I have found that few kitchens have the space and layout that we would wish for.

Unless you are in the happy position of having the kitchen designed to suit your exact requirements at usually a high cost, it's usually a case of making do to some extent.

These are the methods that I have found work quite well to optimise and organise space in the kitchens I have inhabited.

1) Select an area for making tea and coffee, This will need a power point handy, if like me, you use an electric kettle and coffee maker. When you are at work in your kitchen you need to be able to make a reviving brew as quickly as possible! Arrange your tea and coffee making equipment as tidily as possible, preferably in a cupboard handy to the kettle.

2)As far as possible, keep the counter tops clear. It not only looks better, but enables you to preparte food much more easily with more space.

3) Organise your cupboards regularly, it's amazing what you find lurking in the back of a cupboard forgotten and unused! Try to be ruthless, if you haven't used it in six months, you probably never will! So get rid of it!

4) Keep things handy, you don't want to be walking back and forth across the kitchen for pots and pans for instance, store them near the cooker.

5) Don't buy too many cleaning items, choose multi-purpose products and save the space.

6) Finally, wash up as you go. Unless you have a dish washer or willing spouse, who will not only wash up but dry the dishes and put them away. (Never yet happened to me!) Washing and clearing up as you go, saves your sanity after the meal, when you don't feel like the chore.

Oh, one more, try to always leave the kitchen tidy when you go to bed. There are few things more depressing than facing a kitchen in chaos first thing in the morning!

Improving your kitchen not only helps in better food preparation but also saving time and money. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Other than organized drawers and well marked containers, a good kitchen must have a good place for waste disposal. Waste must be sorted as biodegradable and non-biodegradable. Sorting trash helps the environment and even saves us a few cents or dollars when we recycle.
2. The proximity of the sink to the working table makes food prep efficient. If the sink is too far away, spillage and uncleaned utensils will be taking up space in your kitchen.
3. Good ventilation and light makes the kitchen more conducive for working. Sunlight must enter through windows or even doors to help save electricity costs and proper ventilation keeps unwanted odors away.
4. Pots and pans must be sorted by size or frequency of usage. Overhead screens to hang pots and pans are commonly used in restaurant and hotel kitchens.

My complaints about my own kitchen are:
1. the location of the sink in regard to the stove
2. not enough counter space
3. not enough drawers.
So if I were able to make some simple changes here are a few things I would consider.
1. have a small portable cart on wheels that I can move about in my kitchen as needed for extra prep space or serving space.
2. good lighting under the cabinets and over counter space
3. garbage disposal (I currently don't have one) and I hate tossing disposable food items into the trashcan to sit overnight.
4. with enough drawer space you can make sure that all cooking utensils and pot holders are located near the stove, and if you don't have the drawer space use a large ceramic pitcher to hold your extra long spoons, spatulas, tongs, etc.
5. Use shelf organizers (like tier ones) for storing spices for easy access.
6. Store pastas, rices, beans and such in clear acrylic or plastic containers to aid in keeping cabinets and pantry neat, and protecting your foods from insects or stale air.
7. Have a large bowl handy for placing potato peels, onion skins, etc while prepping food so you don't have to make multiple trips to the trash can, then just empty all when you're done.
8. Try to keep all of your small appliances in one place so they are easy to get to when needed (mixer, blender, waffle iron, toaster, etc.)

Lemme see here--our kitchen was completely demo'd to an empty box and doubled its size when we moved into our house, but even if this isn't yours, let me see if I can come up with some ideas, based on these photos:
-You will want a lot of prep space if you're going to be cooking-and every inch is valuable. Crock pot? Cabinet next to oven unless it's cooking/serving, which it is in this photo, aparently

-Condiments / sauces / etc" We got a rotating spice rack and built it into one of our cabinets. I'm sure it can be installed in an existing cabinet. The thing looks like a stripper pole with shelves, but there is a lot of stuff in that cabinet.

+Five points to you for one less thing to put on valuable counter space: the OTR (over-the-range) Microwave (I sold the things to property management companies for about a year. Every so often, I'll still refer to my fridge as "The Reefer"--as in REFR)

-As for the menagerie of stuff in the corner, assess if you really need it there or if you can put something in a drawer, closet, cabinet.

I don't see anyplace for trash, but I'll show you what we did (the photo is not ours): We did dual cans in a slide-out drawer. It's like one really deep filing cabinet drawer--just pull it out. The trash cans are so invisible that guests have to ask where they are. Target carries similar, smaller things for under your sink.; I can't get the image to display here but I've provided a link.

The main thing is the kitchen triangle. I do high end kitchens for a living. You want your refrigerator next to your prep area and your stove very close to your prep area, usually directly to the right or left. The sink should be across from the fridge and your prep area should be right next to the sink. Have your fry pans and small pots within easy reach by which you use most. Larger and heavier cookware should be in cabinets that will be taken out and put on the stove before you start. Depending whether your right or left handed that is where your knife block should be. It is always good if you can fit your dishwasher under your prep aea so there is no mess or drips putting the dishes in. Your overhead cabinet at the prep area should have the dishes and bowls you use in prep. I personally find the sink and stove be at right angles to eachother. I like to use the slide out spice rack in the cabinet on the side of the prep area opposite the stove. Garbage is to your preference. Some people seem to like pull out drawers and I find others like to have the 13 gallon pails and pull them over when they need them.
If your setting up new the best thing to do is before you tear down imagine the kitchen to your work style and imagine where the things will be and walk through it like you were actually doing it. This will give you an idea to your comfort.

Bench space is also very important. And your fridge must be large enough to store the foods. If you have the room, a good idea is to have a special smaller fridge for just veges etc. But the main thing is to have the appliances all handy.