What is the Secret to Declutter Your Kitchen?
The kitchen is the hub of all activity within your home and it should be on the top of your list when decluttering your home. The key to decluttering your kitchen is good organization. If you are going to have a kitchen which functions efficiently, you will need to have a good layout where you can get to things easily. So let’s get started with project declutter kitchen.
A good way for planning the layout of your kitchen is to start with a blank slate. Imagine that your kitchen is empty. Yes, I know it might be a bit difficult imagining your kitchen looking completely clutter free, but it did have another life before you occupied your house.
Look at the positioning of your fixtures that is, the things that you can’t change. This will include where you stovetop is and where your cupboards are if they are fixed furniture fittings.
If you have an option of moving your cupboards, you may also be able to change the location of your cupboards so that you can make better use of space.
This approach to decluttering your kitchen really starts with a helicopter view of your kitchen. If someone was flying over your kitchen and looking down at your kitchen, what would they see. Would they see a well organized kitchen or would they see a kitchen full of clutter?
Let’s start with the high level view of your kitchen. Grab a piece of butcher paper and draw out the layout of your kitchen. Now have a good look at how you currently have things organized. Start off with drawing boxes for the location of cupboard space, the location of your stovetop, location of your fridge etc.
For each box that you have drawn as a cupboard, label each cupboard with its intended occupants. If you are going to put utensils in this cupboard, label the cupboard utensils. Every category of items in your kitchen should have a home. Going through this process will help you decide whether or not you have adequate storage in your kitchen.
If you don’t have adequate storage in your kitchen, then you may need to consider creating extra storage space. This may not necessarily mean installing more cupboard space but it could be as simple as installing extra shelves in your existing cupboards.
Now that you have drawn yourself a mud map of your kitchen, take a look at the accessibility of things in relation to each other. Use your cupboards wisely. For items that you only use occasionally, store these items in higher cupboards. For items that you use frequently, store them in the most accessible cupboards.
Have a look at your benchtops. Are they cluttered with lots of items? Your benchtop should be relatively clutter free and only have items that you need on a regular basis. It’s time to be more brutal and clear that kitchen bench free of all clutter.
Now that your benchtops are looking clutter free, it’s time to clear those cupboards out. This will be covered in a separate article on how to declutter the cupboards in your kitchen.
Other Declutter Day Tips articles
Clutter Tips to Organize Your Home
Organize your Shelf to Create Extra Storage Space
How to Declutter in Four Easy Steps
Declutter and Simplify Your Life
