This Weekend: These Small, Realistic Tweaks Will Revolutionize Your Kitchen

Refreshing the look of your kitchen feels great, but improving its function and performance is an absolute game changer. This weekend, do these simple but effective things to renew your relationship with the heart of your home. Everything —and especially cooking and cleaning — will come easier when you’re done.

Kitchen Cabinets: So much is going on behind these closed doors. Make them see the light of day by opening everything up, getting rid of what you don’t need in there, cleaning them out, and making them work so much better for you.

Pantry: If you have an actual pantry, you both have room for much-needed supplies, and the space to store old, expired food and/or accumulate unneeded extra stuff. If yours overfloweth — or just needs a little structure — pare it down and leave just the organized essentials.

Kitchen Drawers: These are the black holes of many kitchens, where things get stashed and don’t re-emerge for years. Dive in, clear them out, and then put things back in a somewhat reasonable and organized fashion.

Remember, as with all of our Weekend Projects, just do what you have the time and energy to do. This is a marathon, not a sprint!

• Help motivate others by letting the rest of us know how things are going! Share your tips and photos of your Weekend Project work on Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #ATweekendproject.
• Check out 2017’s entire Plan for a Healthy & Happy Home to access all Weekend Project ideas, so you can pick and choose what to do this weekend.
• Download our August Home Checklist. It’s a free, downloadable, low-pressure list of things to try this month if you want to keep your life and home running like a well-oiled machine. Pick and choose what and how much you want to tackle, and have the satisfaction of crossing them off the list!