Making the Most of Your Kitchen Space
Organizing a kitchen nowadays can be very challenging. The typical kitchen is used not only for cooking and storing food, but is where the family meets, eats, plays, and makes plans, and sometimes serves double duty as an office or craft room. As a result, the kitchen contains the greatest quantity of “stuff” in the whole house, and has the greatest organizing needs.
Don’t know where to start to get your kitchen organized? A good starting point is looking at different kitchen activities, making sure there’s enough space to do the job, and that the things you’ll need to do it are right there and handy. Here are some examples of what you can do.
The frequency factor. What are the activities that you do most often? If you have fresh juice, coffee, and toast every morning, the toaster, coffee maker, and juicer should be within easy reach. Less frequently used items such as fondue pots, bread makers, fancy China, and waffle irons can be kept in more hard to reach places (high or low shelves or in another room) since you don’t often need them.
Grouping by activity. Try keeping your baking items (rolling pin, muffin tins, cake pans, sifter, and cookie cutters) in one bin or basket. Baking ingredients (baking powder, powdered sugar, sprinkles, chocolate chips, etc.) can be grouped on one shelf or in one container. The cutting board, peeler, and knives should be within easy reach of each other. If you pay your bills in the kitchen, a pocketed folder to hold the bills, spare envelopes, postage stamps, and return address labels is very useful.
Point of use. Try to keep things near where they will be used. Coffee filters, coffee, mugs, creamer, and sweetener should be kept near the coffee maker. Spices should be near the stove. A small first aid kit for cuts and burns should be near the sink. A low cupboard near Fido’s dish is ideal for keeping dog food.
Clear work surfaces. Try to keep your counters clear of any items not used on a daily basis, like those pretty but cumbersome canisters, and any appliances such as blenders and juicers or cook books that you don’t use on a routine basis. In a kitchen with little counter space, a large cutting board can be placed across the top of the sink or an open drawer to gain more working surface area. If the kitchen table tends to be the family’s dumping ground, a sturdy basket can be used for corralling each family member’s personal items, and which they can then take to their rooms to put things away.
Good use of storage space. Prime space (areas at eye level and within easy reach) should be reserved for frequently used items. You can gain cupboard space by piling small items such as sauce packets or cereal bars into small plastic bins. Dried foods (crackers, cereal, rice, etc) removed from their boxes and stored in plastic bags can save a lot of space (cut the directions from the boxes and put them into the bags, if needed).
Summary: Arranging the items in your kitchen type and frequency of use, and having accessories within reach, will help you gain space and get through your kitchen chores more efficiently, leaving you time to enjoy the company of your family.
Beverly Gwozdz, owner of An Extra Hand Organizing, specializes in home and office organizing, coaching, and public speaking, and is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers. With over 20 years experience in the field of training, Bev enjoys helping her clients learn organizing tips and techniques that last a lifetime.
Visit her website at http://www.anextrahandorganizing.com or e-mail Bev at AnExtraHandOrg@comcast.net.
