Reset one crowded shelf before buying storage
The first useful change is usually making the shelf easier to reach, not finding a prettier basket.
A crowded shelf is a small enough problem to finish in one sitting. That is part of its appeal. Resist the temptation to empty the entire cabinet while you are there; the neighboring shelves can wait until you know what this one needs to hold.
Move its contents onto a clear surface, keeping related items together. This is the moment to notice the oddities: three half-used notebooks behind a vase, a charger for something that no longer lives here, or a stack of bowls that has to be lifted every time you want a mug. The shelf may be full because it has become several different storage places at once.
Decide what the shelf is for
Give it a job that can be described without a long list. Breakfast dishes, current project supplies, or the books being read this month are useful jobs. Miscellaneous is a description of uncertainty. It tends to expand until the shelf is too awkward to use.
Put back the items that belong to that job before anything decorative. Arrange them around the motion involved in retrieving them. A bowl needs enough room for your fingers around its rim. A folder needs space above it to tilt out. A basket that only fits after the shelf above is lifted does not really fit.
Avoid filling the deepest part simply because it is available. It can hold occasional supplies if they remain visible, but a second row of unrelated objects is easy to forget. If the shelf is unusually deep, a removable tray may make that rear section accessible. Try a tray already in the house before ordering a new organizer.
The items left on the table need decisions, not a new temporary pile. Return things to established homes, set aside genuine donations, and dispose of unusable items appropriately. If several useful things have no destination, write down that separate storage problem. Do not silently put it back on this shelf.
Leave a little movement room when you finish. This is not decorative empty space so much as working clearance: room to return a book, set down a dish, or see that a supply is running low. Use the shelf for a few days before buying anything. The part that becomes awkward again will tell you more than a photograph of a perfectly arranged shelf ever could.