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Is this a vegetarian's fridge? I see cheeses/dairy on the right bottom drawer. I use an old rectangular cake pan for meats in mine.

Also, I may very well be wrong but it looks like a potato and possibly an onion reside in that other drawer. I know you don't have to refrigerate either of those (and many other items that we refrigerate anyway), but are there any advantages or disadvantages to doing so, with the humidity etc.?

And eggs -- should these be on/near the bottom?

And

Because I worked in a kitchen for so long, I love organizing my refrigerator. I even cleaned and organized my mother's refrigerator the last time I was home and needed to make a meal. She was baffled but thankful. I pretty much follow the formula you guys have listed but also take the organizing one step further to the freezer. I only buy quality meat whenever it's on sale, so when I get home, I repackage it into meal size portions and plop it all into a gallon size freezer bag with a date on it. It's easy to see what I have and the food gets used in order of the date it was received.

I hate hate hate my set up though - it's a side by side with a teeny crappy freezer due to a water & ice dispenser. It was here when we moved in and I curse it almost daily. I can't slide a sheet pan into the fridge or the freezer, there's no capacity for large items like a turkey and I can't just get a handful of ice. I hate it!

I see why this would be used in a commercial kitchen, but at home? Do you really have meat dripping throughout your fridge so often that you need to reorg your fridge around it?

Personally, i don't buy that much meat in the first place, but when i do i use it almost immediately, and while its waiting to be used it sits in its plastic grocery bag on a shelf in the fridge for extra drip protection (yes, i said plastic bag. I bring my own bags to the grocery store, but badly packaged meats that are likely to leak on the walk home get to sacrifice ONE plastic bag).

I'm always reading that the lowest part of the fridge is the coldest. Not in mine! Things sometimes freeze on the top shelf, but they're fine on the bottom.

Sorry about your lousy side-by-side fridge, Oven Mitzie! After years of miniature apartment appliances, the first thing I wanted when I got my own home was a bottom-freezer model with NO icemaker (wastes space & energy). Love it!

As for organization tips, I hear it's best not to keep really temp-sensitive perishables like eggs and milk in the door, because of the temp change every time it's opened and closed.

Since we just bought our first home, I'm living with a less-than-ideal fridge for the forseeable future (it's small, and the only organized storage consists of 2 opaque crisper drawers that don't slide very well).

To make it easier to live with our fridge in the short-term, we bought a few clear bins (like these) that we use to keep the fridge contents streamlined and visible. At the moment, we're using one for cheese, one for meat, and one for extra vegetables. They're stackable and dishwasher-safe, so we end up with a tidy-looking fridge that's easy to clean. Plus, it's nice to just grab the 'drawer' I need instead of having to hunt around the shelves.

My fridge is a mess. I tend to just throw stuff in there, making it look much fuller than it is :P I don't eat meat, just fish, so that makes that part much easier. I think I will tackle my fridge this weekend though. Generally I use one drawer for hard veggies, one for fruit, and put softer veggies on the bottom shelf. The top shelf is for tall stuff, milk, big jars, yogurt containers. The middle is for whatever else. The inside of the door for condiments, and medication.

renata--the rule for raw eggs is the same as the rule for meat--it's a raw product that can contaminate food stored under it, so don't store it over food that will be served uncooked. As (the other) Julie said, don't store eggs in the door, even if they're designed for it; while most of us don't open our fridge doors and gawk for awhile, it's better to be safe than sorry with foods whose storage temperatures are integral to making them safe for consumption. As for whether or not we really need to be so fussy about how we organize our storage, when I was taking my food service safety and sanitation class, I learned that food poisoning was more likely to come from cross-contaminated raw foods (fruits and veggies), not from mishandled animal products. That means raw produce prepped on unsanitized cutting boards, handled with improperly washed hands, or stored incorrectly near contaminated food. Nutty, huh? ;)

HA!!! Justification!

