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Clutter Cleanup Plan – Step 3 – Organizing Your Kitchen

If your kitchen doesn’t live up to your expectations, update it for comfort and style by following the steps below.

  1. Take stock of the purpose of your kitchen. Is it for cooking, baking, eating and storing food? If so, move all items that are not related to the purpose of your space (such as papers, magazines, tools, etc.) to other more appropriate rooms in your home.
  2. Identify the main categories of items that will be kept in your kitchen. For example:
  • Cookware – pans, casseroles, casseroles and lids.
  • Baking utensils – cookie trays, cake pans, cake pans and muffin pans.
  • Accessories – coffee maker, toaster, food processor, bread machine and mixer.
  • Kitchen tools – vegetable peeler, egg cutter, thermometer, corkscrew, manual can opener, box grater, cutting board, rolling pin, strainer and sieve.
  • Utensils – spoons, forks, spatulas, tongs, beaters, pastry brush and roasting utensils.
  • Crockery, glassware and cutlery – plates, bowls, cups, glasses and cutlery.
  • Pantry items – spices, herbs, dry products (flour, noodles, etc.), canned and bottled products (soups, Worcestershire sauce, etc.), vinegar and oils.
  • Refrigerator and freezer items.
  • Cookbooks.
  • Items under the sink – wastebasket and cleaning products.
  • Sort everything in your kitchen in piles that represent the main categories identified in step # 2. Start with all the surface items and then move on to items stored in drawers, cabinets, and your pantry. If you have an extraordinary number of items to sort through, you may want to get a large box for each category so your stacks don’t get mixed up.
  • Delete and organize each category. Be determined to eliminate everything but the items you love and wear. Reduce multiples of a single item and dispose of old, rarely used and unwanted items by tossing them, giving them to someone else, selling them, or donating them. Then put the rest of the items into subcategories, that is, when organizing the pantry items: put together all the spices and all the dry goods, etc.
  • Decide where to store each category. Consider the size of each category, how often you will access each category, and where in your kitchen you will use each category. For example, place dishes near your dishwasher and kitchen utensils near your stove. Then check your plan – is there convenient and enough storage space available for each category?
  • Shop for containers, space-saving accessories, and accessories to make your kitchen as convenient and enjoyable as possible. Many kitchens suffer from a shortage of space, so using items like the following will maximize your space and make it more functional.
    • Take the organizers out of the cabinet make it easy to keep similar things together and provide easy access to items in the back of your closet. (Available at many home improvement stores).
    • Steel expandable shelves double space in your shelf area. (Available in Bed, Bath and beyond).
    • Wall shelf systems Free up counter space and make it easier to grip necessary utensils when cooking. (Available at Stacks and Stacks, IKEA, or home improvement stores.)
  • Place all items in their new container and / or space. And enjoy your reward … a kitchen that works well day after day!
  • Check back soon for the next installment of the Neat plan.

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