6 Simple Things These Food Experts Did to Immediately Improve Their Kitchens
If you’re currently at odds with your kitchen and want to tear it apart, we have one suggestion for you: Start with just one teeny, tiny, manageable change.
We strongly believe that a micro-level change can help you love your kitchen on a macro level. And to prove it to you, we asked the editors from our partner food site Kitchn to tell us “one small thing” they did that made them fall more in love with their kitchens.
Storing cutting boards upright, like books.
“I started storing my cutting boards like they’re cookbooks! I saw this photo [above] on our site at some point and it was like an actual lightbulb went off. I had been keeping all of my cutting boards and serving boards stacked on top of each other and it was a real pain in the you-know-what to get one out when I needed it. Plus, I have a pretty collection that deserves to be displayed. I filed mine in a row on the counter next to the fridge and now I smile when I look at them and when I can easily pull one out.” —Lisa Freedman, Lifestyle Director
Adding a fun “extra” that doesn’t need to be there, but sure looks good.
“I recently moved my bar cart into the kitchen and the space immediately felt more fun and inviting. I think a lot of the credit is owed to the snake plant, because plants just make everything better. Next up: Art for the space.” —Ariel Knutson, News and Culture Editor
Playing music.
“I put a pair of semi-nice speakers in my kitchen. It means that I can turn the volume up just enough to hear Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky over the sounds of water boiling or the hood fan running, or the chicken thighs crackling along in the pan. And it makes cooking so much more relaxing and fun!” —Chris Michel, Food Director
Trading a cutting board for a mortar and pestle.
“I bought a mortar and pestle because I am sick and tired of mincing garlic and having to later deal with getting the smell of it out of my cutting board. I am sad that I waited so long! I use it for everything now, like ginger, herbs, spices, and more. I’m so glad to have it.” —Kaitlin Garske, Senior Social Media Manager
Storing knives on a knife bar.
“I used to have them stuffed in a drawer, but this magnetic wall bar makes my go-to knives so easy to reach for when I am in the middle of cooking. Plus it really does show them off and people always compliment our collection when they walk into our kitchen.” —Sheela Prakash, Associate Food Editor
Decluttering and making a freezer inventory.
“My over-capacity freezer was starting to become a freezer-burned No Man’s Land. I had no idea what was stuffed inside or how old anything was, so I did a massive freezer clean-out and threw out anything I that I had neglected for far too long. Now I keep a complete freezer inventory, which makes deciding what to make for dinner (or what I need to pick up from the grocery store) a whole lot easier.” —Lauren Masur, Staff Writer
This post originally ran on Kitchn. See it there: 6 Teeny, Tiny Things Kitchn Editors Did to Immediately Improve Their Kitchens