With the rise in open space floorplans, having a neat and tidy kitchen has become increasingly important. If not kept in check, kitchen clutter can soon take over the entire space. And a cluttered kitchen is a sure fire path to frequent take-out ordering. Here are tips for keeping your kitchen clutter-free and ready for meal prep.
• Keep the countertops clear – Coffee maker, toaster, mixer, blender ... so many little appliances, so little space. Keep out only the essentials and find room for the rest behind closed cabinet doors.
• Adopt the urge to purge – Take a look through your cabinets and assess which items are really necessary. Do you really need that bagel slicer you haven't used since the Clinton administration? If you haven't used it, get rid of it. You can always find another way to use the cleared out space in your cupboards.
• Your refrigerator door is not an art gallery – Covering your refrigerator with magnets and papers is a quick way to make your kitchen look cluttered, even when it's actually quite clean. Keep the front of the refrigerator clear to avoid this messy look. If you rely on the fridge door for notes, opt for a well placed bulletin board.
• Embrace the junk drawer – In an effort to keep the kitchen looking tidy, it can be really helpful to have a place where your junk can rest. Having one drawer where you scoop all the takeout menus, bottle openers and screwdrivers will help keep the mess contained.
• Make the most of cabinet space – Cabinet organizers from the likes of Container Store can help you utilize every inch of your kitchen cabinets.
• If it doesn't belong in the kitchen, move it — Does that pile of junk mail really need to live on the kitchen counter? If you can't cook with it or eat it, move it out of the kitchen.
• Give the kitchen a once over at the beginning and end of the day – After you've finished breakfast and you're about to start your day, take ten minutes to tidy the kitchen. Load the dishwasher, wipe the counters and take out the garbage. Do the same thing at the end of the day. Of course at some point you'll need to really clean the kitchen, but that's what dinnertime is for.
• Ambient lighting can fix a multitude of sins – Just as everyone looks better by candlelight, a kitchen will look better with subdued, indirect lighting. Installing lighting under and over the cabinets can help the kitchen feel cozy and warm. You can use rope lighting for a quick DIY.
• Pretty containers are better than ugly packaging – If you lack storage and really must keep packed goods sitting out, whether on the counter or on top of the refrigerator, transfer the goods to attractive containers. A row of identical containers will look much neater than a row of mismatched packaging.
(Image: Jeff's Resourceful Remodel)
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FOTC poster is awesome
I've seen hospital operating rooms with more warmth and personality!
I love the FOTC poster! Anyone know where I can get one?
I think this just marks me out as pro-clutter, but I like my house to look lived in. I like signs of life, even if that means that there are some pictures (or, egads!, a recipe or two written on an index card) on the refrigerator and an appliance or two on the counter.
Convenience is way more important to me. Of course it's not convenient to dig through a pile of junk to find what you need, or to have to move stacks in order to cook -- but it's also pointlessly inconvenient to put your toaster and coffee maker in and out of a cabinet every single day.
It's important to note that the photo is from a house tour in which the owner had not moved in yet... so that's why it doesn't look like anyone lives there...cause no one lived there.
So basically never use the kitchen.....gotcha.
I must admit, I only read this because of the FOTC poster....
"Your refrigerator door is not an art gallery" is the quote of the week.
Where else am I supposed to display my magnet collection? I actually have pretty cool magnets :)
This post, and others here and on other blogs, often focus on keeping things organized, clean, decluttered.
Am I the only one that sometimes finds, as an innately organized and tidy person, that my place can end up looking too bare or a bit cold? I find myself having to work on ADDING some layers, warmth, texture, visual interest.
So, for instance, I like my fridge (which is an ugly beige rental one) covered with photos, goofy magnets, hockey ticket stubs, etc.
I know it doesn't work for everybody but if I went completely with my first instinct which is to put everything away and leave everything open/empty-looking, my place would end up looking like a jail cell. (Well, not really but you get my drift.)
I wonder if AT would ever consider a series on how to warm up a bare place, specifically? I know there have been plenty of posts that indirectly cover this, but I'd love guidance for how to get a warm, full -- but not cluttered -- look.
@leapkate: You are not alone!
The photo that was chosen (and I emphasize this word) to illustrate this post leaves me totally cold. THAT kitchen would most definitely drive me to order take-out, with not a cookbook or utensil in sight. Not even a bowl of fruit !
Betwixt total chaos/clutter and mindless sterility lies a vast area that deserves to be explored.
There was a time when I put everything in it's place. Then I became careless. Now I have cluttered kitchen worktops. I am frustrated with my 'mess'. It is not easy to work around the build-up of appliances, paperwork, etc. Thank you for your welcome and timely tips. This may be the nudge I need to put some necessary order into my kitchen again.
