It’s safe to say that we all like a well-organized and tidy kitchen. After all, the kitchen is often called the heart of the home. Keeping it well organized will make cooking, baking, and entertaining a pleasure. Having an organized space gives people peace of mind and well being. There are many ideas and organizing items to help. Here are several items and ideas to help you get your kitchen in tip-top shape.
1. Declutter
Our busy lifestyles often make it easy to ignore the clutter in cupboards and drawers. Out of sight, out of mind. Eventually, though, finding items and even remembering what you have will become time-consuming and may even cause you to buy duplicates of items you forgot you had. So this first tip may be the most important one. Decluttering is essential to having a well-functioning kitchen.
- First, set aside 3 bins or large bags for items you will get rid of. One bin for Trash, one bin for Donate, one bin for Sell
- Take out all the items in your cupboards and drawers
- Discard/donate or sell items you never use or duplicate items
- Discard broken or expired items
- This is also a perfect time to clean your cupboards
- Make a schedule so that you declutter a couple of times a year
The goal is to have only things you like and use.
This is an excellent time to clean and refresh the cabinets and drawers as they are emptied.
2. Group Similar Items With Each Other
You’ll want to have like items readily handy when baking or cooking, so this next tip will help you do that. This may seem obvious, but it’s easy to mix items when you rush to clean up.
Sort these with each other:
- Baking items
- Cooking Items
- Pots and Pans
- Dishes
- Cups and Saucers
- Glassware
- Cutlery
- Seasonal or occasional items, etc.
Another hint is to place your daily or most used items lower, so they are easy to reach. Put your least used or seasonal items on a higher shelf.
3. Organize by Activity and Zonal Area
We’ve all heard about zonal areas in kitchen design. It’s smart to group items with a similar function so that you don’t have to move back and forth across the room. For example, you may want to put all the coffee-making items together. Put sugar, mugs, and filters beside your coffee maker. If this is near your refrigerator where you have your milk or cream, even better.
Zones
Consumables Zone:The area where you place your non-perishable food items such as spices, cereals, grains, and tinned food.
Non-Consumables Zone: An area where your cutlery, dishes, glassware, etc. can be placed.
Food Prep Zone: Think knives and knife blocks, mixing bowls and utensils.
Cooking and Baking Zone: Pots and pans, baking dishes and pans, and cooking utensils should be in or near this zonal area.
Cleaning Zone: The area set aside for cleaning products, garbage and recyclable items.
4. Store Items in Clear Containers
There’s nothing worse than packets of foodstuffs scattered willy-nilly In your cabinets. So gather up your sauce, coatings and gravy mix packets into plastic containers. Use containers that can stack one on top of the other. Label the containers with the name of the item or type so you can pick the desired item at a quick glance.
5. Use Cabinet Organizers
Turntables or lazy-susans can make a kitchen cabinet much more functional. No more fumbling around for that elusive jar of powdered curry. They make accessing your spices and condiments simple and quick.
Organizers that have risers make it easy to stack small items so that they can be easily seen and chosen from dozens of items.
6. Use Drawer Dividers
Drawer dividers are a must for your utensil and miscellaneous drawers. They keep items neat and easy to spot.
More specifically, diagonal drawer dividers are terrific for your longer cooking utensils and small utensils, as well. No need to mix small items into the larger slots. These dividers make items even easier to find.
7. Use Your Kitchen Drawers for Unlikely Items
This tip is for those lucky people that have extra drawer space. Think your kitchen drawers are mostly for utensils? Think again. Are you tired of reaching up high for spices or canned goods? Try putting items that you often use into your kitchen drawers instead.
- For your canned goods, put a label of the item on the top of the can
- Lay your spices in their jars lying flat
- Store dinnerware and cups here, especially if it’s easier than reaching up into a cupboard
8. Under the Sink Sliding Organizer
This handy organizer will make organizing and accessing your kitchen cleaners, cloths, etc. a simple task. Besides keeping everything neat and tidy, you will be able to slide out the organizer, thus having a full view of everything. This saves your back from bending over or from having to get onto your hands and knees.
9. Utilize Your Space
If you are running out of cabinet space, there are various hooks and racks available to hang items, thus saving space in your cabinets.
- Try hanging your mugs underneath your upper cabinets with hooks
- Use available wall space or a ceiling rack to hang pots and pans
- Use adhesive hooks on the inside of cabinet doors to hold small kitchen gadgets
- You can use a metal rod to hang hooks on for utensils, towels, oven mits, etc.
When you are renovating or remodelling your kitchen it is important to factor in organizational aspects in the design and layout. It is one thing to have a beautiful kitchen with the best appliances. But, imagine having a fully operational kitchen that allows you to easily maneuver while cooking. Take these points into consideration when remodelling your kitchen:
- Make sure the cabinets are large enough for your cooking equipment and storage of them is simple.
- Have an ergonomic design of the cabinetry to easily access items that are often used. Ensure that the shelving is set up in a logical way. You may not have a use for storage shelves 10 feet high. It may be more practical for you to have open shelving where you can display vases, glass, etc.
- Keep in mind how you would want the flow of the kitchen for cooking, rinsing, chopping, and placing hot items on the counter.
- Ensure that you will have the correct lighting to be able to read recipes, thermometers, etc.
- Perhaps you want to have a safe place to mount electronics, such as a small television, iPad, tablet, etc. to use while in the kitchen.
- You can make sure the ventilation system is adequate to remove smells, smoke, etc.
For kitchen and bathroom remodeling, call Sunshine Sunrooms. Our team will work with you to create exactly what you are looking for! Quotes are available! Give us a call at 972-243-5390 or contact us online.
