Welcome to the latest post in of my popular series taking the Clutter 101 principles of organizing and de-cluttering your home and applying them to individual rooms in your home. In this post I will cover the kitchen. Because this is where we cook, make meals and in many occasions sit down to eat, it’s typically the busiest room in the house. All the food and dirty dishes means it needs to be regularly cleaned and maintained too. With all this in mind it is important that we don’t get distracted by unnecessary clutter. In this guide I will discuss ideas on how to keep your kitchen organized.
Drawers & cupboards
Look at all your drawers and cupboards. Are you making the most of that space? Just because it’s in the kitchen it doesn’t mean it has to be reserved for plates, cutlery, pans and food. Space is space, regardless of what room it’s in. Given the amount of drawer space the average kitchen has nowadays, if they are all taken up with kitchen supplies and utensils, that’s a big waste.
Cutlery and utensils
Get what you need and no more. If you live on your own and you have twelve wooden spoons, it’s safe to assume you have too many. Unless you have exceptional circumstances, cutlery should typically fit in one drawer, with an optional utensil jar (or similar) for storing larger items, like those wooden spoons, spatulas, etc. Buy a cutlery tray and put it in your drawer to keep everything organized. After all, you don’t want to waste time digging around for a knife and fork when you’re cooking your dinner.
Fridge/freezer
Defrost your fridge/freezer regularly otherwise the ice builds up inside which takes up a lot of space that could otherwise be used for food. It also means that when you finally do defrost it, it will take twice as long. Do small and regular defrosting sessions and you’ll save time and effort in the long run.
Also, as much as possible group food products together and use the specialist storage areas that usually come with fridges, such as fruit/veg trays and cheese boxes to keep it all organized. This allows easy access to your food which makes it easier when cooking and preparing meals, and it means you know exactly what you’ve got, so no more rotten food left forgotten about at the back of the fridge.
Kitchen counter
Be sure to keep the counter as clear as possible. It is an area that needs regular cleaning and is your primary work/cooking space. Because it’s often such a large space, it can surprising how often it gets used a communal dumping ground by people, leaving their keys, homework, coats, etc. on it.
The more clutter you have on the counter the more awkward you will make things for yourself. Don’t add to the situation worse by having all sorts of kitchen items stored on it. If you are lacking in space on the counter consider getting wall attached storage like spice racks and pan hooks to help clear it. It may not be attractive but it is more efficient than on the kitchen counter.
Under the sink
This is typically the home of the cleaning products. Cleaning products are one of the things that are regularly on special offer at supermarkets so it can be tempting to stock up. But do you have the space? Do you really need three spare boxes of detergent on hand taking up all that room? Don’t worry about turning your back on a good deal, there’s bound to be others when you actually need them.
Get a basket or box and put all your scrubbing brushes and washing gloves in there so they don’t spread out all over your under-sink cupboard/storage. If you haven’t organized your cleaning chemicals before, take them all out and group them together. You might find you will have used two or more bottles of the same brand. Pour them into the one bottle to save more room and group the ones you regularly use (washing up liquid, fabric conditioner) near to the front in easy reach.
Create activity areas
Try and organize/store tools, cutlery and utensils near to the areas you are most likely to be working. For instance, I keep pans and tinned food in cupboards next to the oven and cutlery near to the counter space where I serve up food. Like having cleaning tools under the sink, you could also try and bring together utensils you use for specific tasks. If you bake a lot for example, you might want to keep the flour, baking powder, mixing bowl, etc. all in one place.
Get a bin
It’s probably obvious but most of the waste in your home will come from the kitchen so get as big a bin as you feel comfortable with that doesn’t mess up the aesthetics of the room. You don’t want to have to be taking out rubbish all the time because your small bin can’t hold all your waste.
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March 27, 2008 at 11:27AM
How do I convince, persuade, bribe or cajole my husband to take an active interest in de-cluttering our home? It’s a total mess and not a good example to set for our children. No sooner have I tidied up/bagged items for the charity shop and rubbish tip, other items appear in the house and used items are left lying around instead of being put back in their own place. Any request for a united front is met with accusations that I am nagging.
March 28, 2008 at 09:53AM
Maggie, I don’t know. I’ve had similar problems with my partner. However, your comment has got me thinking about this topic. For what it’s worth, I’m going to look into this issue and write a post on it in the near future.