Cibi
Best thing to do with menus is put them in one of those books with plastic pockets, that way you can see them, don't have to dig through a drawer, and they're neatly contained.
I think it's okay to have your refrigerator be an art gallery. Especially if you have kids. We don't, but we collect magnets from our travels and we LOVE art. Even though my feng shui training espouses getting rid of clutter, I do feel one can go too far. Don't be so hard on yourselves---you live in your home, you don't live in a photo shoot.
How boring that would be.
I have a little "take out menus" box that I keep on my cookbook shelf (it actually blends in and looks like a book). That way, whenever it's time for dinner--take-out or dine-in--I am heading to the same place to start. Also, the power of drawer dividers has always been understated.
I'm not anywhere close to being a neat person, but it's something I strive to be. I used to think that a neat and clutter-free home looks cold, but as I grow older I've embraced the thought of my kitchen looking like the picture posted above. It takes a lot of energy to be neat and clutter-free, and I haven't been entirely successful at it. To me, I like to come home to a clean home since my work is often stressful. It stresses me out more to have to see junks all over. The bottom line is do whatever works for you. It is your home after all. I embrace the clutter-free, but still working hard of making that in my nest :)
These are good tips to keep in mind. We're obviously not going to follow them all to the tee, but it'll help get rid of clutter. I know there's plenty on my countertop that I don't even use on a monthly basis that could stand to find a home in a cabinet or pantry closet.
I have just kept my ovens on the counter,,,rest app,iance which I don't use daily I keep on shelf,:)
Our refridgerator is ENCRUSTED with artwork and personal mementos that my husband and I both love. It makes me smile every single day. I adore scoping my friends' and family members' fridge art situations as well - they can be great snapshots of who lives there, and I think the look is FUN, not cluttered!
Also, I'd like to point out that the writer is not saying to put ALL your appliances behind closed doors: "Keep out only the essentials," i.e., what you use every day.
I had my Sub-Zero finished in the same wood as the kitchen cabinets in order to avoid the fridge/art gallery issue. I'm glad I did because it helps make the kitchen neater but..., oh well, you can't have everything.
The fridge blends in so well that when my daughter was little one of her play date friends asked her (with a note of sadness in his voice) "Don't you have a fridge?"
I would hate my kitchen if I didn't use the fridge as a cheap photo gallery. As I develop film, I just get seconds or thirds made of some photos and then they live on my fridge via magnets. I think too many people are being silly about the whole "no personal touches allowed" stuff. I love my family members and since I do live far from some, it's nice having photos where I'm going to see them over and over in a day.
I will say that I love a clutter-free look. I find it calming and peaceful, and it really helps me to relax. It also allows my design elements, architectural details, and art to shine. My home feels warm, but it does not take clutter to do that. I actually have a couple of junk drawers, and even those get purged from time to time--so there's room for new junk.
I have seen pictures of counters that have so many things on them that I wonder where the food prep gets done!
In my very small apartment kitchen I keep only the big appliances (counter-top oven, microwave) on the counters, freeing up all the remaining space for prep. The coffee maker, Magic Mill and Kitchen Aid (I really love and use them both) are convenient on a table in the breakfast room, and the food processor (least used of all my machines) is behind the closed doors of a cabinet. Personal touches are on the fridge door and on the windowsill over the sink. I have usable counter tops and I have personal touches. It's a balance that gives me a good working environment.
"Embrace the junk drawer"
I hate the junk drawer and didn't know how to get rid of it for decades. Perhaps it is because I have such a small kitchen now but I finally found a way to get rid of it. Here is what I did:
Using double sided carpet tape I adhered two plastic page protectors to the interior of the long cabinet near the phone. In those I have stored all of the menus of all the restaurants near by. Remember to take a pair of sissors and cut the front flap of the plastic page protector about 1/2 way down before taping it to the cabinet so that menus can be taken out without any trouble. I bought an over the door shoe bag made of clear vinyl and hung it on the back of the kitchen door. I use the pockets for anything that is larger than my hand. Several years ago I bought a small Mead organizer, just a little larger than my passport. I use it now for phone numbers and have replaced the rest of the tabs with recipes cards or instructions that I've gotten over the years. I tied a string to it so that now it hangs right along with the shoe bag.
I try to keep everything off the cabinets and counter tops because I don't like to clean. I have found the more stuff I have sitting around the less I notice it until I have to clean it.
It's all about balancing between 'lived-in/warm/real' and 'cold/sanitized,' I think.
If anyone ever has the luxury of designing a new kitchen, these are the things that can be addressed. If you create a new kitchen, if it's done right, there will be space for the serving plates, the tablecloths, the dry goods, the fruit, the landing strip (if necessary) you use, all of the pyrex/stoneware casseroles you use on holidays (all eight of them in various sizes, in my mother's case). Your kitchen should be designed around the way in which you live, cook, and store - and also take into account how much clutter you want. If you finish your kitchen, and after the novelty wears off you find that your life isn't better, then you wasted your money.
