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The Importance of a Well Organized Kitchen

Because the kitchen is one of the most used rooms in the house, it is important that it be organized and functional.

Keeping it organized makes it easier to clean and easier to use. You might even be inspired to cook and bake more often!

Clean Messes As They Happen

An organized kitchen always has a dirty dishwasher. As soon as your dishes are clean, unload the dishwasher! With a little coaxing, family members will learn to always put dirty dishes directly into the dishwasher. They can’t use the excuse, “I wasn’t sure if it was clean or dirty.” Having dishes off of counters and out of the sink gives you more room. The kitchen also looks cleaner all of the time. You won’t put off wiping down a counter after you use it thinking; “I’ll just do it when I tackle that sink full of dishes… tomorrow or the next day.” If you don’t have a dishwasher, keep a sink half-filled with soapy water during meal times and wash as you go.

Put Small Appliances Away

Rarely used appliances should not take up valuable kitchen counter space! It’s great that you paid $30 extra to get the bread machine that matches all of your other appliances, but guess what? Unless you’re making bread every day or you have a giant kitchen and never need to worry about space, it’s going into the pantry or into a cupboard! A large number of homeowners complain that their kitchens are too small, but most of the time it’s just mismanagement of space. The only appliances you should keep out are the ones you use daily or at least weekly. If your blender has dust on it, it’s time to put it into storage and let the space be freed up for more logical use!

Put Things In Proper Places

Coffee, filters, mugs, and the coffee maker should be near each other. Bread and the toaster should be together. When arranging your kitchen, did you organize it the way you did because you thought it looked nice?  That’s not organization; that’s decorating. For actual use in the real world, you should have “stations” in your kitchen. The coffee station should have everything necessary to make coffee. The toast station should have bread and the toaster. If you keep your bread in a cute little bread drawer, put the toaster next to it. Doesn’t it just make more sense that way?

Mornings are usually a hectic time, especially if there is more than one person in a kitchen. Instead of waiting, or asking other people to move twenty times as you roam all over the kitchen gathering your supplies, doesn’t it make sense to have everything in its proper place? If you use refrigerated cream or milk in your coffee, put your coffee station by the fridge.

Organizing Tips

Everything in your kitchen should be placed where it is the most convenient for the people using the items. Cooking utensils should be near the stove. Cups should be by the fridge. Your silverware drawer should be near the plates. Your can opener should be near the stove or the microwave. Your spices should be near the stove. Every time you use something in your kitchen, ask yourself if it is in the most convenient place. If the answer is no, move it! Your kitchen set-up doesn’t have to stay the same because it’s always been that way, or because that’s how your mother had her kitchen. It should be set up so it’s the most convenient for the people who use it.

De-clutter The Counters

Do you have pretty containers that match your dishes? Do you use them? If they are filled with things for baking, keep them near where you prepare something to bake. If you don’t use them, get rid of them! Sell them on eBay! You shouldn’t take up counter space with unused items simply because they look nice. Decorate your walls, not your counters. Things sitting on your counters are simply more things to dust or clean. Clean, empty countertops encourage cooking, baking, and keeping things clean. Your kitchen will look neater and cleaner. More amazing, other members of your household are more likely to wipe up small spills and help keep the counters clean.

Install Shelves

To take advantage of the space you have, there are so many nifty gadgets available these days! If you know how to use a drill and a screwdriver, it’s simple to install slide-out shelving for extra room in cupboards. Drawer organizers work wonderfully – even for your junk drawer. Take care of surface kitchen organizing problems first, and then work on making cupboards and drawers more efficient. You’ll be amazed at how much time you can save and how much space you didn’t know you had in your own kitchen. Save the money you were saving for remodeling for a cruise! With a more efficient and organized kitchen, you won’t need more space.

 From: MrsCleanUSA