Kitchen Keeping

A girl can dream...

Of all the rooms in your home, the kitchen is the one that needs to be the most well kept. For many families, it's the heart of the home and very often it's the place where visitors seem to always gather as well.

My kitchen is not big, but should provide ample storage; if I can figure out how to utilize the space it offers! My kitchen is very much still a work in progress but here are some of the organization ideas I'm trying to incorporate (or already have) into my design for my well kept kitchen. Maybe they'll help you, too!

Arrange your kitchen so that you keep items near where they will be used. Keep your baking supplies near your mixer. Storage bowls and plastic wraps and baggies are great to have near the refrigerator. Cooking utensils are best near the stove. Cupboard storage for everyday dishes and glassware should be close to the dishwasher.

If you have to have a junk drawer, know what's in it and keep it tidy. Use dividers or bins to keep like items together. Having a home for everything is the best way to make sure it gets put back in its place after it's used. Never just toss a handful of misc items in a drawer and tell yourself you'll deal with them later. Later is like "someday" it doesn't come around often and when it does, you're likely to be stressed about all the stuff on your later list! Not good... and not helping our goal of leading a simpler life.

Make the most of the shelf space available to you. I switched over to glass storage bowls with lids and eliminated my plastic ones. We don't often need the plastic containers and they were always cluttering up the space I kept them in. Plus they aren't that convenient because you can't use them in the microwave.

Try to pare down the amount of gadgets you have in your cooking arsenal. If you have never used that juice squeezer, why are you keeping it? If you have a small herd of rubber spatulas think about if you really need them all. I had  six and I always use the same two, so I donated the others to Goodwill. They extras were just junking up my space.

One way I got control of my gadgets was to purchase a hanging rack for the wall. I love to see all the shiny chrome "jewelry" hanging from it and it helped to free up tons of drawer space. These are my go to tools and they are right at my fingertips! It works great.

Hubby installed a pot rack for me and that has helped a lot as well. We love it. Again, it freed up cupboard space for things like bakeware, which was toppling over and crammed into the previously shared space.

I also have a glass holders mounted under my cabinet for some of my stemmed pieces. I like the way it looks and it's functional, too.

Keep your countertops as clutter free as possible. I can't stress this enough! Only keep out what you need to use on a regular basis and find a suitable permanent home for the rest. You'll feel much better when you walk into the kitchen to prepare a meal and don't have to fight for counter space to do it. Plus, it's easier to keep you counters wiped off if there isn't as much to move around.

Spice storage is a HUGE problem for me. This is an area that I haven't figured out a solution. But I will. My kitchen won't be the organized heart of my home until I do. If you have an idea for me... that's free... let me know! Remember my now spending pledge!

Don't buy more food that you can reasonably use and store. Believe me, I was an avid couponer and at one time I had so much extra food that I had to put more shelves under the stairs to store it all. I thought it was great to find good deals, but I often forgot about what I had down there and I'm ashamed to say I had to throw some of it out. I'm slowly going through it and using up the canned goods now and it actually feels great to have less.

If you have an extra food storage spot, keep an inventory of it so you know what you have on hand. It may seem like extra work at first, but if you do it you'll avoid being wasteful and will actually use what you have. Which is the point of having it in the first place, right?

I've done a lot to make my kitchen more user friendly and I know I'm getting closer to my goal. However; I still have to store my bread machine and crock pot in the basement under the stairs which is not ideal. I use them less because they are not convenient. Likewise with my good china. I would like to use it more often. Even if it is just hubby and I we can use the good plates and glasses, what am I saving them for?

So I'll keep going and I will get it just right. Rome wasn't built in a day!

How's your kitchen coming along?