This article was first run on Touchmark at Fairway Village’s November Newsletter
Restoring Order to Your Kitchen
The kitchen is the gateway to the home. It’s the pit stop of mail, groceries, handbags, and more. It yields abundant storage and traffic. Guests gravitate to this room. It’s the most congested, most productive, and typically most beloved space in the home. It’s worth our attention to organize and optimize this essential household thoroughfare.
The key to kitchen organizing is setting it up correctly from the beginning. If you haven’t done that, and find that you’re always digging for things, it is smart to unload the space entirely and begin anew. Assign a purpose to each cabinet and drawer based on frequency-of-use of the items it stores.
An ordered kitchen facilitates intuitive preparation and easy clean up.
Create the following zones:
- bakeware (for oven use)
- cookware
- hot pads and stirrers (for range)
- food prep (for bowls, colanders, and food processing)
- storage ware (bags, wraps, and containers)
- beverage station (coffee mugs, hot drink items)
- serving pieces and utensils
- everyday use dishware and glassware.
Establish an office supply drawer and one utility drawer. Label each cabinet and drawer in your re-organized kitchen with temporary post-it notes to re-train yourself on the locations of each type of item.
The food pantry is a related but separate project. If you don’t have a pantry, identify a bank of cabinets within the kitchen to dedicate to food and ingredients. Also, earmark a visible space in the kitchen for the administration of daily vitamins and supplements.
After the infrastructure is in place, create room for comfortable conversation, beauty, and hospitality, which are the central functions of a healthy and welcoming kitchen. I’ve used trays to create a hot beverage station, glass cabinets for a wine bar, vintage baskets and scales for displaying bountiful fruit, and open shelves for artfully displaying dish and glassware. These finishing touches make a kitchen personal and inviting. Now, enjoy your ordered heart-of-the-home kitchen!
Related:
- For an entire chapter on kitchen organizing, get my room-by-room organizing book Restoring Order to Your Home.
- Read Touchmark’s November Newsletter here