I've been organizing my fridge like this ever since I moved into my own fridge(s) (the habits came from how my family organized their fridge when I was a kid) and I constantly am having to justify why I organize it this way to my husband. I'm so going to show him this article to him. No I'm NOT crazy. Thank you!

What's the rule for flours and grains that are best stored in the cold of the fridge? (cornmeal, quinoa etc)?

Ahhh all you real adults with fridges to yourself. My fridge organization: Go through and throw out the 18 old moldy packages of pita that belong to my roommates. (After asking them if its alright to chuck these things of course) Shove my food that won't fit into the drawer I somehow claimed on moving-in-day into the main-fridge space I just cleared out.

I have an extra-deep fridge, so to make it easier to group things and grab them, I buy my spinach or mixed greens in huge, rectangular plastic containers, which I then use as drawers. I'm now doing the same thing in my freezer, after it broke recently and there was meat blood everywhere -- all the frozen meat is placed in one of the plastic containers.

how on earth do you people put all your condiments on the door? my door is full plus I have over half a shelf for the overflow. even if I removed the coffee, vitamins and batteries from the door I still wouldn't be able to get all the condiments on there...

I always forget about so much in my fridge because I'm tall and don't see things at the back. My next fridge will DEFINITELY be a bottom freezer rather than the opposite! But some of my tips are:

1. If you drink canned drinks, those can organizers are a great space saver.
2. Have a breakfast tray with all your usuals on it - whether it be butter, jam, yogurt, cut cheeses etc and you can simply pull this out in the am.
3. A regular sized tray can hold all your drinks - milk, juices, liquor/wine bottles and this can also be easily removed.
4. Have an area designated for leftovers so you know where to look. Use clear containers to view things more easily.

FREEZER ORGANIZATION
1. If your freezer is a door type, a shelf organizer (like you use for two levels of plates in a cupboard) is invaluable.
2. Try storing leftovers in square containers, rather than circles as they use up the space more efficiently.
3. Label everything you store as it's hard to figure out what it is when it's frozen!
4. For lunches, freeze leftovers in small one portion size clear containers. After a week of regular meals, you will have 7 different choices! You can pop one (or a few) in the fridge and choose what you feel like for lunch.

Don't forget about a "lazy susan" round tray for the shelf. It makes it easier to reach an item and it holds quite a bit.

I think I must have been the last person in the world to keep the milk on the door, so I did a little test.

I put two thermometers in my fridge, one on the top shelf near the back and one on the door. I was really surprised that the temp varied by 6 degrees. And the door was 42 degrees, which I believe is too warm for milk.

@Julie
If your fridge has an adjustable vent in the back just below the freezer, that is air from the freezer. The temperature difference between freezer and fridge is adjustable. Items placed on the top shelf in front of that opening can freeze.

@MissMatlock
The door shelves are warmer for two reasons:
1> By its crowded nature, there is very little air circulation.
2> The insulation in the door is usually much thinner than the sides or back.

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Thanks for the foto. I never thought of putting the long big shelf on the top. You have motivated me to organize my fridge.
Hugs

Gross. How about not taking it for granted that your raw meat is going to drip over everything under it, and instead, put a place under it so it doesn't drip? Seems obvious to just fix the problem.

My genius move is I don't ever store the apples with any other fruits or vegetables, since they offgas a lot of ethylene which speeds rotting.

I put them with the cheese in my fabulous "deli" drawer. That thing holds, like, SIX bottles of wine, and pulls out completely to let you see what's in there. It's a freaking miracle drawer. I love it.

What do you do when you have way too many veggies for your veggie drawer?

When I lived in a heavily woodsy area, I had a massive ant infestation and started keeping my baking items in the bottom drawer - sugars, flour, butter, nuts, chocolate - and it worked so well I still do it. Veggies still get the above drawer, and everything is kept fresh and seems to last longer. no problem with humidity so far.

but as a side by side user, i do long for one of those freezer on the bottom fridges so I can slide a sheetpan into either section.

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