Have you ever felt a deep craving for a chocolate brownie, lasagna, hamburger, or even pancakes sometime? You might have experienced a situation where you found yourself in the kitchen trying to find your mom’s famous apple pie recipe under the clutter of other items. Eventually you would just feel frustrated with all the mess in the kitchen, and the pain of having to look for every item if you wanted to cook.
Here are a few simple tips that will help in organizing your kitchen so you can cook to your heart’s content and waste less time on searching or cleaning the space.
Store with respect to frequency of useArrange all items in your kitchen cabinets based on the frequency of use. Store the items that you most frequently use in cabinets and drawers that are accessible to your reach, and stock the rest of the items depending on how frequently you use them in higher shelves of the cabinets.
Install flexible-use shelf organizersYou can slide these organizers in and out of your kitchen cabinets and store items that you use frequently like pots and pans. It would provide you with easy access to cooking utensils. Shelf organizers also come with lid racks and many custom designs to help sort out your kitchenware and give you different organizing options for the kitchen.
Give attention to orderGroup all the items in the cabinets in a similar order according to their purpose. You can arrange plates, bowls, cups, saucers, glasses, spoons, and other items in specific cabinets and drawers based on their purpose just like spices, flour, cereal, and other cooking ingredients. This would help you find items easily in your kitchen.
Bring some order into the drawerUse custom solutions to divide your cabinet drawers for storing kitchen tools like knives, spoons, forks, and other cutlery. You would not have to rummage through those drawers searching for a knife to butter your bread every time.
Books, appliances, shelve them all!Cookbooks are very important for cooking in the kitchen, and are best to be left out in the open. Organize them on open shelves away from the refrigerator or the stove, and at some place where you can reach them easily for a quick glance at your favorite recipe.
Appliances on the other hand can be left on open shelves a little higher on the wall to keep them out of reach for children. Ensure that they are not close to water, or vents to avoid damage or dust.
Store all tools within sightCooking tools like ladle, whisk, scissors, or prongs are often required and need to be placed near the stove. Store them in your cooking area and ensure that they are easily accessible.
Exploit the wallYou can install wall mount shelves, and pegs to hang aprons, oven mitts, and dish towels instead of using the cabinet. This does not only keep them dry but also saves a lot of space. If you install a shelf that has pegs attached to it, you can use it for multiple purposes like hanging aprons, and storing cookbooks, dishes, or even spices.
There are many options to organize your kitchen in creative ways. You can even hire a professional to help you with the process (ahem, that would be me!).