15 Life-Changing Organizing Products That Cleared Our Clutter in 2023
On its face, Apartment Therapy might seem like a gold mine for home decor and furniture inspo. And it is, but as far as editor-tested products go, there are only so many sofas and planters each of us can accommodate in our humble abodes. One product category we can never have enough of, however, is organizers. As much as we try not to overload our apartments with unnecessary trinkets, there’s always a surface that can use decluttering, whether it’s the bathroom vanity, the closet, or the area under the kitchen sink. As a result, we’re always trying out and suggesting a new storage bench or cable manager, and 2023 was resultantly loaded with home organization recs.
The time has come to round up our favorite ones, which was no easy feat. But after thinking about which items we simply don’t want to go into 2024 without, we managed to procure the following list. Many of the picks won a spot in our Organization Awards earlier this year, while others won a permanent place in our hearts. So, have a browse, consider which parts of your own apartment could use some organizing, and pick up a few of these prized pieces for yourself.
AT Best Organizers 2023
If you live with roommates and prefer to hand-wash your dishes, you're unlikely to find a better drying rack than the Dash SmartStore rack, which won our Best List's "Best Overall" category. "It’s best for those who have a lot of counter space to work with since it’s so big, but it can store a lot of dishes,” Best List editor Britt said. “It looks neat and organized, which is all I want for my kitchen.” The rack not only offers enough space for dishes, cups, cutting boards, and more in its main compartment, but it also has a smaller compartment off to the side for bottles and wine glasses.
Whether you need a convenient spot to store office supplies or you need to transport cleaning products from one room to another, this sleek Yamazaki caddy will come in handy. Maddie, AT's former deputy lifestyle director, found it to be perfect for the latter purpose. "It's lightweight, which is excellent, and I can fit several bottles of cleaner, some disinfectant wipes, my duster, and microfiber cloths inside it," she said of the Organization Award winner.
Storing jewelry is tricky; necklaces get tangled, and metals can tarnish if they touch one another for too long. That's where Umbra's Trigem jewelry organizer comes in. It holds and displays chains and bangles in a neat, tangle-free manner. What's more, its base doubles as a catch-all dish for rings and other trinkets. "[It] does the work of three accessory organizers in one and takes up less space than a standard jewelry box," said Charli, AT's executive lifestyle director. The organizer's silver finish looks so modern, too.
The under-sink area of your kitchen or bathroom is highly susceptible to clutter, but you probably already know that. As a result, you'll find the Smarthom under-sink organizer to be incredibly helpful when it comes to corralling cosmetics, cleaning supplies, and more. SEO commerce editor Sarah credits hers with transforming the look of her bathroom, noting, "I fit so much stuff in these organizers, I couldn’t believe it." You, too, will appreciate the organizers' sleek design, handy pull-out drawers, and rust-resistant material.
We weren't surprised to find out that the Solgaard carry-on closet was our top-performing product of the year. After all, our editors couldn't stop raving about it, with Britt praising its interior shelving system and impressive capacity. "Along with the shelving system, I found the zipper compartment of the carry-on closet to be wonderfully spacious,” she wrote in her review. “I was able to fit a large packing cube that was stuffed with three caftans and two belts along with my CHI handheld steamer into the space, and there was still room for a few small items. Best of all, I didn’t have to force it closed!” You'll also find the carry-on to be extremely durable, so it'll look great for years to come.
Another Organization Award winner, the Poppin laundry hamper has been a mainstay in my bedroom since spring. Although it's narrow enough to fit between my vanity and the wall, this Best List winner can hold a ton of clothes, and its flat, lidded top doubles as another surface for my makeup collection. I also love the hamper's simple design and the fact that it's available in five neutral colors.
Despite its compact, cube-like design, this organizing rack can hold a whopping 24 spice jars, keeping them within easy reach as your cabinet stays free of clutter. Each of its three shelves pulls out and folds down to give you access to your spices, and moveable dividers let you adjust the shelves' sizes to hold tall or short containers. As a bonus, your purchase includes a sheet of 104 pre-printed labels that you can use to keep track of each spice.
This isn't the first time this internet-famous shoe rack has made an editor-tested favorites list, and it probably won't be the last. After all, it's rare to come across a storage solution that's as stylish as it is practical. You can place far more than just footwear on its three-tiered frame, including plants, books, and other decor. We've also found the rack to serve as a solid side table for living rooms, bedrooms, and home offices.
Although this small travel organizer was designed to hold charging cables and small electronic devices, Jada, our sister site's shopping director, has used hers to hold toiletries and makeup for every trip she's taken in the past four years. "The neoprene can be washed by hand or wiped down with a damp towel if something leaks," she also noted. "There are enough pockets and elastic loops to keep everything in place, and being able to unzip the organizer the whole way around means being able to find my phone charger more easily while on the road." The organizer also comes in a large size.
If you frequently find yourself rummaging through a messy drawer or cabinet to find a specific pan, you'll love YouCopia's StoreMore cookware rack. Britt loves its expandable design, not to mention its adjustable dividers. "Being able to store my pans vertically freed up half of the cabinet and made it possible to arrange other kitchen tools that needed a home," she wrote. "The cookware rack also reduced the struggle of digging deep into the cabinet to reach pans that inevitably got pushed to the back. No more straining and bending at odd angles in search of the right-sized pan!"
Before I got this clear makeup organizer, I kept my cosmetics in a zippered bag and would always have to dig through it to find a specific concealer or lip liner. Suffice it to say, this tiny but capacious vanity addition made my morning routine much more efficient. You won't be surprised to learn that it won a spot on our Best List. If you ask me, anyone who's short on vanity space would benefit from this organizer; it even has a drawer built into its base!
If your linen closet is full, consider a storage bench. This one from Songmics serves as an out-of-season clothing and blanket holder and also doubles as a cushy seat at the foot of the bed. Commerce editorial assistant Morgan found the bench to be ultra-durable, comfortable, and functional. "I’ve sat on it while putting shoes on and while doing makeup, and I have had zero problems so far," she wrote, adding, "I was able to cram at least four long, bulky coats and nearly 10 sweaters." What's more, the bench comes with adjustable dividers, which are useful for keeping things like sweaters and scarves neatly separated.
You've definitely seen OXO's iconic POP containers in kitchens IRL and across the internet. Our staffers also love them. After all, the containers boast every positive feature you could possibly want: dishwasher-safe and BPA-free materials, stackable design, airtight lids, and versatile functions. In other words, you can use them to store anything from flour to pasta to cookies. They'll make your pantry look tidy and put together.
As a small apartment renter, I'm unable to drill shelves into my walls, so you can imagine how useful this over-the-door organizer has been. It offers five roomy shelves, which I use to hold laundry supplies, a garment steamer, hot hair tools, and more. At the top, there are three small compartments that I use to store random stuff like exercise bands and tissue packs. Still, the organizer doesn't weigh down my door, and the rest of my room looks much tidier because of it.
I don't know about you, but I get stressed out just thinking about opening and closing my overflowing sock drawer. I should invest in this nifty drawer organizer that Tamara, AT's managing commerce editor, said she can't live without. "It’s adjustable, so it can fit in different-sized drawers and immediately remedied the overflowing sock collection problem I’d been dealing with for well over a year," she wrote of its honeycomb design. "I’ve got enough socks to basically open a store, so this organizer did its job and then some." Not bad for a find under $15!