I'm currently working with an organizer, moving back into our home after a year-long renovation. NOTHING is coming back that isn't absolutely needed or loved and wanted. Just yesterday we worked in the kitchen, and many of the principles mentioned here were ones I followed in my decision making process.
Pre-renovation our refrigerator was a photo/postcard/kid art gallery, maintained with clever magnets. I decided I could live without what had become a glob of visual clutter, and now confine the display to one side, where I post one piece of artwork, the current Giants or 49ers schedule, and perhaps a recent birth or wedding announcement.
We're fortunate to have appliance garages/cupboards where our coffee-making supplies (grinder, beans, filters), and less-frequently used appliances (mini Cuisinart, hand mixer, Aero Press) are stored out of sight. There are 12 feet of windows over the sinks and counters, and I have less than 5 items on the windowsill.
All of this makes for an extremely clean, restful look, with plenty of room to cook up a storm, which is something I especially enjoy when our young nieces and nephews visit. It's terrific not having to move things out of the way before we can get started, or worry about items being damaged by accidental contact with beginning cooks. It also makes clean up a breeze.
I tend to be hyper-organised, and love a clean kitchen, though I am fond of interesting, well-placed tchotchkes. I recently took a boxful of chicken-themed pieces (gifts from well-meaning friends) to Goodwill, but when I removed the lovely pictures and antique buttons from my fridge, my kitchen began to look like the cold room in a morgue. So I have a small art gallery on my fridge again. My only real problem is where to store my husband, so that I do not spend hours every day running around after him with a wet rag. Perhaps we could have a post on Tips For Living With A Slob.
Instead of a junk drawer, I bought a long, flat basket that I fill with all the items that wind up in the junk drawer (appliance manuals, tape, etc) and I stash it underneath my bookshelf. Its easily accessible, but since its often filled with stuff I don't need access to on a daily basis, its nice to keep it out of the kitchen.
I also use those really photo boxes found at craft stores (they look like really fancy shoe-boxes). I use then in the pantry to store fluids (oils) baking suppllies (flours, powders, etc) and spices. Its easy to just pull out the entire box and find everything I need rather than dig through the closet or cabinets.
Great article with some good ideas thank you
While I agree, this kitchen could use a little warmth... I would take this over mass chaos and mess everywhere. I cannot think clearly in the midst of junk everywhere. You can always add your touches of flowers, fruit, etc. We all have our own touches and what makes us comfortable. But, if I had to chose an extreme... I'd pick this one every single time.
That said, I love these tips and often do these to keep mess at bay. It's not always going to be perfect and perfection I am not after, but to maintain a balanced and well running life I have to try and stay on top of organizing / cleaning before it gets out of hand. And, trust me... the last few weeks my oven has been full of dirty dishes because I didn't have a moment to wash them. That would be my tip... Hide dishes in the oven if you have company stopping by last minute and don't have time to deep clean! :)
My friends joke on me for this, but it works... makes me feel good knowing they don't see my "dirty laundry" ha! Although, they wouldn't care if the kitchen was a mess. It really is more for my sanity than anyone else. :)
These are good ideas. I find the floor also gets very icky so quickly. Maybe a quick sweep each day before bed or first thing in the morning to add to the list.
We just bought our first home last year, and our kitchen is still recovering. We went from having small apartment kitchens, or kitchens at our parents' homes (where, you know, embarrassingly, our parents would clean up a lot of messes neither of us knew we were leaving until we were on our own), to our own kitchen that nobody but us was going to tidy up or clean. Lame. But since we're not trust fund babies or executives, we're not planning on springing for maid service any time soon.
Thankfully the last owner left us with a bunch of cabinet space, and pull-out drawers and shelves inside all those cabinets, and the first thing we did was start putting away gadgets we don't use often - we love us some kitchen gadgets. We also moved down the street from this place - Organize-It (http://www.organizeit.com) - which also has a website where they sell all this organizey kitchen stuff I kinda never knew existed before. So part of that is helping - I got one of these over the door organizer things (http://www.organizeit.com/wall-mount-kitchen-towel-bar.asp) to keep little hand towels and oven mitts handy (we just kinda stuffed them wherever before) and I have my eye on this roll-out tower (http://www.organizeit.com/slide-out-storage-tower.asp) because we totally have an awkward mini-cabinet right next to the fridge that does absolutely zip right now.
We're totally whittling this mess down little by little, but I don't think our kitchen will ever look like the one in the photo, except maybe for one brief moment just after we clean it but before we eat something or make something. ^_~