Organizational Tips for a Clutter-Free Kitchen

Keeping a functional kitchen is not easy. As such, it’s useful to consider these simple organisation tips in order not to induce accumulating clutter and get some space to cook.

Sort it out: discard what is out of place and sort what remains. Then…

Make Sure Everything Has a Home

However, the most common feature in the house is certainly a kitchen. Each family eats three meals every day in the kitchen. One quick way to create a spick-and-span kitchen: give everything a home. Things that don’t have a place don’t get put away. They become clutter. Designate a place for everything – miscellaneous household items – that’s visible and easily accessible by turning a drawer or cabinet into a home base for those pieces and pieces like them. Label clearly and add pieces to the labelled group as you go. Finally, you’ll help kids and housemates alike keep the kitchen tidy because they’ll be able to see where things belong. That’s a healthy habit to foster.

Organize Your Countertops It is so easy for kitchen counters to turn into dump zones for everything but kitchen items – piles of papers, grocery store bags and other assorted kitchen clutter. To make this task easier, use a tray or bin for collecting cooking-related clutter – anything that can be brushed off into the trash at the end of the day. This will keep things from turning into permanent fixtures on your counter but will make it really easy to wipe down your cooking zone at the end of the day.

Create a Command Center

But for families struggling to keep it all straight – school schedules, dinner menu planning, chore charts – a command centre can be a game-changer. Create an effective kitchen command centre by turning an otherwise empty kitchen cabinet into a space that houses wire file sorters to stash paper clutter, charging docks for electronics, and whiteboards for calendars and reminders. This hard-working kitchen command central distinguishes itself from the same old clutter with helpful design details, such as hanging clipboards loaded with lists of chores and grocery lists so that everyone can participate.

Create a Drop Zone

So, for those of us looking to instigate a home re-organisation, a drop zone can be a great place to start. They control clutter and keep life, especially family life, organised. Put them wherever makes sense for you and your family – including existing mudrooms, foyers, garage front entrances or even the kitchen. This space often features coat hooks for hanging outerwear and shoe storage for those wearing them, as well as storing the things that you’re most likely to need when you walk in the door – keys, purses, dog leashes, etc.

Create a Junk Drawer

If you have a drawer that starts to fill up with knickknacks and odds and ends, create designated areas around your home to corral the little things, such as baskets or boxes to hold paper clips, pushpins and safety pins. But make your designated area for paper clips just that – a paper clip area – not an area for storing both scissors and paper clips. Begin by removing everything from your junk drawer and dividing the contents into two categories: useful (we use these things daily, therefore it all makes sense to stay) and needs-to-go (consider crayons, paint and potentially extra ketchup packets in this one). Now, edit or find new homes for it all.

Get Organized Behind Closed Doors

Being able to keep your kitchen clean is more than just a matter of clearing up the counter top – there are cabinets and drawers that also need to be organised to keep on top of things. Disposing off unused and expired food, donating spare cutlery, drawer dividers, etc are the tips for when you’re not in the kitchen. Make assessments on the room before sorting the things. Plan tackling each area one by one to see it less scary and overwhelming. Once you have a plan, remember to stick with it.

Think Vertical

A kitchen can be a peaceful place – and staying there can be easier if you’ve set up time-honoured routines that make it easier to keep tidy. But what if it isn’t necessarily an innate instinct? Well, here are some tips on how to keep it that way going forward! One of our favourite methods for clearing counters and surfaces more consistently is vertical storage ideas such as carousels, shelf organisers and hanging baskets. These add more storage without taking up valuable counter real estate, and also move items out of the way that normally live on your countertop, which could make it more challenging to find your cooking supplies than if they were nestled nicely in a corner side carousel.

Keep It Clean

Kitchens are often a centre for family life. External activities such as going to work, school or play often require preparation at home, including cooking the standard three meals a day plus snacks on the go. Keeping the kitchen tidy is an on-going task, so having a cleaning schedule for each day would be useful. Another is to try to return items to their proper home – if you can find it – after using them, even if that home hasn’t yet been discovered or, if you’re storing things until you find the home for them, a basket.