn your wall space into the perfect place to store unique or oversize bowls and serving trays.

Martha did not want the cupboards in her Bedford home to look like ordinary built-ins, so she designed a pair of long counters with marble tops; on one of them are glass-sided cabinets. They look light and keep the area airy in appearance.

A very well-used part of Martha's Bedford kitchen is the cappuccino counter. There's the grand machine and two grinders -- one for regular beans and the other for decaffeinated. Cups, saucers, and other everyday dishes fill the shelves.

Add capacity to a cabinet by installing store-bought plate and bowl racks.

To neatly house an extensive collection of magazines, this kitchen has a wall of custom cabinets. The deep shelves contain double rows of issues.

Store serving trays, platters, and cutting boards with tension curtain rods. Measure the vertical distance between two cupboard shelves. Position appropriate-size rods between the shelves, as shown. Twist rods to tighten, so their inner springs will keep them upright. Use two rods on both sides of each item, spacing them according to the dimensions of individual pieces.

In her Turkey Hill kitchen, Martha stores cleaning supplies on large trays that roll forward for easy access.

Because Martha's collections of dishware, cake plates, domes, pottery, and the like have grown over the years, she created more room for them by utilizing the vertical space in her Lily Pond Lane pantry. Shelves painted the same color as the kitchen ceiling keep everything organized and accessible.

Covered with chalkboard paint, a pantry door serves as the perfect place to keep a running shopping list. In this case, only the inside panels were coated with chalkboard paint, but we custom-colored the paint so that it blends seamlessly with the rest of the door. (Always tape off those areas that you don't want to paint, such as knobs and hardware.)

Metal baskets once used for milk bottles and other groceries make perfect storage units for the kitchen. For maximum impact, choose similar containers but vary their sizes and shapes (the metal ones here feature punched holes and wire grids). Line baskets with canvas, and group them together to organize an entire roomful of odds and ends.

In this kitchen, one wall houses a refrigerator and washer and dryer behind cabinet doors, as well as a toaster and coffeemaker in an appliance "garage" on a pull-out tray.

A corkboard-covered refrigerator is a natural place for photos, postcards, and notes.

This credenza designed by the homeowner stunningly stores 19th-century yellowware.

A 25-foot-long counter stretches across this galley kitchen. "It's efficient for cooking, but also long enough to serve as a buffet," interior designer and homeowner Kimberley Renner says. Reproduction library-style lights illuminate the counter; the steel cabinets and shelving were custom-made by Renner's brother, Cole Thompson.