The average home kitchen chaos is not necessarily dramatic—nothing's on fire, nothing's broken—if it is, please stop reading and go attend to the larger issues in your life. No, normally it's the slow accumulation of damp sponges, half-used paper towel rolls, and drawer organizers that seemed like a good idea in the store but don’t fit just right. At some point I realized I was buying paper towels reflexively, resentfully, and more often than felt reasonable. The solution, in most cases, isn't more stuff. It's the right stuff, bought once and used until it falls apart.

This guide is for the person who is tired of restocking. Tired of throwing away a $3 sponge every week. Tired of rebuying the same roll of paper towels because it genuinely never occurred to them there was a better way.…